Work Continues on New NSF HQ

The National Science Foundation is currently operating without a headquarters building. The agency vacated its former headquarters across from the Eisenhower Avenue Metro Station in Arlington, Virginia, on Jan. 17. But NSF’s new home, a few blocks away, is not yet ready for staff to move in. As a result, most NSF staff are now working remotely, with no concrete date set for when they will return to the office. Committee meetings that usually take place in-person are being held virtually.

An NSF spokesperson said that work on NSF’s new headquarters at 401 Dulany Street in the Randolph Building began shortly after the lease was signed in December 2025. The spokesperson added that the agency “quickly established a presence in the building,” and that NSF leadership and staff involved in outfitting the building are on-site daily. There is no firm move-in date, but NSF “is looking forward to fully occupying the building as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.

NSF staff told FYI that the new headquarters, which is part of a campus occupied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is not yet furnished, and its IT infrastructure is still being set up. NSF’s IT systems, including the agency’s website, will be offline for most of this weekend due to work related to the move.

NSF’s former headquarters, which was custom-built to meet the needs of the agency, was completed in 2017 with a 15-year lease. A memo sent to NSF staff in June 2025 said that the General Services Administration was allowing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take over the building as NSF was not “fully using the office space and other areas currently allocated to it.” The building was originally designed to accommodate around 2,400 employees, and roughly 1,800 NSF staff were reportedly using it as of last summer.

Separate from NSF’s move into its new building, the timing of HUD’s move into NSF’s former headquarters also remains uncertain. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) recently requested that the Government Accountability Office investigate HUD’s relocation plans, citing concerns about the legality of the move and questions about how it is being funded. The senators questioned why HUD was reportedly required to pay $26.2 million to relocate the NSF employees and called out a lack of transparency related to projected building improvement costs. HUD and the General Services Administration did not respond to requests for comment.

Other members of Congress have also expressed concern about how the move is being handled by the Trump administration. “I have said from the beginning that HUD’s move should not come at the expense of the 1,800 NSF employees working to advance American technological competitiveness, strategic capabilities, and national security,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), in an emailed statement. “Unfortunately, the Administration has not been transparent and continues to provide little information to Congress and the affected staff. It is critical that GSA and HUD are transparent with all affected parties so the public servants at both NSF and HUD are empowered to continue their missions,” Warner said.

The NSF move comes at a time of major upheaval for the agency, including staff cuts, grant terminations, grant-review process changes, a restructuring of the agency’s divisions and directorates, and the majorly reduced role of “rotators” – scientists, engineers, and educators working at NSF on a temporary basis. NSF has been without a director since Sethuraman Panchanathan departed the agency in April 2025, but media reports suggest that acting Centers for Disease Control chief and biotechnology investor Jim O’Neill will soon be nominated by President Trump to lead NSF.