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In 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture moved most positions at its Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) from Washington, D.C., to the Kansas City region, even though officials had been briefed on likely staff losses. The Government Accountability Office later found that USDA’s savings analysis omitted costs tied to expected attrition and operational disruption, making its estimate unreliable. The available GAO findings do not establish the move’s final net cost or a verified agency-wide attrition rate.
What USDA moved and when
In June 2019, USDA announced that most staff positions at ERS and NIFA would leave Washington, D.C., for the Kansas City region. GAO reports that most positions moved in October 2019. The agencies conduct agricultural and economic research, and NIFA also administers research grants.
The relocation was framed in part around savings. The key oversight question is not simply whether moving to a lower-cost area could reduce some expenses, but whether the analysis accounted for the staffing losses and interruptions that USDA had reason to anticipate.
What USDA knew about potential staff losses
GAO’s 2023 review described pre-move briefings estimating that ERS could lose 65 to 75 percent of its staff if it relocated outside the National Capital Region. That range was an advance estimate based on employee discussions and experience with earlier relocations—not a measured final attrition rate. For NIFA, the expected level of attrition was described as dependent on the site selected; the cited GAO material does not give a comparable percentage.
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Accordingly, it is accurate to say USDA had warning of substantial potential ERS attrition. It is not accurate, based on these findings, to say that 65 to 75 percent of ERS employees actually left because of the move. GAO’s cited materials do not establish a final agency-wide attrition percentage attributable solely to the relocation.
Why GAO questioned the savings estimate
GAO found USDA’s economic analysis left out critical costs and effects associated with anticipated employee attrition and disrupted agency activities. GAO concluded that those exclusions likely made the savings estimate unreliable.
That finding is narrower than a conclusion that the relocation produced no savings. The cited GAO reviews do not establish a final net taxpayer savings or cost after accounting for all relocation expenses, lost experience, recruitment, and operational effects. A defensible conclusion is that USDA’s estimate did not fully account for foreseeable costs, so it cannot by itself show what the move ultimately saved.
What happened to agency work after the move
GAO’s follow-up review found that workforce size and productivity temporarily declined after relocation. During staffing losses in fiscal years 2019 and 2020, ERS produced fewer key reports, while NIFA took longer to process grants. These are documented early effects, not proof that every later outcome at either agency resulted solely from the relocation.
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Those effects matter to a savings assessment because research output and grant administration are part of the agencies’ work. A relocation may lower some facility or labor expenses while also creating transition costs or slowing mission-related work; the GAO findings identify omissions in USDA’s analysis but do not quantify a final net balance.
How employee input factored into site selection
GAO found USDA officials could not demonstrate how, if at all, employee input was incorporated into choosing the site. NIFA sought some stakeholder input in 2020, after the decision and Kansas City selection. That timing distinguishes later outreach from consultation that could have informed the original site choice.
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What the 2026 announcement means
In April 2026, USDA announced that some ERS and NIFA positions would move from the National Capital Region to Kansas City. The announcement also said positions moved to Kansas City in 2019 but later distributed around the country would be relocated there. This is an announced plan; the announcement does not establish that the moves have been completed or what their effects will be.
The 2026 plan should be treated separately from the 2019 relocation. The earlier GAO findings provide context about risks to staffing, productivity, and cost estimates, but they do not establish the implementation or outcome of the newly announced plan.
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