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PREPARED STATEMENT OF BIUIE i. McCARVEY 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Joint Committee, I am pleased to be here to- 

 day to have the opportunity to discuss current facility conditions of NASA's laborato- 

 ries which support the accomplishment of wide-ranging and cutting-edge research and 

 technology development in aeronautics and space. 



NASA's inventory of facilities is the springboard for our achievements. Many of 

 our facilities provide the basic capabilities for conducting research, development and 

 operation of space transportation systems, payloads and launches, and aeronautics and 

 space science endeavors that provide the opportunities for commercial developments 

 in the private sector. Proper maintenance and repair of these facilities, as well as the 

 "revitaUzation" of older facilities, are fundamental to ensuring that NASA's installa- 

 tions are optimally available for the agency and others to accomplish their missions. 



Overview of Facilities Inventory 



The Agency's facilities supporting research, development, and flight activities are 

 located at nine major Centers and nine component installations throughout the 

 United States. NASA's Centers and other activities are made up of over 2,700 build- 

 ings and 3,200 other major structures, and encompass 36 million square feet of space. 

 ITie FY 1993 current replacement value (CRV) of these facilities is $14.7 billion. Ap- 

 proximately 1,025 of these buildings and structures are identified as Research and De- 

 velopment facilities that comprise over 17 million square feet and $6.7 billion in 

 current replacement value at eight major Centers and three component installations. 

 Many of NASA's facilities are 30-50 years old and are in their second to third life-cycle 

 for major component systems. 



Past Studies and Reports 



In 1990, the Building Research Board of the National Research Council, pub- 

 lished "Committing to the Cost of Ownership, " a report on maintenance and repair 

 activities of government agencies. The report concluded that the country's public 

 buildings and facility systems are national assets" that are being "systematically ne- 

 glected." The report included findings and recommendations that: 



1. Underfunding of maintenance and repair (M6cR) is a widespread and persis- 

 tent problem. M&R budgets should identify explicitly routine M&R requirements and 

 activities to reduce the backlog of deferred deficiencies. Appropriate budgets for rou- 

 tine M&R should typically be 2-4 percent of the CRV of those facilities. 



2. Formal facility condition assessment programs should be implemented by agen- 

 cies responsible for MficR budgets. 



At the request of the Subcommittee on VA, HUD and Independent Agencies, 

 Senate Committee on Appropriations, GAO previously evaluated the condition of 

 NASA facilities. After visiting the major NASA centers, their report in December 

 1990, contained the following observations: 



1. Many of NASA's facilities were not adequately maintained and were in de- 

 graded condition. 



2. Annual surveys to determine maintenance and repair requirements needed to 

 be performed, and far fewer funds than the 2-4 percent of facilities' CRV that gener- 

 ally accepted maintenance guidelines dictate were invested. 



3. Procedures for budgeting and accounting for maintenance resources were not 

 always adequate. Maintenance and repair budgets were not always set by actual needs 

 and did not always accurately account for all maintenance and repair expenditures. 



NASA's Actions in Response to Past Studies and Reports 



In response to this and other in-house studies, NASA developed and published a 

 new Agency policy and handbook on facilities maintenance, instituted regular formal 

 condition assessments of the facilities inventory, revised the cost accounting codes, 



