USACE HQ is currently in the US Government Accounting Office Building (441 G Street, NW, Washington, DC ), but almost none of the employees are physically located at the building. Moving USACE HQ to the middle of the country where it would be located amongst the people and projects it manages would have significant benefits, including locating an agency to a part of the country that it directly impacts, reducing the cost of operations, co-locating the agency HQ with a thriving and productive District office, and improving the standard of living for the employees. While not a large direct economic footprint, it would provide a small boost to the Quad Cities (Davenport & Bettendorf, IA and Rock Island & Moline, IL) area, which has only partly emerged from the loss of many manufacturing plants.
Rock Island Arsenal (RIA - https://home.army.mil/ria/) is in the Mississippi River where USACE does much of its work, home to the Rock Island District of USACE (https://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/), has abundant existing facilities to support USACE HQ, is an important facility for the Quad Cities area, a much lower cost of living and operations, and is a more stable environment for personnel and operations than Washington. This location is already Federally owned and is in the midst of large USACE projects related to Navigation (Mississippi and Illinois Rivers), Flood Risk Management, Ecosystem Restoration, and other missions. Rock Island District is the lead USACE District for unwatering, having performed emergency unwatering for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and New York after Super Storm Sandy. The Inland Navigation Design Center, which oversees all USACE navigation projects, is co-located in Rock Island District. Rock Island District is a leader in Flood Risk Management with a portfolio of over 100 levees. Rock Island District is leader in Ecosystem Restoration with UMRR, HREP, and NESP projects along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Having USACE HQ located adjacent to Rock Island District would ground HQ to the actual requirements for project implementation and would immerse USACE leadership in an active community of stakeholders and project sponsors that currently pay lobbyists in Washington to be heard at a high level.
RIA is also home to these other major commands: Army Contracting Command–Rock Island; Army Civilian Human Resources Agency; Army Sustainment Command; Coast Guard; Development Command Chemical Biological Center; Development Command Armaments Center; First Army; Illinois Army National Guard; Joint Manufacturing & Technology Center; Joint Munitions Command; Marine Safety Detachment; Navy Operational Support Center; and Network Enterprise Center. This shows RIA is a viable and suitable home for an organization at the level of USACE HQ.