Denise Turner Roth, head of the General Services Administration, has called on Congress to approve full funding of the agency’s construction activities at the St. Elizabeth’s campus in Washington.GSA said Thursday a study found its Enhanced Plan to build a consolidated St. Elizabeths headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security will save the government as much as $800 million and taxpayers almost $1.2 billion over a 30-year period.
The agency forecasts it could finish the project by 2021 if Congress fully funds the initiative in fiscal 2016.
“In keeping with the Obama Administration’s reduce the footprint policy, the consolidation will allow us to cut the federal footprint by 1.8 million square feet and completely reverse DHS’s leased-to-owned ratio,” Roth said, adding the project is now more than halfway done.
GSA says its modified DHS consolidation plan is subject to approval by the National Capital Planning Commission.
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) support the project.
