Federal lawmakers are pushing the FBI to commit to a new headquarters site in the D.C. suburbs after a multiyear pause in the search process.
The omnibus fiscal year 2022 spending bill signed by President Joe Biden this week includes language that would advance the FBI’s selection of a new headquarters location — which it, along with the General Services Administration, had previously narrowed down to Greenbelt, Landover and Springfield. Maryland lawmakers said they are eager to see the search process restart after the Trump administration shut it down.
The act, which provides full-year funding for the federal government through Sept. 30, requires the GSA to select a site from one of the three listed in its 2017 prospectus “in as expeditious manner as possible,” though it doesn’t give a concrete deadline for that move. Once that happens, the bill stipulates that the FBI’s director work with the GSA to present a report on the status of the new headquarters to Senate and House committees on appropriations and public works within 180 days, and that should include the buildings and infrastructure needed for the project, as well as costs associated with site acquisition, building design, management and inspection.
