GSA Receives On-Time Bids to Build New FBI Headquarters
Virginia and Maryland pols continue fight to land suburban development project.
The General Services Administration confirmed that on Wednesday, on schedule, it received bids from an unidentified number of contractors to construct a 2.1 million rentable-square-foot new FBI headquarters facility.
The offers came in response to a Jan. 22 phase II request for proposals following an environmental impact assessment completed last fall.
“The consolidated headquarters facility will allow the FBI to perform its critical national security, intelligence, and law enforcement mission in a modern and secure facility,” GSA said in a statement about the plan to build a new HQ at a site near public transportation at one of three suburban locations -- one in Virginia and two in Maryland.
The goal is to swap the site of the current, 42-year-old deteriorating FBI headquarters on 10th and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest for new land in alignment with GSA’s “shrink the footprint” approach to selling off unneeded properties.
Last week, GSA reminded bidders via FedBizOpps, as reported by Washington Business Journal that the agency reserves the right to reject bids that fail to offer “a fair and reasonable” value for the existing Hoover Building, which sits on prime downtown real estate.
GSA plans to select a winner by the end of the year among a few vetted companies for the project estimated at $2.5 billion overall.
The three potential sites are at Greenbelt and Landover in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, and at the Springfield section of Virginia’s Fairfax County. The Obama administration had requested $1.4 billion for construction of the FBI headquarters for fiscal 2017. The Senate in April approved $646 million following a $390 million “down payment” enacted last December, according to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. The House has yet to act.
The governors, meanwhile, are both ponying up money. The Washington Post this week reported that Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is offering $317 million in state and local funds for road, transit and infrastructure if Greenbelt is the site, or $255 million if it’s Landover. Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is offering $120 million if the Springfield site is picked.