The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to open a new technology center near Fort Monmouth with plans to hire 167 civilian post employees who have chosen not to move to Maryland when the post closes in two years, officials said Tuesday.

Following a meeting with VA officials, U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., said that the agency plans to open a technology acquisitions center near the fort.

The VA could not be reached Tuesday, but Eatontown Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo confirmed that he had been aware of the VA's plans for about a month. He said the department is interested in locating the center in the borough's industrial park.

"I'm very pleased the VA has decided to locate in Eatontown," Tarantolo said. "I'm hoping there might be some more of this kind of activity to moving into our industrial park."

The primary focus of the center will be supporting acquisition requirements for the VA's integrated technology programs. The office will be functionally aligned under the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, Office of Acquisition and Logistics, Smith said.

"Knowing so many of those people are about to lose their jobs, the VA is trying to bring itself into the 21st century, and it offers a lifeline to some who have high skill and limited prospects in this economy," Smith said.

Smith also said that the administration could move as many as 40 to 50 additional jobs to the center from a site in New York and that hiring could begin in the next six weeks. The office plans to be fully staffed by the end of the year, Smith said.

Talks also are under way to join the VA health center, which occupies a floor of the Paterson Army Health Clinic, with the new technology center, Smith said.

Fort Monmouth - which employs more than 5,000 people, supports an estimated 22,000 more jobs and generates about $3.3 billion for the state's economy - is to be closed in 2011 as a result of the 2005 federal Base Realignment and Closure round. The bulk of its functions are to be transferred to Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground.

"We've never stopped trying to get the Army to stop the foolishness they're about to do," Smith said, referring to the congressional delegation's efforts to stop the fort from closing. "But for the workforce, we have to have some alternatives."

Tarantolo said the VA is interested in a building currently occupied by a defense contractor that does work with the fort. That company, Mitre, will be moving to Aberdeen with the post's mission. The VA has not picked an exact location, he said.

In a joint statement, U.S. Reps. Frank J. Pallone Jr. and Rush D. Holt, both D-N.J., praised the VA's decision.

"We are pleased that the Department of Veterans Affairs appears set to establish their new Technology Acquisition Center in Central New Jersey, which is home to some of the country's foremost IT and acquisition talent," the duo said in the statement. "We look forward to assisting the VA in making this center operational as quickly as possible."