60 



Appeodlz n 



Labormtonr Facilltic* Have LiBiUd 



Ajenciea' Productivity uid Scientillc 



C<p*bUitlM 



impossible because of limited utility capacities. As a result, needed 

 diagnostic scanning equipment has been stored in a warehouse until 

 additional utilities can be added. 



Obsolete Facilities 

 Have Limited 

 Scientific Capabilities 

 at Some Federal 

 Laboratories 



Facilities managers at some of the laboratories we visited stated that their 

 scientists' ability to perform advanced r&d has been constrained in certain 

 cases by obsolete laboratory facilities. In addition, nasa is developing a 

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



nih's research capabilities are limited because it cannot provide adequate 

 laboratory facilities for performing research in some new medical fields, 

 particularly ones that require such biocontainment systems as the use of 

 negative air pressure and specialized rooms. For example, the Chief of the 

 Nuclear Medicine Department stated that (1) protocols are limited 

 because only four rooms in the clinical center have the specialized 

 facilities needed to segregate out radioactive gases given to patients, 

 (2) research projects are canceled 75 percent of the time if they must wait 

 for space to be prepared for needed equipment, and (3) using outside 

 laboratories to perform nuclear research is very difficult because of 

 stringent regulatory requirements and concerns that hazardous radioactive 

 materials might contaminate the outside laboratories. 



NIH facilities managers also stated that many of the utility systems in the 

 clinical center and other buildings are functionally obsolete, citing as an 

 example that the Bethesda campus's electrical power supplies are 

 outmoded and inadequate. According to the facilities managers, nih needs 

 to increase both electrical power capacity and reliability. In addition, nih 

 needs to provide proper grounding and install uninterrupted power supply 

 systems and equipment to provide "clean" power because modem medical 

 instruments and equipment are sensitive to harmonic distortions. 



NiST performs r&d to provide the measurements, calibrations, and quality 

 assurance techniques that underpin U.S. commerce and technological 

 progress and help U.S. industry develop advanced technologies. However, 

 in a March 1992 report, nist stated that it cannot provide some U.S. 

 manufacturers with such services as state-of-the-Eut calibrations needed to 

 maintain production-line quality controls on a par with Japanese and 

 European competitors because it lacks high-quality environmental systems 

 controls to allow precision measurements under predictable, stable 

 conditions. In a 1991 study for nist, Snuth, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, 

 Inc., found that 42 percent of the laboratories at Gaithersburg and 59 



