Faa’s Effort To Vacate Its Mall Headquarters goes Sideways

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford suggested Thursday that not all of the agency’s Washington-area employees will relocate to Transportation Department headquarters, as initially planned.

Speaking at an internal town hall, watched by POLITICO, Bedford said, “We’re not gonna get to one building.” He called it a “hard realization.”

“We’ll probably be two buildings,” he said. “We’re close to two buildings now.”

The admission comes after reporting from POLITICO showed that the ambitious effort to move more than 3,400 FAA workers in the region to one of DOT’s two headquarters buildings in Washington didn’t account for roughly 1,000 personnel. A recent government watchdog report echoed that conclusion.

At the town hall Thursday, Bedford said he thinks that by the end of this quarter, Sept. 30, “we will only have two facilities” — DOT’s East Building in the Navy Yard neighborhood and the FAA’s historic Orville Wright Federal Building near the National Mall. The FAA has already vacated the nearby Wilbur Wright Federal Building.

The FAA in a statement to POLITICO said it “continues to work on plans to leverage existing space” at DOT and is “committed to ensuring a smooth and efficient transition for the workforce.”

Context: DOT Secretary Sean Duffy last summer announced the relocation, saying FAA facilities had fallen into a “state of disrepair” and that the move would help generate “efficiencies.”

POLITICO reported in December that over 3,400 FAA personnel from six facilities across the region would be affected, with all moving to DOT’s East Building.

In March, POLITICO reported on internal draft notes that showed the agency faced insufficient space at its new home.

A Government Accountability Office probe released earlier this month found that the plan didn’t account for 950 FAA personnel — and that DOT lacked “detailed savings estimates.”

The watchdog said the consolidation effort might be completed without the FAA completely vacating its headquarters complex near the National Mall. DOT officials said they wanted to wrap up the relocation by summer 2027, according to the GAO.

Bedford said Thursday the process of cutting the FAA’s Washington-area presence down to DOT’s East Building and the Orville Wright Federal Building, instead of having six facilities, will save about $30 million in rent annually.

What’s next: Bedford said there are around 700 FAA workers at DOT currently, and the agency will probably move approximately 300 more over the next two months.

“That cadence will just sort of continue to flow,” he said. “But again, I see us being a sort of a two-building operation.”

It remains unclear if employees will remain at the Orville Wright Federal Building.

Bedford at one point said: “Ultimately, we’ll all move.”