Topeka ? A delegation of state officials, including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, is sweeping through Washington, D.C., to push for locating the proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas.

“A lot of the focus of this visit is doing some outreach,” said Chad Bettes, a spokesman for the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

Members of the Bioscience Authority, the NBAF task force, key legislative leaders, Sebelius and Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson were making the rounds to meet with federal officials about various Kansas topics, but mostly NBAF.

The Department of Homeland Security has proposed the $450 million NBAF, a state-of-the-art security laboratory to develop research on public health safety and respond to disease threats, especially to agriculture.

DHS has selected six potential sites, including Kansas State University.

The federal government is expected to choose a winning site for the lab in October with construction to start a year later. The lab would be operating by 2014.

Bettes said Kansas officials were making the case that the lab is crucial to maintaining national security and that Kansas is uniquely qualified to be its home.

Kansas officials have said the state has a leg up on the competition because it is centrally located and home to the nation’s largest concentration of animal health companies. Other finalists are Athens, Ga.; San Antonio, Texas; Granville County, N.C.; Madison County, Miss.; and an existing lab at Plum Island, N.Y.

On Monday and today, Kansas officials planned to meet with key congressional and federal agency officials.

Sebelius was already in Washington for the National Governor’s Association winter meeting. She planned a news conference in Topeka on Wednesday to talk about the meeting and NBAF efforts.