The USDA will need only a couple of months to pick the new homes for two research agencies that are being moved out of the Washington area, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a letter. He also told the leader of the Senate Agriculture Committee that “this is an internal operational decision” so there was no requirement to seek public comment before deciding to relocate the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
“With that said, we are actively meeting with stakeholders and welcome feedback as we go forward,” wrote Perdue. Besides relocating the agencies, Perdue announced that he was taking control of ERS, part of USDA’s research wing since 1994, and moving it into his executive office. He cited a 1999 National Academy of Sciences report to justify the realignment.
The USDA will accept “expressions of interest” until October 15 from universities, cities and local governments to house ERS and NIFA. “Currently, we expect to identify the new location(s) by January 2019 and open the new office(s) in the summer of 2019,” wrote Perdue, and there would be “a rolling transition from DC to the new location” to reduce work disruptions. The lease on NIFA’s office space is expiring and ERS pays one of the highest office rents among USDA agencies, said the letter, written in response to the senators’ request for details of the decision.