Weeks after being shut out of Amazon’s short list of contenders for HQ2, Prince George’s County learned Wednesday morning why it did not make the cut: The county doesn’t have a large enough pool of senior-level software engineers.
“They saw deeper concentrations of software development engineers in other areas,” said David Iannucci, a top economic development official for Prince George’s who spoke with Amazon, along with other county officials, on a phone call. “They literally told us there was nothing we could have done differently in the RFP to change the outcome.”
The answer brings some closure to a multifaceted effort by Prince George’s to attract Amazon’s second headquarters with a strong proposal that county officials say met all of the online giant’s requirements in terms of talent, land and transit.
The county’s nearly 120-page proposal, obtained by the Washington Business Journal through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveals that Prince George’s pitched College Park and Greenbelt together as a way to fulfill Amazon’s plans to develop 8 million square feet for 50,000 employees.