Listen to testimony from government witnesses from the General Service administration of the federal bureau of investigation and the General Accountability Office of the cancellation of the fbi headquarters consolidation project and what comes next for housing the fbi. The Council Project would have replaced the current fbi headquarters, the J Edgar Hoover building, located at 935 pennsylvania avenue with a new headquarters in either maryland or virginia. The project involved in exchange for the hoover building with a private developer. Using need to replace the fbis existing headquarters. The men and women of the fbi need an Office Building that meets their needs. The security and efficiency arguments for their case is clear. What is not clear is why the project was suddenly halted and congress was not notified in advance and what happens now. Senators should not have to find out about a decision of this magnitude by reading about it in the washington post. How this decision was made, it is possible the mechanics of this deal led to this eventual outcome. The exchange of the J Edgar Hoover building which was at the heart of this proposal may have been doomed from the start. According to the gsa inspector general, only eight building exchanges of this type had ever been executed prior to the start of this project and none of those exchanges involve a building worth more than 11 million. Well there was one Significant Exchange in the pipeline that is not yet complete the exchange of the J Edgar Hoover building, a much larger building located in the heart of the nations , one of americas most famous streets, is a completely different league. Where do we go from here . How do we find a solution . The fbi needs a new headquarters. How do we get there and what do we do in the interim to address the fbis needs . Does it make sense to pump millions of taxpayer dollars into the J Edgar Hoover building to upgrade it to tear it down in a few years . Fbi terror back its requirements for a new facility, reducing its size and scope to make it more affordable for the american taxpayer . Should we look at alternative financing mechanisms such as a lease buyout arrangement where a developer releases a facility to the fbi with the agency having the option to buy the facility years in the future . I look forward to the testimony. Recognizeke to Ranking Member carper. I want to thank you and senator cardin and your staffs for all the work youve done on this important issue. We are blessed by the men and women who serve us in fbi. Also in gsa and an gao weve been blessed by the wonderful leadership at the fbi for years. The newly confirmed director was confirmed yesterday. I think he will be a good one. He falls on the heels of two really good ones in james comey and robert mueller. I think it is safe to say that we have more questions than answers surrounding this recent decision by gsa to cancel a procurement for consolidated fbi headquarters. Im looking forward to learning some of those answers today. Prince georges county is home to three final locations for the new fbi headquarters. The other was in springfield, virginia. The decision to cancel this consolidation was a shock to those jurisdictions and a shock to me and it will have a Significant Impact on the region. Mean myoncerns colleagues share them concerning the move by gsa to cancel the procurement process. The lack of consultation with congress to the impacts on National Security to the excess cost this decision will impose on the federal government. My largest concern is where do we go from here. So much energy has already been invested in this. To have the process halted with out an alternative plan. There is the need to move the fbi to a new location. Building is an aging building that lower longer no longer meets the needs of the fbi in the 21st century. It suffers from deferred maintenance and the employees the fbi is scattered across a number of locations throughout the d. C. Metropolitan area. It is simply unacceptable for the agency to carry out its mission and improve our National Security. It reminds you of the situation security is an dutch Homeland Security is it reminds you of the situation Homeland Security is in. They are trying to consolidate in saint elizabeth. ,ith increasingly tight budgets deferred maintenance on the hoover building an expensive commercial leases for satellite sense toit would make me to consolidate the fbi under one roof or something close to one roof. We should be ensuring we are doing all we can to save taxpayer dollars and create efficiency in government with respect to property management. This for yearson with many of you. Thehould also ensure that congress provides Adequate Funding for Construction Projects that will help agencies meet their missions. For the last several years, a strongen advocate for consolidating the headquarters in saint elizabeth. Them the space we are paying for without Adequate Funding from congress in the years to come, this fbi project may face cost escalations and delays. This is on us, on the congress. Look forward to hearing from this allstar lineup of litmus is that of witnesses. Lineup of witnesses. They use no notes. We will be on our way and get a lot done. Invite thelike to Ranking Member of the transportation and infrastructure subcommittee which esthers diction over public buildings which has jurisdiction over public buildings. Thank you so much for holding this hearing. After gsa announces they were terminating the consolidation of you immediately offered to hold his hearing and i want to thank you very much for that. I want to thank Ranking Member carper for his cooperation in scheduling this hearing. By expressing a great deal of frustration as to how this process has gone forth. With the mixed messages we received on financing and the ignoring of the action of this committee and of congress. As a result, theres been a waste of taxpayer money. A significant waste of money. Abilityomised the fbis to carry out its critical mission. That is plainly unexceptional. I think this committee deserves nation. Deserves an explanation. I hope we can move toward a consolidated facility for the fbi in a very quick way so that we can move on for the taxpayers of this country and the Important Mission the fbi carries out. Let me elaborate what i just said. The fbi has been at the hoover building since 1974. It lacks usable space. In 15 different these locations around the district of columbia, causing an inefficiency in their operations and additional cost to the taxpayers and inability to collaborate. It lacks the security that is necessary for the fbi. All of that is known. It has been known for many years. There were reports done seven years ago, he years ago. Gsa and fbi came to this committee and said we need help. We need you to do something about it. In 2011 classics years ago, this committee took action in 2011, 6 years ago, this committee took action. That perspective said very to proceed with lease transaction on federally owned land for consolidated headquarters facility. We give you the authority. When we give you the authority, we expect that will be carried out and you will work with this committee. So, what happened next . Gsa and omb said we dont want to use the lease facility, we want to pay for it upfront. That is a heavy lift. An excess of 1 billion from at the time now close to 2 billion to pay for one facility. That is what gsa and omb wanted. So, we proceeded with that. Fy 16,s cooperated in 390 million was put into the appropriation bill. In fy 17, 500 23 million additional dollars 523 million additional put into the process. They would provide the additional moneys in a fight in fy 18 to complete the project. This was based upon the exchange of the edgar hoover building. Gsa went forward with the request for information. The lease site was selected and seven proposals were followed. You can back to this committee in 2015 and said we should toate the perspectives comply without gsa was proceeding. We passed the new perspectives for you in 26 think my giving you all the authority you needed. 2016, giving you all the authority needed. Trumps fy 18 budget contains zero for the fbi. Congress was prepared to move languagey the report we put in and the moneys we put in. And then, what i dont understand at all, on july 12 2017, gsa cancels the procurement. Why . Not enough money appropriated by congress . The congress that of a large sum of money and the president said they didnt need any more money. Was it canceled because you want to go to outweigh lease arrangement . We give you that authority in 2011 to use the lease authority. Why would you cancel and not come back to us and say we are changing directions . Are you saying we dont need a consolidated facility for the fbi . I hope that is not the case. The fbi needs a consolidated facility. As to we get some answers why it was handled in this way and how can we move forward in an appropriate way that recognizes the studies that have already been done on these locations. Created a problem because of the cancellation of the prospective. Maybe you can explain how we will move forward and how you will respect the will of this committee and congress when we told you originally to use the lease purchase and you can back and said we wanted to use appropriation and then you dont move forward. We will now hear from our witnesses. We have the acting commissioner of the General Services administration, public building service. We have the assisting director and chief Financial Officer of the federal bureau of investigation finance division and the director of physical Infrastructure Team of the general account ability office. Your full written testimony will be part of the official hearing today. Please keep your statements to five minutes so we may have time for questions. Thank you. Good morning, chairman barrasso and wrecking member carper and members of the committee. On the acting public buildings thanke commissioner you for the opportunity to testify today. I wish to discuss how gsa and the fbi jointly determined that the J Edgar Hoover building no longer meets the needs of the fbi. I will discuss how gsa originally used the change process to help obtain a replacement facility but ultimately reached the decision to cancel procurement. Finally, i will discuss how gsa and the fbi are working together to meet the fbis Housing Needs and Mission Requirements going forward. On2011, gsa issued a report the buildings projects survey, evaluating the following four strategies. Federal construction molise construction dust federal construction, lease federal construction, lease construction it was the most costeffective approach to provide a replacement headquarters facility to house the fbi. Rules,he present scoring the Budget Committee and the office of management and budget least construction determined lease construction would require full funding upfront. Federal ownership has been shown to be the lowest cost alternative. The Capital Projects allowed gsa to meet agency needs while pursuing the best value for the american taxpayers. Gsa has a mechanism that is not being fully utilized. The federal buildings fund. Gsa has a significant backlog fromfunded projects 20112017. Full access to gsa rent collections is necessary to maintain the portfolio and deliver priority missioncritical federal facilities. Gsa recognizes the upfront funding can be used as an impediment to making key investments. Its the way for the federal government to record federal spending. This administration is considering a number of new federal tools to support better decisionmaking. Exchange ofed in the hoover building for a new facility was the most viable funding mechanism to consolidate personnel in the hoover building and multiple lease locations at the lowest possible cost. Allowing gsa to leverage its own inventory to acquire new and more efficient facilities. Just a work closely with the fbi and congress and state and local governments and the private sector to meet project milestones. Gsa selected three preferred sites and a number of preferred developers. Gsa also analyzed all three preferred sites pursuant to the national and bimetal policy act. That shouldated pull funding be provided, we stood ready to select the developer and make an award. Congress passed the 2018 omnibus appropriations act millionbi received 323 this resulted in a funding gap of 882 million. The enactment of the 2017 omnibus, gsa considered potential paths forward to address the funding gap. After interagency deliberations, gsa determined that moving forward without full funding would put the government at risk for project cost exclamations. Thats escalations. We expect concern about the potential reduction in the justroperty value they decided in consultation with the fbi to cancel the procurement. The cancellation of the procurement was not the desired outcome. Members of this and other congressional committees put a tremendous amount of time and energy and effort and resources into delivering a modern fbi headquarters. At this time, we are working together to meet the fbi short and longterm Housing Needs and Mission Requirements. This includes deciding which investments to make in the hoover building now that we know the fbi will be house there for longer than active. Gsa is committed in our mission gsa will continue to work with members of this committee and the fbi and others in the administration and congress to meet this need. I think the committee for the opportunity to testify today and i look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Thank you, chairman senator barrasso and Ranking Member carper. Sitting before you today, i represent a number of individuals at the fbi who spent years making this project a reality. Lost sighte have not of despite this current setback. Mentioned i will just briefly reiterate the J Edgar Hoover building was designed in the 1960s to meet and fbi an fbi mission which at that time was mostly criminal in nature. The mid1970s, nearly half of the building was designed for our Laboratory Functions and fingerprint operations and paper records storage. Today, in addition to the lack of infrastructure and security required to meet the needs, the organization struggles to meet that we must be able to rapidly address threats. Our headquarters is the hub for intelligence and information sharing among our state, local, federal and international partners. Happeningates what is across ar15 field offices our 15 field offices. It operates as the nurse center ofthe organization in terms National Crisis the current structure of the building does not allow for us to coordinate effectively or efficiently. The building itself is not only inefficient, but the Technology Limitations continue to suffer. Everything takes more money and more time to get things done. Virtually all of the critical building systems, mechanical, electrical and plumbing have deteriorated. While the fbi is disappointed the procurement that would have provided the fbi with a facility that meets our mission i was canceled, it facility capable of meeting the nations demands. The fbis requirement to enhance safety, security, flex ability and collaboration have not changed. How we change this will needs to be reexamined to get her successful outcome. We appreciate this hearing and ask for your continuing support. Opportunity for the to discuss our work on gsas efforts to consolidate the fbis headquarters and the challenges discussng i will three key points. The status of the hoover building, gsa efforts to implement Real Property swap exchange is an alternative approaches to funding the project. Fbi and we reported just studies determined the hoover building no longer fully supported the fbis Building Condition requirements. Fbi functions have been disbursed to various annexes around the National Capital region and other locations. In the 2011 report, we also noted the condition of the hoover building was deteriorating and gsa assessments identified significant needs several fbi facilitieses are in owned by foreign entities. Greenbelt, maryland, landover, maryland and springfield gsainia in july of 2017, canceled the procurement because they lacked the funding necessary to proceed. Gsa officials stated that gsa and the fbi would continue to Work Together to assess the requirements of the fbi. Gsa continues to face challenges related to funding new Construction Projects due in part to budget constraints. Gsa has proposed exchanging the title to federally owned property to other properties for construction services. This was the plan for replacing the hoover building. Such exchanges in be of equal desk can be of equal value or in addition to cash gsa has limited experience successfully completing these exchanges. Reviewed14 report, we five projects where gsa subsequently canceled there was little to no market interest in baltimore and surrounding properties. Gsa pursued a large swap exchange potentially involving up to five properties in the federal Triangle South area of washington in order to finance construction of gsa headquarters and other federal properties. In 2013, gsa decided to focus on exchanging only two buildings. Gsaebruary of 2016, canceled the procurement stating the private investor evaluations fell short of the governments estimated values and the amount gsa required to complete th