FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 2006 WWW.USDOJ.GOV JMD (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888 Consolidation will Provide Cost Savings and Administrative Efficiencies WASHINGTON The Department of Justice announced today that it has acquired a lease for additional office space in downtown Washington as part of the Departments ongoing efforts to consolidate its offices in the metropolitan area. The Department said that the move will provide costs savings and administrative and management efficiencies.
The General Services Administration acquired a 15-year lease at the Liberty Square building located at 450 5th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Department on Aug. 3, 2006. The approximately 460,000 square feet of office space has a total contract value of about $300 million over the term of the lease. The building was the former headquarters of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As a result of the lease, the Department will now have 1.3 million square feet of office space housing and about 4,000 employees within blocks of the Main Justice Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) building.
This consolidation will save taxpayers more than $37 million over 15 years, said Lee J. Lofthus, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Administration. This project continues our efforts to reduce the number of Department of Justice components housed in multiple locations, and along with the cost savings, will provide administrative and management efficiencies. The Department will begin phasing employees into the Liberty Square building beginning in Fall 2007. Approximately 1,500 employees will relocate to the new building. The building will consolidate sections of the Antitrust Division and the Civil Division. The relocation will also enable the Department to continue to implement its plans to establish the new National Security Division. The Department of Justice currently has about 10,000 employees in 30 different buildings in the metropolitan area. The move into the Liberty Square building will allow the Department to release space in five of those locations. 06-527
Source: US Department of Justice
