Fedweek

The agency is offering a 25 percent of salary relocation incentive plus other services for those who choose to move and outplacement and other services for those who do not. Image: Bob Korn/Shutterstock.com

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management has said that not all positions in its headquarters will be moved to the new headquarters location of Grand Junction, Colo., with a goal of completing the move by July.

Some 200 headquarters positions are to relocate while about 60 others with “inherently DC-based responsibilities” such as legislative, regulatory and public affairs, budget, and Freedom of Information Act compliance will stay in the national capital area, it said. Nearly 100 other positions will be reassigned to offices of state directors.

“We hope employees will be able to follow their positions to the new locations but there are many factors that an individual may consider when deciding whether or not to relocate, so, it’s difficult to say at this time exactly how many people will choose to relocate,” it said.

The agency is offering a 25 percent of salary relocation incentive plus other services for those who choose to move and outplacement and other services for those who do not.

In a recent similar move of two Agriculture Department entities outside of the capital area, majorities of employees chose not to move, either retiring, resigning or finding other federal positions.

From an FAQ on the move published by BLM:

– Follows executive order to “move decision-making out of the Washington, DC area”

– Grand Junction was selected for cost savings, accessibility, quality of life, and a desire not to place the Headquarters in the same city as a State or District Office

– All new BLM positions in CO will be advertised and filled through www.USAjobs.gov

See also, Mulvaney Comments on Transfers Are Telling, Says Union

View of Grand Junction, CO With the Colorado River