Purdue a Finalist for USDA Departments
Published: Friday, May 10, 2019
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue last Saturday announced the finalists of 136 Expressions of Interest received from parties in 35 states vying to become the new homes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Purdue University was one of the top three finalists.
As part of the rigorous site selection process, USDA narrowed the Expressions of Interest list using a set of established criteria defined by USDA, NIFA and ERS leadership.
The criteria included:
• Quality of Life: Subcategory examples include diversity index, residential housing costs, access to healthcare, and home and community safety ranking.
• Costs (capital and operating): Subcategory examples include commercial real estate costs, CPI Index, and wage costs.
• Workforce: Subcategory examples include labor force growth rate, unemployment rate, and the labor force population.
• Logistics / IT Infrastructure: Subcategory examples include lodging availability, proximity to customers, and airport accessibility.
The top Expressions of Interest were reviewed in detail, and USDA selected a short list of locations offering existing buildings with sufficient space to meet ERS and NIFA requirements. In alphabetical order, these are the top three Expressions of Interest under consideration:
Indiana—Purdue University, Indiana Economics Development Corp., State of Indiana; Kansas City—The Kansas City Area Development Council, the Kansas City animal health corridor; and North Carolina—N.C. Research Triangle, Wake County, Durham County and Research Triangle Park.
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