The selection of the new site for FBI headquarters will be delayed until congressional funding is approved for the massive project, the General Services Administration announced Friday.
The GSA was expected to announce this month which of three locations it had selected for the more than $2 billion project.
But the agency said Friday that it will not announce its selection until appropriations for the project are made.
“GSA and FBI have worked diligently since the fall issuance of the revised schedule. We have met the milestones at this point,” said GSA spokeswoman Renee Kelly. “Appropriations are necessary in order for us to make an announcement and move forward with the next critical steps under the [National Environmental Policy Act] process and ultimately make an award.”
Federal agencies have been making plans to relocate the FBI’s headquarters from downtown Washington to the suburbs since 2012.
Three sites — in Greenbelt and Landover in Prince George’s County and Springfield in Fairfax County — were selected in 2014 as finalists for the headquarters.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building, which has been the FBI’s home since 1974, no longer meets the bureau’s needs. A 2.1 million-square-foot complex in the suburbs will consolidate the FBI workforce into one place.
Lawmakers from Maryland, who were pushing for the FBI’s relocation in their state, were disappointed by the delay.
“We recognize the urgent need to select a site and are concerned that the continued delays will have a negative impact on the safety and security of our nation,” said a joint statement by House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer and fellow Democrats Rep. Anthony G. Brown, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
“Prince George’s County is the best choice for the FBI, and we call on Congress to fully fund the FBI relocation project, which is not only important for the economic development of Prince George’s County, but for the state of Maryland and our nation as a whole,” the federal lawmakers said.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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