Around the World: BEP Upgrades Washington Facility
The BEP has shelved plans for a new Maryland facility and will instead upgrade its aging Washington plant with modern printing and inspection equipment.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Although it would likely save the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) millions of dollars by replacing its aging District of Columbia plant with one in Beltville, Maryland, the bureau has shelved the proposal. It is forging ahead with refurbishing its existing location.
According to the BEP Replacement Facility quarterly newsletter, “Due to budgetary constraints and a reduction in the project’s required scope, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, has canceled the solicitation…USACE will continue to work in partnership with BEP on a path forward as reevaluations for this project are underway.”
According to the Government Accountability Office, replacing the DC facility would save the BEP an estimated $568 million over a 10-year period when that cost is compared to the cost of renovating the existing facility.
There were many hoops to jump through to reach the point where the Beltville location was given a green flag as the replacement location. Among them was an Environmental Impact Statement. There was also some focus on the woman-owned Sorba Civil Engineering company as a small business planned to participate in the project.
The land was to be transferred from the US Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Treasury through a 2020-dated Memorandum of Agreement between the two departments. Documents viewed in preparation for this article were not clear regarding whether the BEP or Department of Agriculture currently holds title to the Maryland site.
According to the BEP Replacement Facility newsletter, “Much of the property is open land with scattered trees. Of the 122 total acres on the site, 14.7 acres are in forest, and 12.1 acres are to be retained. Much of the retained forest area will be edge. Forest edges are the transition from closed canopy to open ground. Edges can provide important wildlife habitat. The forested areas vary in age, size class, and stocking.”
The now shelved 1 million square foot Maryland facility would have been constructed through the Army Corps of Engineers for $1.4 billion. Plans now call for structural repairs, safety upgrades, and physical security investments at the more than 100-year-old Washington location. Plans also call for the installation of state-of-the-art intaglio printing presses, electronic inspection systems, and automated finishing equipment. The BEP facility at Fort Worth, Texas, will receive similar upgrades as necessary. Construction of the Fort Worth location began in 1987, and the facility officially opened in 1991.
According to the BEP Capital Investment Plan for Budget Year 2027, Non-Sequential Large Examining and Printing Equipment capable of printing 50 bank notes to the sheet rather than 32 at a time on previous equipment, and new offset presses were to be introduced in 2025.
Among the 2026 major in-house BEP projects is to retool the Inspection Finishing System, installing a “state-of-the-art computer system integrated with cameras and sophisticated bespoke software [that] thoroughly examines sheets.” This equipment is also capable of sorting notes to be rejected from those that shouldn’t be on a sheet rather than destroying the entire sheet. A Currency Inspection System Upgrade will assist in the development of in-line inspection. A Banknote Processing System Replacement will evaluate currency as part of the Quality Assurance Release process.
Looking ahead to 2027, “In FY 2027 major projects include Deblocker Equipment for WCF [Western Currency Facility] and DCF [District of Columbia Facility]. These systems will be used to separate sticky ink sheets as well as jog/aerate sheets to ensure smooth operation with feeder. A properly separated sheet load will ensure proper sheet transfer through BEP equipment which will result in increased quality and reduced machine stoppages.”
The BEP Fiscal Year 2026 President’s Budget request supported the printing of 4.4 billion bank notes, continuing advancement of the Catalyst Series of notes, and a commitment to what was termed the “Beltsville Replacement Facility.”
The Catalyst series introduces upgraded security features meant to prevent counterfeiting. The series has raised tactile elements that assist visually impaired persons in identifying the denomination of a note by touch. The $10 denomination was the first to use the Catalyst system.
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