Fort Meade could receive a $165 million check from Congress to expand for the 22,000 jobs coming to the Odenton base.
Maryland U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin announced Thursday that the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs 2008 spending bill will have funding for new buildings to handle the fort?s Base Realignment and Closure expansion.
“This is a sign that BRAC is moving forward,” said Robert Leib, Anne Arundel BRAC manager.
Most of the funding allotted to Fort Meade ? $152 million ? will go to constructing a home for the Defense Information System Agency, the largest group relocating to the fort.
The DISA building represents a significant portion of the BRAC expansion at the fort, consisting of 1.2 million square feet, Leib said.
County and state officials believe DISA will bring about 4,000 jobs when it uproots from Northern Virginia in 2009-10.
The $963 million funding bill, which includes funding for other Maryland military facilities, will be mediated between the House and Senate committees before a final vote takes place.
Fort Meade spokeswoman Jennifer Downing said the funding would affect operations transferring to the base.
“Other entities such as Defense Media Activities and the Security Clearance Adjudication Activities are also scheduled to transfer their operations to the installation,” she said.
The funding announcement is the first real sign of progress in reshaping the fort for BRAC.
However, nothing ? if anything ? can be done until Sept. 15, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concludes its environmental impact study.
News of the funding comes as Gov. Martin O?Malley talked about “making sacrifices” and unifying to make BRAC improvements a reality at a military reservation council meeting in Crownsville.
“We have the capacity, what we need to cobble together is the political will,” O?Malley said.
The BRAC expansion at Fort Meade represents the single largest job-generator in Anne Arundel County, though much of the infrastructure needed to support the growth ? roads, water lines, sewer plants ? will not be in place when the jobs arrive, officials said.
