The Homeland Security Department's new $3.4 billion headquarters complex in southeast Washington was intended to unite employees now scattered across dozens of locations, but most of the department's 35,000 area employees aren't actually moving there.

The new headquarters complex, on the grounds of the former St. Elizabeths mental hospital, will house 14,000 employees once work is completed in six years. The rest will continue to work out of either government owned or leased space, although a major effort is under way to consolidate much of that leased space.

On April 1, the Homeland Security Department and the General Services Administration intend to issue a request for proposals for between 1.1 million and 1.3 million square feet of leased space to consolidate employees now working out of 10 leased locations, agency officials said at March 24 hearing before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security. These employees perform mission support functions and include employees within Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Science and Technology directorate and the undersecretary for management office.

The consolidated lease could include multiple facilities in the national capital region, said Bob Peck, commissioner of GSA's Public Buildings Service. Homeland Security and GSA plan to award the new leases in 2011, and employees should relocate two to three years later.

In addition to the new leased space, Homeland Security employees will continue to operate out of several other owned and leased facilities in the region. These include government-owned facilities such as the Nebraska Avenue Complex, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, and the Secret Service headquarters building. Leased facilities that will continue to be used include a Pentagon City facility now housing the Transportation Security Administration, and Potomac Center North, an 11-story office building near L'Enfant Plaza in southwest Washington that currently houses some Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees.

Once the consolidation effort is completed in 2016, DHS expects to have all 35,000 of its Washington-based employees working in seven to 10 locations, down from 46 today, said Elaine Duke, undersecretary for management at Homeland Security.

By consolidating its employees into as few locations as possible, DHS will save at least $400 million in expenses it otherwise would have incurred during the next 30 years, Duke said. The savings come from avoided rent, consolidating services such as mail processing and security guards, and less need for shuttle services moving employees from one location to another, Duke said. It also will reduce facility operation and maintenance costs, improve the quality of life for employees and foster a culture of collaboration now difficult to attain with so many employees scattered about, she said.

"This extreme dispersion imposes significant inefficiencies in our daily operations that can be magnified considerably at the most important moments — when the department must act as a nimble and quick, integrated team responding to natural disasters or terrorist threats," Duke said.