General Dynamic wins $867 million DHS contract
Defense giant General Dynamics was awarded a seven year $867 million contract to build DHS’s new headquarters facility in Washington D.C.; under the contract, General Dynamics is tasked with developing an information technology system to transmit voice, video, and data throughout the facility; the company won the contract after DHS backed out of a $2.6 billion contract with Northrop Grumman for the same project last year; the new facility, located at the unused St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, will consolidate the thousands of DHS employees currently scattered among several different buildings
This week, defense giant General Dynamics was awarded a seven year $867 million contract to build DHS’s new headquarters facility in Washington D.C.
Under the contract, General Dynamics is tasked with developing an information technology system to transmit voice, video, and data throughout the facility.
The company won the contract after DHS backed out of a $2.6 billion contract with Northrop Grumman for the same project last year. DHS cited the fact that General Dynamic’s plan would be cheaper and take less time.
The new facility, located at the unused St. Elizabeths Hospital, will consolidate the thousands of DHS employees currently scattered among several different buildings.
The Coast Guard with its 3,850 employees is the first agency scheduled to move into the new facility in 2013.
The defense giant is also helping to renovate the Pentagon and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The announcement of the contract comes as lawmakers have cut funds for DHS’s new headquarters which will delay construction.
Despite a lack of federal funding, D.C. city officials are pushing ahead with their portion of the deal, allocating $17 million in funding through 2013.
Delegate Eleanor Holmes (D – Washington, D.C.) is pushing for Senate to reinstate funds for the construction project in its budget.
Holmes argued, “This is not a project you can break up into pieces — you can’t stop midway through it.”
She hopes that the Senate will approve an amendment to provide funding for the project.
“We don’t have any assurances about what the Senate will do, but we know they understand this project [cut] is quite different than the cuts you see occurring through these bills,” she said.