Secretary Perdue Announces Middle List For ERS and NIFA Relocation

USDA Office of Communications sent this bulletin at 03/12/2019 09:15 AM EDT

Press Release

(Washington, D.C., March 12, 2019) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the initial down-select list of 136 Expressions of Interest received from parties in 35 states vying to become the new homes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). USDA is following a rigorous site selection process to identify the new locations with involvement from USDA, ERS, and NIFA leadership.

“The announcement of this middle list shows that we are committed to the important missions of these agencies and transparency in our selection process. USDA will make the best choice for our employees and customers,” Perdue said. “Relocation will help ensure that USDA is the most effective, most efficient, and most customer-focused agency in the federal government, allowing us to be closer to our stakeholders and move our resources closer to our customers.”

For this initial down-select, USDA applied a set of guiding principles against the Expressions of Interest locations including USDA travel requirements, labor force statistics, work hours most compatible with all USDA office schedules. Sixty-seven Expressions of Interest remain under consideration.

The complete list of Expressions of Interest still under consideration is below.

State	Location	Applicant(s)
AL	Birmingham	City of Birmingham; University of Alabama at Birmingham; Auburn University; Tuskegee University; Alabama A&M University; Economic Development Association of Alabama
AL	Shelby County	City of Hoover, Shelby County, 58 INC. – The Nonprofit Economic Coalition of Shelby County, the Birmingham Business Alliance, Alabama Power Company, Harbert Realty Services, and Select Income REIT / RMR Group
AR	Arkansas	Arkansas Economic Development Commission
AZ	Tempe	Arizona Commerce Authority; Arizona State University and the Arizona Department of Agriculture
CO	Aurora	Aurora Economic Development Council
CO	Denver	Cottonwood Management Company
CO	Denver	Forest City Trust
CO	Denver	Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation
DE	Newark	University of Delaware
FL	Tallahassee	Tallahassee-Leon County
GA	Athens-Clarke County	Athens-Clarke County Development Authority and Nichols Land & Investment Company and Georgia Department of Economic Development
GA	Griffin Spalding County	Griffin-Spalding Development Authority, Rooker, UGA and Georgia Department of Economic Development
IA	Ames	City of Ames and Iowa State University
IA	Ankeny	City of Ankeny/ Greater Des Moines Partnership, Cultivation Corridor, and the Iowa Economic Development Authority
IA	Ankeny	DRA Properties
IA	Des Moines	City of Des Moines; Greater Des Moines Partnership
IA	Council Bluffs	Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation; City of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County
IL	Algonquin	Village of Algonquin
IL	Barrington	Village of Barrington; Bourns Inc
IL	Des Plaines	City of Des Plaines
IL	DuPage County	Economic Development Agency for DuPage County, Illinois
IL	Huntley	Village of Huntley
IL	Kane County	Kane County
IL	Orland Park	Orland Park, State of Illinois, Will County, Illinois Intersect and the Will County Center for Economic Development
IL	Schaumburg	Village of Schaumburg
IL	Warrenville	NAI Hiffman
IN	Multiple	Indiana Economic Development Corporation; AgriNovus Indiana, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) and Purdue University
KS and MO	Kansas City	HPI Group
KS and MO	Kansas City	805 Penn
KS and MO	Greater Kansas City Region	The Kansas City Area Development Council
LA	Baton Rouge	The Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC), along with partners Louisiana Economic Development (LED), Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF), Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry (LDAF), Louisiana State University (LSU), and Southern University and & Mechanical College (SUAM) Agricultural
MD	Montgomery County	Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation
MD	College Park	University of Maryland College Park
MI	East Lansing	Michigan State University, State of Michigan, Capital Region International Airport (LAN), Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau, Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP), Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Michigan Farm Bureau
MN	Falcon Heights	Buhl Investors
MN	Minneapolis	University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership (GREATER MSP), and the Minnesota Food and Agriculture Initiative
MN	Shakopee	The Opus Group
MO	St. Louis	A consortium of regional leaders across six counties in Missouri and Illinois; State of Missouri and Missouri’s Departments of Agriculture, Economic Development, and Workforce Development, as well as the Missouri Partnership
NC	Kannapolis	The North Carolina Research Campus; the city of Kannapolis, Cabarrus and Rowan Counties, and the state of North Carolina
NC	Chapel Hill	State Employee Credit Union
NC	Research Triangle Region	Wake County, Durham County and Research Triangle Park
NE	Lincoln	The Nebraska consortium, led by Governor Pete Ricketts and former USDA Secretary Mike Johanns and including the State of Nebraska, University of Nebraska system, City of Lincoln, Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corporation, Nebraska Department of Economic Development, Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and public and private business
NE	Omaha	SPW Partners G and S and CBRE MEGA
NY	Greater Rochester	FLX Food and Beverage Consortium is led by Greater Rochester Enterprise, a not-for-profit economic development organization. Members of the Consortium include Cornell University and the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; the Cornell Agriculture and Technology Farm; Empire State Development; the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets; the New York State Governor’s Office; Rochester Institute of Technology; Tompkins County Area Development; the University of Rochester; and Wegmans Food Markets Inc.
OH	Akron	County of Summit
OH	Geauga County	Geauga County Department of Development
OH	Middlefield Village	Village of Middlefield
OH	Twinsburg	City of Twinsburg
OH	Streetsboro	City of Streetsboro
OH	Portage County	Brimfield Township
PA	Hanover Township	Private Citizen
SC	Columbia	State of South Carolina (including; South Carolina Department of Commerce, Clemson University, South Carolina Department of Agriculture, and Richland County’s Economic Development Office)
TN	Knoxville	University of Tennessee, Knoxville/University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTK/UTIA); University of Tennessee, Martin (UTM); Tennessee State University (TSU); and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
TN	Memphis	Agricenter International
TX	San Marcos	Greater San Marcos Partnership; San Marcos, Hays County and Texas State University
TX	College Station	Texas A&M AgriLife Research
TX	Dallas	HPI Group
UT	Tooele County	Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Tooele County, Tooele City, Utah State University, and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah
VA	Charlottesville	University of Virginia Foundation
VA	Greene County	County of Greene; Central Virginia Partnership in Economic Development; Virginia Economic Development Partnership; Fried Companies, Inc; Jones Lang LaSalle
VA	Madison County	Madison County; The Lester Group
VA	Caroline County	Thompson (Richmond)
VA	Caroline County	Caroline County Department of Economic Development
VA	Petersburg	Virginia State University and the Petersburg metropolitan region
VA	Richmond	The Riverstone Group, LLC
VA	Roanoke	Roanoke Regional Partnership
WI	Madison	City of Madison, the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences (CALS), University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of University Relations, University Research Park, State of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, and 910 Mayer, LLC

Questions regarding the USDA site selection process should be directed to relocation@usda.gov.