Investigation urged for FBI site selection process
Members of Virginia’s congressional delegation are demanding an investigation into the General Services Administration’s decision-making process for relocating the FBI headquarters.
On Nov. 8, the GSA announced the FBI would move from its current building in Washington to Greenbelt in Prince George’s County, Md., rather than Springfield, Va., or Landover, Md. Both Virginia and Maryland had been competing for the project for years.
Eleven members of Virginia’s congressional delegation wrote to the GSA Office of the Inspector General to request “an immediate investigation into the serious concerns” raised by FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding the site selection process for a new FBI complex.
According to the letter, sent to GSA Acting Inspector General Robert Erickson Nov. 15, “There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that the GSA administered a site selection process fouled by political considerations and alleged impropriety – one that was repeatedly curated to arrive at a predetermined outcome.”
The letter was signed by Sens, Mark Warner (D) and Tim Kaine (D) and Reps. Gerry Connolly (D), Bobby Scott (D), Rob Wittman (R), Don Beyer (D), Abigail Spanberger (D), Jennifer Wexton (D), Jennifer McClellan (D), Jen Kiggans (R), and Morgan Griffith (R).
Fairfax County officials had urged the new FBI complex to be built in Springfield, citing its proximity to Quantico and other law enforcement and national security-related facilities and the area’s robust transportation system. The project would provide a huge boost to the local economy.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay announced on Nov. 15 that he is “committed to continuing the fight for the Springfield site until all has been done to ensure a transparent and fair decision-making process.”
The letter from the members of Congress accuses the GSA of changing the original site selection criteria, “which had been developed by GSA experts in accordance with the agency’s own best practices for site selection, in a way that favored the Greenbelt site, and did so over the objections of the FBI director.”
A panel of experts had unanimously selected a site in Springfield. The GSA then “changed the person tasked with confirming the final site selection from a career official to a political appointee who had a potential conflict of interest,” the letter states.
The political appointee then overturned the decision by the panel by changing how certain criteria were calculated and how certain factors were considered.
“Throughout the site selection deliberations, GSA suppressed, dismissed, and overrode the judgment and recommendations of career officials from GSA and the FBI,” the letter states. That led Wray to question the “fairness and transparency in the process and GSA’s failure to adhere to its own site selection plan.”
“These facts, when taken together, paint an ugly picture of a fatally flawed procurement that demands further investigation,” the letter concludes.
“If more comes to light that proves there was in fact a conflict of interest,” McKay said, “the right thing to do would be to eliminate the Greenbelt site entirely and choose from the remaining two sites. This is essential to ensure that the legitimacy and transparency of the selection process is upheld.”
Unfortunately, the best thing that happened for VA was avoiding this Headquarters selection. We don’t need anymore traffic as the infrastructure we have already has so many issues and the cost for land in NoVa is so much more expensive, it doesn’t make sense to pay more for something that would have to be negotiated with a private party when the site in MD is owned by WMATA and it would cost tax payers a lot less for it to remain its current course. Leave it where it is, we have plenty of corporations and businesses in VA. We won’t miss this one.
I’m not sure whether or not I would prefer the FBI here in VA, but to your point about the cost and process of acquiring the land, the proposed location in Springfield is already federal property owned by GSA.
GSA (federal) –> FBI (federal)
vs
WMATA (non-federal multi state legal entity) –> FBI ( federal)
I cannot imagine that WMATA to FBI is the easier / smoother course of action.
Just so you know— the federal government already owns the land at the proposed site in Springfield. So, there’s no cost there.
Good riddance to them , we already have enough wronge menalty moving into Fairfax Va from other close minded area of the country’s , hopefully there kids will stay there also and not
Move here 😁