Dive Brief:

• The General Services Administration will not decide on a new location for the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters until next year, the Washington Business Journal reported.  

• The state of Maryland has been lobbying the GSA to select a site in Prince George's County, MD, before the end of the year and before Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), an influential force in Congress, retires.

• The GSA has narrowed its choices to three sites in Maryland and Virginia, and, according to the Business Journal, Maryland's chances for a favorable decision would be further diminished if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) becomes vice president, despite the GSA's assertions that the selection process will not be influenced by politics.

Dive Insight:

Each of the three potential sites are within two and a half miles of a Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) exchange and two miles from a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Metrorail stop. Of course, the entire process hinges on funding from the 2017 federal budget, which has not yet been approved.

If the GSA decides to build the FBI's new headquarters in Virginia, it would be an economic blow to Rushern Baker, executive of Prince George's County, who has already seen a multibillion-dollar project — the near-$6 billion Purple Line light rail system — stalled.

The rail project, which is planned for Prince George's and Montgomery counties, was just days away from funding when a federal judge vacated federal approval for the project, along with a $900 million federal grant, pending the results of an additional environmental review. Opponents of the project maintain that the ridership numbers submitted by the Purple Line's developers were not accurate and that they did not adequately explore alternative transportation options. In addition, critics said, a three-mile section of the Purple Line would necessitate the razing of a tree line bordering a trail that has become a community park.