Kansas City officials and officials in the states of Missouri and Kansas are fighting hard to keep a Marine Corps data center in Kansas City they are in danger of losing to New Orleans, Louisiana, the Kansas City Star reports.

The Marine Corps is weighing the pros and cons of leaving the facility in Kansas City versus moving it to one of three other locations (including New Orleans). The data center currently employs 400 people who live in Missouri and in Kansas and officials from both states are determined to keep those jobs.

Kansas City mayor Sly James told the Kansas City Star, “The fact is that there are other cities out there that are competing hard for this and other military and defence-related businesses. So we have opportunities, but we are in a competition.”

What the Big Easy has to offer to the Marines is a brand new Federal City currently under construction there. The Marine Corps has already decided to locate its Marine Forces Reserve headquarters in the future military base and urban community.

Like all federal agencies, the Marines are under pressure to cut the cost of operating its infrastructure, including data center facilities. There is a White House mandate to consolidate and modernize as many data centers as possible.

The Department of Defense, an umbrella agency that includes the Marines, has more data centers than any other federal agency, according to the government’s portal Data.gov, and thus has to shut down the most facilities.

The DoD’s current target is to close more than 150 data centers between 2010 and 2012.