by Brianna Crandall — October 22, 2014—With funding provided by Congress in Fiscal Year 2014, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded a design-build contract to Maryland-based Grunley Construction Company and DC-based Shalom Baranes Associates to renovate the historic Center Building at the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) St. Elizabeths campus.
The Center Building project is the second of GSA’s three-phase consolidation project at the St. Elizabeths West Campus. The agency is committed to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of DHS while saving taxpayer dollars by consolidating multiple DHS offices and reducing costly leases.
GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini says the DHS consolidation at St. Elizabeths is critical to helping DHS fulfill its mission:
“Placing DHS offices on this campus will not only ensure that the agency has the space it needs to do its job effectively, it will also allow them to reinvest valuable taxpayer dollars into its mission. Opening a state-of-the-art facility for the U.S. Coast Guard on this campus was an important first step forward for the Coast Guard and DHS, and we are dedicated to delivering the rest of this project to give DHS the campus and facilities they need to keep our nation safe.”
According to a GSA press release, GSA and DHS delivered Phase 1 of the St. Elizabeths consolidation project on time and on budget, and FY 2014 appropriations allowed GSA to begin the next phase of the project.
The 270,000 gross sq. ft. DHS Center Building, considered a National Historic Landmark, will serve as DHS Headquarters. The building will house some 700 DHS employees. The GSA Web site offers a short video that provides a history of St. Elizabeths and the master plan for revitalizing the site for a new DHS headquarters.
