Ensuring agricultural biosecurity

Addressing potential threats from bio- and agro-terrorism and naturally occurring animal diseases, the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) enhances the U.S. government's research, development, testing, and evaluation countermeasure capabilities by establishing a modern, integrated foreign animal and zoonotic disease research, development, and testing facility.

Designed and built in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the new facility provides modern, safe, and secure biocontainment laboratories for licensing animal vaccines; defending against high-consequence diseases in livestock; and providing the essential infrastructure for threat characterization, forensics, and detection.

Replacing and expanding upon the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, NBAF enhances the DHS's and USDA's capabilities to meet mandated national biological and agricultural defense mission requirements by creating an integrated and comprehensive system to rapidly recognize and characterize biological agents in animal populations, food, water, agriculture, and the environment.

The design team benefitted from an international peer review team from some of the most significant high-containment research institutions around the world, ensuring the highest degree of safety.

The entire campus was designed to meet sustainability goals and energy efficiency targets not often realized in high-containment programs (BSL-2 through BSL-4) – ultimately achieving LEED Gold certification.

Flad Architects and Perkins&Will led the joint venture team, which also included Affiliated Engineers, Inc., Merrick & Company, and WSP (formerly ccrd partners).