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industry standards for circulating air through laboratories--in three laboratory build- 

 ings we visited, inadequate ventilating systems have caused respiratory problems 

 among researchers and/or contaminated laboratory samples; (2) electrical power out- 

 ages and other systems' malfunctions that ruined long-term experiments; and (3) de- 

 lays and disruptions in making repairs, limiting researchers' access to equipment or 

 laboratory facilities needed to perform R&D. For example, inadequate ventilation in a 

 20-year-old laboratory building at ARS' laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, has caused 

 respiratory problems among researchers and specifically led to the relocation of five 

 researchers from the building. In addition, researchers in one laboratory building at 

 EPA's Gulf Breeze, Florida, facility were relocated to temporary space for 9 months 

 because a newly renovated ventilating system had inadequate air-handling capacity, 

 enabling mold and fungus to grow in the duct work. 



NIH has proposed to construct a new $1.6 billion clinical center to replace its ex- 

 isting 38-year-old clinical center, which is at the end of its useful life and does not 

 meet current fire safety requirements. NIH officials stated that the proposed center, 

 which would provide advanced research hospital facilities, is essential for fulfilling 

 NIH's mission because clinical research is fundamental to its biomedical research pro- 

 gram. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in a November 1991 report that validated 

 NIH's need, recommended the construction of a new center because the existing clini- 

 cal center's physical constraints greatly hinder NIH's ability to provide a modern, flexi- 

 ble facility for biomedical research and patient care. 



SEVERAL AGENCIES ARE ASSESSING R&D FACILITY FUNDING NEEDS 

 AND MISSIONS 



Each of the eight federal agencies has taken actions to better identify its laborato- 

 ries' needs for maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. For example, ARS (in 1985) and 

 NOAA (in 1991) initiated surveys on the condition of their laboratory facilities to 

 identify maintenance and repair needs at their primary laboratories. Similarly, NIH 

 and EPA are updating their laboratories' master site plans for the first time since 

 about 1972 and 1985, respectively. 



Funding to maintain laboratory facilities was moderately adequate, according to 

 facilities managers at most of the eight agencies. However, funding constraints limit 

 some agencies' ability to repair and upgrade their laboratory facilities. In fiscal year 

 1992, only ARS and NASA met the Building Research Board's minimum guideline 

 that 2 percent of a facility's current replacement value be spent for routine mainte- 

 nance and repair. The eight agencies also reported a total backlog of more than $3.8 

 billion in needed repairs at their laboratories; some agency and laboratory facilities 

 managers noted that their backlog is growing. In addition, facilities managers at 

 DOD, DOE, EPA, NASA, NIH, and USGS told us that funding to renovate existing 

 laboratory facilities or construct new ones is either inadequate or only slightly ade- 

 quate. According to the facilities managers, the process for funding and making a ma- 

 jor repair, such as replacing the roof of a large laboratory building, typically takes 

 about 3 to 5 years from proposal to completion, while the process for renovating exist- 

 ing facilities or constructing new ones takes about 7 to 10 years from proposal to com- 

 pletion. During either process, a number of lower-priority laboratory projects will be 

 dropped, and the amount of funding made available may be reduced because of com- 

 peting priorities. 



The Congress is funding some major projects to modernize existing research facili- 

 ties and construct new ones needed to perform advanced R&D. In particular, in fiscal 

 year 1993, the Congress appropriated $1 10 million of $540 million requested by Com- 

 merce's National Institute of Standards and Technology to renovate seven existing 

 laboratory buildings and construct the equivalent of two new laboratory buildiiigs with 

 advanced systems to control temperature, humidity, air cleanliness, and vibrations. In 

 addition, ARS officials stated that the Congress has made available about $70 million 

 of $205 million that ARS proposed in 1988 to modernize its Beltsville laboratory. 



In response to budget constraints and/or changing R&D missions, several federal 

 agencies have considered alternatives to realign or consolidate their laboratory 



