Bechtel, a major contractor for the Energy Department’s nuclear complex, announced June 7 it will move its corporate headquarters to one of Washington, D.C.’s Northern Virginia suburbs.
The international engineering, procurement, and construction company said it will move corporate operations from Houston and San Francisco to Reston, Va., by the end of 2018. Bechtel already has an office in Reston, which is about 23 miles outside the U.S. capital in Fairfax County.
“For more than a decade, Bechtel’s corporate leadership has been distributed across Houston, Reston, and San Francisco,” said Bechtel President and Chief Operating Officer Jack Futcher in a press release. “Consolidating the corporate leadership and operations in Reston will enable the company to thrive in the current fast-paced business environment – one that demands faster and seamless decision-making, integration, and collaboration.” Bechtel will keep offices in Houston and San Francisco.
About 1,300 Bechtel employees now work in the Reston office, which is already home base for the company’s Nuclear, Security and Environmental unit. The move will add about 150 employees, mostly management and corporate staffers. The shift isn’t expected to have a major impact on Bechtel’s Energy Department complex operations given most of those jobs are based at the sites.
Bechtel is a senior partner on the outgoing management and operations prime for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Security. The company partnered with Purdue University on a failed bid for the follow-on Los Alamos management contract just awarded to the Battelle-led Triad National Security. Triad also includes University of California, the other senior partner on the current Los Alamos contract, and Texas A&M University.
Bechtel also leads Consolidated Nuclear Security, prime contractor for the Pantex weapons assembly plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Bechtel is a privately-held company with about 50,000 employees worldwide.
