Homeland Security headquarters move strained by budget request

The Obama administration’s proposal for a modest bump-up in spending on the Homeland Security Department’s headquarters consolidation is unlikely to help planners of the ongoing moves and property improvements get back on schedule, observers say.

In his fiscal 2013 budget released Feb. 13, President Obama called for $89 million for the department’s planned move of top officials and staff to the campus of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington. That would be a boost of $33 million over the estimated fiscal 2012 level and an increase of $12 million over fiscal 2011 spending.

The relevant General Services Administration budget line would allot a separate $56 million for acquisition of facilities but requests no new construction funding in fiscal 2013. GSA is pushing ahead on the project using $37.3 million in fiscal 2012 funds and previous Recovery Act funding.

Funding for the moves has been opposed by some Republicans stressing deficit reduction. In fiscal 2012, Obama originally had requested $159 million for the St. Elizabeths moves, but the final allotment was $56 million. Similarly, the administration sought $218 million for GSA’s portion, but ended up with $50 million, only $37.3 million of which was directly for the headquarters moves.

“The reduced level of funding appropriated by Congress to date has impacted the original integrated construction sequencing that would have maximized efficiencies and avoided costs,” a DHS official said in an email to Government Executive. “We are consequently working on a revised path forward for St. Elizabeths and our real estate footprint in the National Capital Region.”

The official added that projects associated with the headquarters consolidation will provide some 2,900 jobs and are being developed collaboratively with other federal, District of Columbia and local community partners. GSA is focusing on getting the U.S. Coast Guard portion of the project ready by 2013.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in an email to Government Executive that he is “disappointed the president’s budget does not provide funding to continue construction of the DHS headquarters at St. Elizabeths beyond the Coast Guard’s new headquarters. While budgets are tight now, failing to complete the project in a timely manner will cost taxpayers more in the long run.”

The current and requested amounts represent only a fraction of what DHS and GSA had been counting on for implementing the department’s $3.45 billion plan to centralize by 2016 the offices of some 14,000 employees who have been scattered at more than 50 sites since the department was created from 22 smaller agencies following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The consolidation at the historic psychiatric hospital, which involves alteration and improvement of facilities, new access roads, utility lines and relocation costs, has been scaled back at least temporarily.

In late January, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson sent a letter to House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairwoman Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., expressing confidence that GSA could complete the Coast Guard portion under current funding.

“GSA must construct an access road, a pumping station and a utility plant,” she wrote. “Previously, these improvements were estimated to cost $76 million. GSA has determined that $19.5 million for the stone façade on the access road and all but the first module of the central utility plant can be postponed until after USCG occupancy and funded in a future year.” The remaining $56.5 million, Johnson added, will be funded through a combination of the fiscal 2012 allocation of $37.3 million, postponing previously funded work such as the on-campus visitor’s center and utility plant and project savings realized on a recent operations center building contract award.