36 



repairs at their laboratories; some agency and laboratory facilities 

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

 managers at dod, doe, ep\, nasa, nih, and uses told us that funding to 

 renovate existing laboratory facilities or construct new ones is either 

 inadequate or only slightly adequate. According to the facilities managers, 

 the process for funding and making a m^or 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 existing facilities 

 or constructing new ones takes about 7 to 10 years from proposal to 

 completion. 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 competing priorities. 



The Congress is funding some rruyor projects to modernize existing 

 research facilities 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 Conunerce's National Institute of 

 Standards and Technology to renovate seven existing laboratory buildings 

 and construct the equivalent of two new laboratory buUdings 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 BeltsviUe laboratory. 



In response to budget constraints, several federal agencies have 

 considered jiltematives to realign or consolidate their laboratory facilities. 

 For example, within dod, the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Armed 

 Forces Radiobiology Research Institute are reducing their combined 

 number of laboratories from 76 to 31, according to dod research managers. 

 Similarly, usda is studying whether to close or consolidate some of ars' 1 1 1 

 laboratories, doe is considering how to realign its nuclear weapons 

 laboratories in response to the end of the Cold War, and nasa is developing 

 a national facility plan for world-class aeronautics and space facilities. 

 House bill 1432 proposes to establish the Federal Laboratory Mission 

 Evaluation and Coordination Committee, which in part would make 

 recommendations on the advisability of establishing a commission to 

 determine whether specific federal laboratories should be realigned, 

 consolidated, or closed. One criterion that the Committee would be 

 directed to consider is improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the 

 overall federal laboratory system. 



