S. 1638 would require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prepare a report to the Congress on the project to consolidate DHS headquarters within the national capital region, including updated timelines and cost estimates. The bill also would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the DHS estimates of project costs and schedules and to report its findings to the Congress.
Based on the cost of similar activities, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1638 would cost less than $500,000; any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds. Much of the information needed for the DHS and GAO reports has already been compiled. Because enacting the legislation would not affect direct spending or revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
S. 1638 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
On June 3, 2015, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 1640, the Department of Homeland Security Headquarters Consolidation Accountability Act of 2015, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Homeland Security on May 20, 2015. The two bills are similar and CBO’s estimates of the budgetary effects are the same.
