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The most widely anticipated GSA announcement of the year—where it will build the FBI's new HQ—will no longer happen this year.
The GSA pushed back the decision, which it had previously said would come by year's end, until March, the Washington Post reports.
No reason for the delay was given, other than that the solicitation has received a "strong and overwhelmingly positive" response from developers. President Obama's FY 2017 budget, which has yet to be approved by Congress, includes $1.4B in appropriations for the project.
The agency is deciding between three sites in Greenbelt, Landover and Springfield. Virginia and Maryland are both offering hefty sums of money to win the bid, which would bring the FBI's 11,000 jobs and spur tons of development. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is pledging $317M in infrastructure improvements for the Greenbelt site and $255M for the Landover site, while Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe pledged $120M of investments for the Springfield site, which the GSA already owns.
Delaying until next year could give Virginia the upper hand. Maryland's influential Sen. Barbara Mikulski will be retired and, if Hillary Clinton is elected, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine will be vice president, not to mention Clinton has close ties with McAuliffe. [WaPo]
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