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THE HAMPTON ROADS MILITARY AND FEDERAL FACILITIES ALLIANCE
Regional Advocacy for Federal Investment

About Us

The Alliance is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of 16 Public Sector Directors and 14 Private Sector Directors (11 are voting members).  Public Sector Directors are elected representatives of the Cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg; and the Counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Southampton, Surry and York.

HRMFFA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PUBLIC SECTOR BOARD MEMBERS

PRIVATE SECTOR BOARD MEMBERS

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Mr. Rick Dwyer

DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND BOARD SECRETARY

Mr. Todd Nichols

TREASURER

Ms. Sheila Wilson, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission


FEDERAL CAPABILITIES

Federal capabilities in the HRMFFA region are spread throughout eleven of the sixteen localities comprising the Alliance with impact in all communities.

Click HERE to view and download the entire Federal Capabilities Map.


The following Federal departments, administrations, and agencies are represented in the Hampton Roads region:


•  Department of Agriculture (DOA)
•  Department of Commerce (DOC)
•  Department of Defense (DOD)
•  Department of Energy (DOE)
•  Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
•  Department of Interior (DOI)
•  Department of Justice (DOJ)
•  Department of Labor (DOL)
•  Department of Transportation (DOT)
•  Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
•  National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
•  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
•  Government Accountability Office (GAO)
•  General Services Administration (GSA)
•  Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
•  Social Security Administration (SSA)


The Alliance coordinates with locally elected officials; senior federal government leaders for all area facilities, commands, and organizations; the Virginia Congressional delegation; the General Assembly; the Commonwealth of Virginia; and industry to insure awareness of anticipated Federal actions with near, mid and long-term impact on the Hampton Roads region.

MAJOR MILITARY AND FEDERAL PRESENCE IN HAMPTON ROADS

The communities that make up the Hampton Roads region collectively support 18 military installations (including two joint bases), all six branches of the military services, approximately 120,000 active duty, reserve and civilian personnel, over 125,000 military dependents, and nearly 220,000 veterans. It is the only place in the country that hosts four different 4-star commands including the Air Force’s Air Combat Command, Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, Navy’s Fleet Forces Command and NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, which is also the only NATO headquarters located on U.S. soil. Naval Station Norfolk is the largest navy base in the world, and Langley Air Force base is the longest continuously active air force base in the world. There are also more Coast Guard personnel stationed in the region than any other place in the country, including Washington, DC. The military presence is an integral part of the Hampton Roads economy, accounting for approximately 40% of the gross regional product of $125B. This includes approximately $28B in direct DoD spending in 2023. Military personnel, DoD civilians and contractors account for approximately 20% of all employment in the region with another 15% indirectly attributed to the military’s presence. In addition to the economic impact, the military members and veterans bring to their local communities a diverse, well-educated and service-oriented population that is a tremendous benefit to our local schools, houses of worship and community organizations.

Outside of DoD, the NASA Langley Research Center has the next largest federal financial impact on the area and has approximately 3,400 civilians and contractors working there. It was the first civilian aeronautical laboratory in the United States and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017. Its activities generate approximately $1B of economic impact in Hampton Roads, along with 6,500 high-tech jobs. They conduct research in all of NASA’s areas of expertise, including exploration and science, but about half of their work is in aeronautics. Much of their research centers around advanced composites for future aircraft and spacecraft applications, but they have potential applications in other industries such as automobile manufacturing. NASA Langley is also doing a lot of research work on unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and the deconfliction and integration of UASs into the national airspace. Additionally, NASA opened a new $95M, 175,000SF Measurement Systems Lab in April 2022.  This follows the construction of a new 40,000SF computational research facility that opened in 2017.  In August of 2022, construction began on a new $43M, 25,000SF Flight Dynamics Research Facility, or vertical spin tunnel, and is scheduled to be complete in late 2024.

Another gem of the region is the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, a hub of world-class nuclear physics research. Over one-third of the PhDs in nuclear physics awarded in the U.S. are based on Jefferson Lab research. Its primary mission is to study the atomic nucleus using its Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), but it also carries out applied research with industry and university partners using a Low Energy Recirculatory Facility that was developed by the lab based on its superconducting technology. The lab employs over 700 people and has an annual budget of approximately $150M. They recently completed a $338M upgrade to double the energy of its CEBAF beam from 6 billion electron volts (GeV) to 12 GeV.  In October 2023, the Department of Energy announced that Jefferson Lab would be the home of a new High Performance Data Facility (HPDF).  This $300-500 million computing and data infrastructure resource will provide transformational capabilities for data analysis, networking, and storage  for the nation's research enterprise.