By Steve Neavling
Members of Congress on Tuesday grilled the GSA about its decision to choose Maryland as the site of the new FBI headquarters.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., pointed out that a GSA official selected Greenbelt for the site, despite a GSA committee unanimously recommending Springfield, Va.
“Which begs the question, why even have the panel if you’re just going to decide otherwise?” Perry said, saying the American people “smell a rat,” The Washington Post reports.
FBI officials have also raised questions about the site selection process.
A now-former GSA official, Nina Albert, made the final call after evaluating the site selection criteria differently than the committee. Before working for the GSA in 2021, Albert worked in real estate for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which owns the Greenbelt site.
Albert did not appear before the subcommittee. Instead, Elliot D. Doomes, commissioner of the GSA’s Public Building Service, answered questions and defended the process.
Doomes said Greenbelt was the ideal site because of its proximity to public transit, its savings to federal taxpayers, and its potential to drive sustainable and inclusive growth, among other things.
“Since the site selection announcements some stakeholders have raised questions about the process and decision. Let me address those misconceptions with a few facts,” Doomes said. “The site selection authority [Albert] did not inappropriately change the panel’s recommendation. The site selection authority is the only official charged with making a decision and is charged with exercising independent judgment.”
