The Agriculture Department is planning to dismantle its presence in Washington, D.C., according to several officials briefed on the plans, and will relocate those it does not lay off to three hubs around the country, reports Government Executive publication.
The locations for those new offices have not yet been determined, senior officials throughout the department have told employees in recent days, but the shakeup will impact thousands of headquarters staff. USDA is expected to offload one of its two Washington headquarters buildings, according to two employees familiar with the matter.
The relocations will accompany widespread layoffs at the department, according to four officials made aware of the plans, though the exact number is not yet clear. Those cuts are expected in late April or early May. Some employees have been told to expect the department to cut back to fiscal 2019 staffing levels—which would lead to USDA slashing around 9,000 of its 98,000 employees—while others have been told there is a overall federal workforce reduction number the administration has developed and the department will do its part proportionally to meet that target.
The RIF plans may hit some USDA components harder than others. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), for example, received billions of dollars through the Inflation Reduction Act and increased its staffing levels accordingly. A cut to match its workforce in fiscal 2019, as employees have been told is the goal, would lead to a reduction of around 23% of the NRCS’s more than 11,000 employees. Some of those RIFs may be staved off depending on how many employees accept the deferred resignation offer or an early retirement incentive.