34 



B-2S4161 



because the buildings (1) have deteriorated in their advanced age and 

 (2) were designed as barracks for soldiers rather than as laboratories for 

 scientists. 



Federal laboratories are experiencing many common problems associated 

 with aging facilities — leaking roofs and gutters, drafty window frames, and 

 inefficient ventilating systems that do not bring sufficient fresh air into 

 laboratories. In particular, doe, epa, and nasa have cited deteriorating 

 laboratory facilities as a material management weakness in their Financial 

 Integrity Act reports, doe noted that the average age of its nonnuclear 

 laboratory facilities is 32 years and that many are well beyond the end of 

 their useful lives, epa also pointed out that most of its Office of Research 

 and Development laboratories are well over 30 years old, stating that its 

 science program is vulnerable if its research facilities do not meet the 

 laboratory standards of the businesses it regulates, nasa's 1989-91 reports 

 cited inadequate maintenance funding for its laboratories and other 

 facilities as a material weakness. In response to a growing List of needed 

 repairs and renovations, nasa's Associate Administrator for Aeronautics 

 and Space Technology initiated a 5-year program to augment maintenance 

 and instrumentation funding at three laboratories with $15 million of r&d 

 funds in fiscal year 1991. This amount rose to $30 million in fiscal year 

 1993. 



In addition, older federal laboratories were not designed for today's health 

 and fire safety standards and advanced r&d needs. Many laboratory 

 buildings do not have sprinkler and alarm systems and adequate fu-e walls 

 because they were designed to prior, less stringent requirements. 

 Similarly, computers and other electronic equipment have increased the 

 demand for electrical power and air conditioning, while sensitive scientific 

 instruments that make precise measurements have increased the 

 importance of temperature, humidity, air cleanliness, and vibration 

 controls. Furthermore, potential hazards associated with chemistry and 

 biotechnology rad have increased air ventilation requirements. 



Laboratory Facilities 

 Have Limited 

 Productivity and 

 Scientific Capabilities 



The agency and laboratory officials we interviewed stated that their 

 laboratories generally have avoided a prolonged shutdown of rad projects 

 by successfully engineering around emergencies. However, they noted that 

 aging laboratory facilities have reduced scientific productivity, citing 

 various instances in which a facility's problems disrupted r&d programs or 

 reduced confidence in the reproducibility of experimental results. These 

 problems have caused researchers to repeat experiments in many 



