ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The General Services Administration introduced modifications in standards for selecting a location for a brand new FBI headquarters on Friday, boosting two potential locations in Maryland, which has been competing with Virginia for the bureau’s new residence.
The new standards give extra weight to price and social fairness considerations than proximity to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
Maryland officers, together with Gov. Wes Moore, have been inspired that the announcement “corrects the flawed approach released in September that ignored taxpayer costs and the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to equity,” they mentioned in an announcement.
“Today’s revised guidelines are a critical step in the right direction,” mentioned Maryland officers, together with Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen. “This update is in line with the language we secured in last year’s omnibus funding bill that both delegations supported.”
Maryland officers, together with Rep. Steny Hoyer and 6 different members of the state’s congressional delegation, stay assured that two areas in Maryland, both Greenbelt or Landover within the suburbs of the nation’s capital, “provide the best operational and cost-effective options for the new, consolidated FBI Headquarters,” they mentioned.
“These sites meet and exceed the criteria laid out by GSA,” the officers mentioned. “They are shovel-ready with exceptional access to transportation and will spur greater equity and opportunity, in line with the Biden-Harris Administration’s executive orders. We will continue working with GSA to ensure these factors are taken into consideration.”
Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner expressed concern in regards to the modifications in a joint assertion of their very own.
“The GSA didn’t pluck its initial criteria out of thin air – it spent years talking to experts and carefully deliberating on what is best for the mission of the FBI,” the senators mentioned. “While we are concerned that these changes to the criteria will further delay what has already been a drawn-out, decade-long process to select a new site to replace the dilapidated headquarters downtown, we remain confident that Virginia continues to be a home run in every category, and encourage the GSA to draw this process to a close sooner rather than later.”
The General Services Administration introduced it had diminished the importance of the brand new headquarters being close to different FBI amenities to 25% from 35%. It additionally elevated price and social fairness to twenty% every.
Nina Albert, the administration’s commissioner of the Public Buildings Service, mentioned consultations with the 2 state’s delegations “provided valuable feedback, and helped us refine our plan to maximize the value for the FBI and the public.”
“While the core elements of the site selection plan remain the same, we have updated the plan to incorporate new government-wide directives and to increase the consideration of cost to deliver better value for taxpayers,” Albert mentioned in an announcement. “We believe these adjustments will support a process that results in a site that best serves the FBI and the public for years to come.”
The General Services Administration mentioned the three websites beneath evaluation – Greenbelt and Landover in Maryland, and Springfield, Virginia – have been chosen in 2014 by the administration as a result of all of them met the baseline necessities of the FBI, together with with the ability to accommodate the dimensions of a brand new headquarters facility and meet the federal authorities’s distinctive safety necessities.
The administration anticipates making a website choice within the coming months, it mentioned in an announcement.
Plans to interchange the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., in-built 1974, have been beneath dialogue for 15 years. Momentum to select a brand new website stalled throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, when plans to maneuver the headquarters to the suburbs have been scrapped in favor of a proposal to rebuild on the present website.
Roughly 7,500 jobs are tied to the brand new facility, funds paperwork estimate.
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