A lack of full funding prompted the federal government to cancel its four-year search for a consolidated headquarters for the FBI, which included two sites in Maryland.
In a joint statement, the FBI and the General Services Administration said they did not get the full $1.4 billion sought under the federal government’s 2017 budget. The budget fix for 2017 set aside $523 million, leaving a funding gap of about $882 million.
The Trump administration did not include any additional funding in the proposed 2018 budget and a House subcommittee included language rescinding $200 million previously earmarked for the consolidation.
Moving forward without full funding would have put the government at risk of cost escalations and the potential reduction in value of the FBI’s main headquarters in the J. Edgar Hoover building in downtown D.C., the agencies said in their statement. The GSA, the federal government’s real estate arm, had proposed trading the deteriorating Hoover building on Pennsylvania Avenue as partial value for a new 2.1 million-square-foot headquarters. The project was expected to cost about $2.5 billion, including the Hoover building’s trade-in value.
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