As the largest employer in the Washington metro area, the federal government has a significant affect on regional development. Its site and development decisions have a significant impact upon regional economic, environmental, and employment resources and, in turn, these factors affect the ability of federal agencies to meet their mission needs, impact the desirability to do both government and commercial business, and affect how attractive the region is to live for current and future residents. In short, the long-term needs of the federal government and the larger Washington region are closely intertwined.

In light of this, the General Services Administration (GSA) seeks to cultivate innovative regional coordination, design, and planning practices for accommodating future federal office development in the Washington region over the next half-century.

Decisions about the form, nature, and location of federal work will have a tremendous influence on the long-term social, economic, environmental, and cultural health of the region. Developing an urban planning vision for how to locate and develop federal work places will require close collaboration with both public and private stakeholders. GSA seeks to encourage this effective regional coordination and plan intelligently, guided by mutual regional concerns such as sustainability, energy consumption, transportation infrastructure, security, and new technologies, as well as the changing regional economics of land, housing, and workforce issues.

In order to promote a guiding vision for the future of federal work in the Washington region, the General Services Administration's (GSA) Public Building Service (PBS) will award competitive grants in the range of $50,000 to $500,000 for coordination, planning, and research efforts that explore fundamental questions related to the form, location, and design of federal offices over the next 10 to 50 years in the National Capital Region. The maximum aggregate value of the grants is $500,000.

Grant proposals will be evaluated by a panel consisting of federal officials and GSA Design Excellence Peers, who are nationally recognized private sector educators and practitioners in the fields of urban planning and design.

Proposals due: June 20, 2008
Grantees notified: July 2008

Related Link: Grant Application Information

For more information contact:

Frank Giblin
GSA - Office of the Chief Architect
1800 F Street NW
Washington
DC 20405
USA

Phone: 202-501-1856
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.gsa.gov