On August 16, 2024, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the selection of Clark Construction for the general construction of the new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Headquarters at the St. Elizabeths West Campus in Washington, D.C. This $524 million construction award includes approximately $115.88 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda. This represents the largest IRA investment by GSA to date.
The Biden-Harris Administration is demonstrating leadership in addressing the climate crisis through President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan, which aims to achieve net-zero emissions from federal buildings by 2045. The project involves constructing a 630,000 square-foot federal building to house CISA in a state-of-the-art, sustainable facility. This investment includes approximately $80 million for low-embodied carbon construction materials such as asphalt, concrete, glass, and steel, and $35 million to meet high-performance green building standards, thereby supporting domestic manufacturing and clean energy industries.
The design of the CISA headquarters will set a new benchmark for energy performance in federal buildings within the National Capital Region, with an anticipated energy use intensity of 28.9 thousand Btus per square foot per year—a 72% reduction compared to typical office buildings (CBECS 2003 baseline). The project will feature sustainable design elements such as chilled beams, a dedicated outside air system with energy recovery and demand-controlled ventilation, advanced lighting controls, and a high-performance building envelope. It is expected to achieve LEED Gold v4 certification under U.S. Green Building Council standards.
The St. Elizabeths projects support hundreds of jobs annually and provide significant economic benefits to the local community, including small businesses. Since 2010, the St. Elizabeths Opportunities Center has facilitated local outreach, resulting in 435 small business contracts and the completion of the Small Business Administration 8(a) certification program by approximately 35 local businesses. Through collaborations with training organizations and general contractors, over 2,500 residents have been employed on the St. Elizabeths West Campus.
This announcement also supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which prioritizes the procurement of low-embodied carbon materials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The IRA allocates $3.4 billion to GSA for promoting low-embodied carbon construction materials and enhancing federal facility sustainability. GSA’s IRA projects aim to implement new technologies and expedite efforts to achieve a net-zero emissions federal building portfolio by 2045, potentially reducing carbon emissions by over 2 million metric tons—equivalent to removing about 500,000 gasoline-powered vehicles from the road for one year.
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