Committee approves additional $9.1 million for Jackson Barracks cyber facility

The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget on March 19 approved a request from the Louisiana Military Department to increase funding authority for the conversion of Building 2033 at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans into a cyber operations facility.

"Act 2 of 2025 appropriated $20,600,000 payable from federal funds for this project. The department now seeks an additional $9,100,000, bringing the total funding authority to $29,700,000," Matt Baker, director of the Office of Facility Planning & Control, told the committee. He said the increase is needed to incorporate "a sensitive compartmented information facility or SCIF into the project scope and allow the selection of a designer for the full project." (Matt Baker)

Baker recommended approval. Representative Thompson moved to approve the item; the presiding officer recorded "seeing no objection" and the motion was adopted by voice.

The committee also reviewed, for informational purposes, documentation on three change orders whose amounts exceed $50,000 but are less than $250,000; those items were presented for review and required no committee action.

Next steps include selection of a designer and continued coordination with the Military Department and relevant federal funding authorities to proceed with SCIF specifications and construction planning.