id3 



factors that limit the ability of labs to perform the types of research they need or cause 

 experiments to fail come at some cost. 



1) How do poor laboratory conditions impact the scientific capabilities of the 

 federal labs? is there a way to assess the costs to the government and the 

 economy? 



(Answer: there is no way to quantify the impact. However, this 

 question will give GAO and the representatives of the labs a chance 

 to discuss the impact of lab conditions on their work and enter ex- 

 amples of problems into the record.) 



Reinventing Government 



Some of the infrastructure problems with federal labs are caused by red tape and 

 bureaucracy. No set policies for maintaining government facilities exist. At the labs, 

 maintenance and repair must directly compete with research programs for scarce 

 funds. As a result, maintenance and repair is frequently underfunded. In some cases, 

 -maintenance and repair budgets are so limited that scientists must pay for repairs 

 with research funds, as at Beltsville Agricultural Research center. At some EPA labora- 

 tories maintenance budgets are so -adequate that each program must pay a "toll" (a 

 percentage of their research budget) to the maintenance department. Frequently, 

 funds are not made available until a major system failure occurs. Then entire systems 

 must be repaired or replaced - at a much higher cost than if there had been regular 

 maintenance. 



Delays in agency, OMB or Congressional approval of major facility repairs or up- 

 grades has also been a significant problem. For instance, around 1980, the Air Force's 

 Wright Laboratory proposed a $35 million expansion of its avionics laboratory. The 

 lab was advised to divide the project into three construction phases in order to speed 

 the approval process. Phase I was approved in the 1992 budget. Phase 11 in the 1994 

 budget but Phase III was pushed back to the 1997 budget. Assuming Phase LEI is 

 completed, the simple expansion of a laboratory will have taken over 20 years. 



In response to these problems, agencies are developing formal facility mainte- 

 nance, repair and upgrade plans. However, plans are of little use if they are not ade- 

 quately mnded. Congress should insist that all federal facilities have adequate 

 maintenance and repair plans and budgets. 



1) What organizational and administrative factors led to the infrastructure 

 problems at the federal labs? what can Congress do to prevent or solve these 

 problems? 



(Answer: Agencies are working to develop procedures for mainte- 

 nance, repair and upgrades. NIST, NOAA and NASA are assessing 

 agency-wide facilities needs. All agencies have plans. The main 

 problem is funding and approval of major projects. An alternative is 

 a required level of maintenance and repair spending - like the 

 Building Research Board's suggested range of 2% to 4% of replace- 

 ment value). 



Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) 



BARC is the oldest and the largest of the Agricultural Research Services labs. 

 More than 77% of BARC's facilities are more than 50 years old. Because of the old 

 age of the facilities and acute underfunding of maintenance over the past several 

 years, BARC has some of the most serious infrastructural problems in the federal 

 laboratory system. 



