Virginia's delegation held its private meeting with the General Services Administration to pitch why Springfield should be the home of the next FBI headquarters one day after Maryland made its pitch for Prince George’s County.
The headquarters will be the biggest project in the history of the GSA.
On Thursday, Virginia's delegation sharply responded to Maryland's claims.
"We estimate that locating FBI in Virginia would cost taxpayers upwards of 1 billion additional dollars,” Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said Wednesday.
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"Those cost estimates are totally wrong, out of left field and have no basis in fact," said U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, of Virginia.
The Virginia location is near the Mixing Bowl on property the federal government already owns.
Maryland claims it would cost an extra $1 billion to relocate the current tenant at the Springfield site, but Warner said the tenant is moving regardless of which site is chosen and it will not cost the GSA more money beyond what’s been budgeted.
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The GSA has a list of criteria that it's scoring each site on, including an executive order from President Joe Biden requiring the GSA factor in equity. Maryland argues the Virginia choice ignores equity.
“Do not make a mockery of the president nor his executive orders," Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.
Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine pointed out 55% of Fairfax County homes speak a language other than English.
"We embrace that, so the notion that somebody's going to ignore it? No, we embrace it,” he said. “We just assert that the Springfield site meets and exceeds the equity criteria."
Adam Lee, the chief security officer at Dominion Energy who also spent 22 years working at the FBI, said the Springfield site's proximity to Quantico, the CIA and others make classified meetings more efficient.
“To make it difficult to have those face-to-face interactions would set back the mission of the FBI," he said.
Winning the new FBI headquarters would be a benefit to either community, but the GSA says it will make its decision based on the greatest benefit to the FBI.
