A leading Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is calling on the General Services Administration’s inspector general to investigate the agency’s sudden reversal on plans for the FBI headquarters building.
In a letter Wednesday, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the ranking member of the subcommittee on government operations, asked GSA’s inspector general to look into why agency officials earlier this month abandoned plans to consolidate the FBI under one roof in suburban Maryland or Virginia.
Instead, GSA intends to tear down the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover building in downtown Washington, D.C. and build a modern headquarters in its place.
Connolly requested an IG investigation after he said he received insufficient explanations from GSA Administrator Emily Murphy and Public Buildings Service Commissioner Dan Mathews during a subcommittee hearing last week.
“GSA’s top officials were unable to justify their sudden decision to abandon years of detailed planning, and they provided insufficient information about the factors on which they based this decision,” Connolly wrote.
Connolly asked the IG to look specifically into how GSA arrived at its decision to keep the FBI headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C. and whether the decision fully accounts for short-term and long-term cost-effectiveness and security concerns.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Jory Heckman over at Federal News Radio