The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to build a new regional headquarters in a city near the Sea-Tac Airport.

The cities being considered are SeaTac, Des Moines, Tukwila, Kent and Renton but not Burien. And now Burien wants to know why they were overlooked for the project.

Burien found out they had been excluded from the procurement area, at a meeting on January, Burien's Economic Development Manager Dick Loman said.

"No one there could say why we had been overlooked," Loman said.

The deadline for cities to formally submit their intent to be considered for the project was March 1st. Burien moved fast and managed to get a location and a developer lined up, but Loman said they were told since they were not in the procurement area their proposal could not be considered.

An administrative order by the Federal Administrator of the General Services Administration in Washington was the only way to expand the procurement area to include Burien, Loman said.

Burien went to their Congressional representatives in Washington D.C., but Loman said they were so backed up they just did not have the time to do what needed to be done to get Burien included.

Burien still wants to find out why, but Loman said the city was "just overlooked."

"We are licking our wounds," Loman said. "Our Congressional people want to get to the bottom of why Burien was left out of the procurement area."

Loman said he felt Burien had a very competitive site. The location being looked at was the land the Navos Mental Health Organization is currently on.

The nine-acre site, formerly Sunny Terrace Elementary School, is owned by the Highline School District. Burien is working with the school district to move the Navos Mental Health building to its new campus on Ambaum Boulevard.

Since Burien is not in the running, Loman said he hopes to see the new FAA facility built in either Des Moines or SeaTac, because then at least the jobs would stay within the school district.

Loman does not believe Burien was left out on purpose, feels it will likely to be found out to be an oversight. But he said they still had to do what they did. The project was just too important.

The FAA will make its final decision by December.