Northrop Grumman wants to design, construct, maintain and finance a public safety building for Roanoke County. The county's current public safety building is a converted school that was built in the 1930s as a New Deal public-works project.

The defense contractor hopes to use a process made possible by new state legislation that allows public-private partnerships in the construction and financing of public facilities. The new law was written by lobbyists hired by Northrop Grumman and several other corporations, according to Ronald Miner, a business development manager for the company.

The project's price is a secret, considered proprietary information under the law. The company wants to use a financing method its representatives won't talk about in public meetings.

The legislation that makes this possible is the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act. It works like this:

A company studies a government need and designs a project to fill it. If the government likes the general idea, it can accept up to $50,000 from the company to finance an evaluation of the plan. If the plan is approved, other companies have 45 days to produce competing proposals. Once a plan is approved, the company and the government negotiate schedules, prices and financing.