WASHINGTON, DC—The General Accounting Office,in a report released earlier this week, supported the concept oftrading the J. Edgar Hoover Building here for anew FBI headquarters in possibly Landover, Springfield, orGreenbelt. However, the agency does not believe real estate swapsare a good idea in all situations.

The GAO noted in its report that there are drawbacks to buildingswaps, which the General Services Administrationhas utilized to cope with the lack of Congressional funding tocover capital improvement costs, according to the WashingtonBusiness Journal. The GAO contends that the GSA needs to properlydetermine what properties would be good candidates for an exchangeand to inform potential bidders what the agency expects in returnfor that property.

Among the building swaps the GAO expressed support for besidesthe J. Edgar Hoover Building at 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW was a GSAproposal to swap two buildings in the area known as FederalTriangle South for renovations to its own headquarters at1800 F St. NW and additional work on the Department ofHomeland Security at St. Elizabeths. See story in theWashington Business Journal.