DHS HQDebate continues over DHS’s St. Elizabeths project

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released at a House hearing last Friday insists that Congress should make future funding available for the consolidation of DHS offices at the St. Elizabeths campus in Washington, D.C. The report notes that future funding should require that DHS and the General Services Administration (GSA) develop a more precise tenant plan which “conforms with leading practices” and recognizes changes in the workplace like share work space and telecommuting.

The Homeland Security News Wire reported earlier this year that the project’s cost overruns have reached nearly $1 billion, and the project’s timetable has been extended by ten years — from a 2016 completion date to 2026. The consolidation effort began in 2006 as a way to achieve efficiency and better coordinatation among different DHS units.

The Coast Guard moved its headquarters to the St. Elizabeths site in August 2013.

Government Executive reports that House Homeland Security Subcommittee chairman Jeff Duncan (R-South Carolina) called the GAO report “a monument to mismanagement,” saying that “It’s been three years since construction began with some funds from the 2009 Stimulus Act in classic big-government style to lift us out of the recession.”. He added that “What we got were cushy offices for Washington bureaucrats, courtyards with Brazilian ivywood, a living roof and rainwater-flush toilets — driven by a political agenda. We could have used normal plumbing.”

DHS and GSA representatives defended the consolidation project during the hearing, noting that uncertainties on congressional funding did slow the pace of construction. Norman Dong, commissioner of GSA’s Public Buildings Service, said phase one of the consolidation project, including the completion of the Coast Guard headquarters, was delivered on time and on budget. Uncertainties about funding, however, created problems as construction labor costs rose and workers had to demobilize and re-mobilize equipment. “Uncertainty makes it difficult scope out the full project on a specific schedule,” Dong said.

House Homeland Security Subcommittee ranking member Ron Barber (D-Arizona) also criticized the slow developments at St. Elizabeths, but pointed out that in 2007 Congress appropriated only $6 million out of the $360 million President George W. Bush requested for Homeland Security consolidation.

Those in favor of continuing the DHS project at St. Elizabeths received support from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, when the committee released its report on the subject last Friday. The report compiles statements of support from top DHS officials, including former secretaries Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, and Janet Napolitano.

“Completing a consolidated headquarters for the department will not only save nearly a billion taxpayer dollars, it will help our nation better prevent and respond to terrorist attacks and other disasters,” committee chairman Tom Carper (D-Delaware) said in a statement. “Given its importance, the St. Elizabeths DHS consolidation project should remain a funding priority, and Congress and the administration should come together on a plan to move forward with the project.”