Two developers are appealing the federal government’s decision to keep thousands of Department of Health and Human Services workers in Montgomery County and not move them to Prince George’s County. The General Services Administration announced that it is renewing its lease for 932,391 square feet at the Parklawn Building near the Twinbrook Metro station in Rockville for use by HHS for the next 15 years. Several developers bid to move the offices near Metro stations in Prince George’s County. The protests come from two losing bidders.
Metroview Development Holdings LLC, which proposed that HHS move near the New Carrollton Metro station, filed an appeal with the Government Accountability Office, the congressional investigative arm that hears appeals on government contracts. Developers with the company One Largo Metro LLC also filed a protest.
“There were some very technical requirements that had to be satisfied and it is our contention — our client’s contention –that [the General Services Administration] did not follow their own technical requirements,” said Ron Gart, an attorney representing One Largo Metro LLC. “And if they had done so, they would have selected our client.”
A spokesman for the GAO said the agency will issue a decision within 100 days, as required by law.
The 18-story Parklawn Building houses about 6,000 employees for the Food and Drug Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and other departments, according to the HHS website.
Scott Peterson, a spokesman for Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, called the decision “disappointing” and said the county “has consistently been overlooked when it comes to placing federal office tenants.” Baker said during his state of the economy address that 60 percent of the county’s residents leave the county for work everyday.
“Over a quarter of the federal work force lives in our county,” Baker said. “But we have only 3 percent of the leased federal office space.”
