Northrop Grumman plans to move its corporate headquarters to Northern Virginia, ending a regionwide battle to court the giant defense contractor.
Gov. Bob McDonnell is widely expected to announce the decision on Tuesday. The shift from Northrop’s current Los Angeles home will add about 300 high-level jobs to a region in which the company already maintains a heavy presence; Northrop employs about 20,000 workers in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley conceded the loss Monday evening, issuing a statement congratulating Virginia and calling the decision “a win for the entire Greater Washington region.”
“With today’s announcement the region will not only gain new corporate-level jobs, but a number of the company’s key subcontractors and suppliers,” O’Malley said.
The McDonnell administration stayed mum on the planned announcement, and economic development officials in Virginia declined to comment. A Northrop Grumman spokesman did not return a call for comment.
Several sources with knowledge of the relocation said Northrop has not settled on a final site within Northern Virginia, which is the home of the company’s biggest customer — the Pentagon. Fairfax County supervisors plan on discussing the move during a closed meeting on Tuesday.
Northrop announced in January it would decamp from California in favor of the Washington area, setting off a war among the three neighboring governments to offer the company the most lucrative package of incentives. Virginia was thought have a natural advantage not just from the Defense Department, but because of its lower income taxes.
The decision was first reported by the Washington Business Journal.
Northrop plans to finish the move by summer 2011.
Virginia earlier this month retooled a $2.3 billion contract with Northrop to upgrade the state government’s computer network which had been plagued by cost overruns and slipped deadlines. McDonnell has said the relocation and contractual dispute are unrelated.
