16 



STATEMENT OF WILLIAM D. CARLSON, ASSOCIATE ADMINIS- 

 TRATOR, COOPERATIVE STATE RESEARCH SERVICE, U.S. DE- 

 PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ACCOMPANIED BY ESSEX 

 FINNEY, ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, AGRICULTURAL RE- 

 SEARCH SERVICE, AND EVELYN O'CONNOR-MILLER 



Mr. Carlson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the 

 subcommittee. I am Dr. William Carlson, Associate Administrator 

 of the Cooperative State Research Service. I am here this morning 

 with Dr. Essex Finney, Acting Administrator for the Agricultursd 

 Research Service. I also have with me Ms. Evelyn O'Connor-Miller, 

 who is Director of the Facilities Program in the GSRS. 



I am pleased to appe£ir before you today on behalf of the Sec- 

 retary to discuss the processes followed by the Department to man- 

 age its facilities programs for agricultural research and education 

 both in CSRS and ARS. 



I have a prepared statement that has been submitted for the 

 record and I will present an abbreviated form of that and be avail- 

 able for questions. 



Mr. Stenholm. Without objection, your prepared statement will 

 appear in the record. 



Mr. Carlson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



The ARS has research facilities and field locations at over 120 

 domestic and foreign locations. Many of these facilities were built 

 in the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's and require replacement 

 or modernization. ARS has planning and design initiatives imder- 

 way to construct or modernize a number of these facilities. The fis- 

 cal year 1994 budget proposes $24.6 million for priority projects at 

 five locations. 



ARS uses a multiple-step process in setting priorities for improv- 

 ing or constructing new facilities. The ARS considers inputs fi*om 

 the scientists, managers, and engineers regarding space and condi- 

 tion of existing facilities, especially any safety and health issues. 

 They consider input from users, scientists, managers, and executive 

 and congressional branches of Government regarding emerging and 

 future agricultural problems. ARS compares the cost-effectiveness 

 of renovating existing facilities with that of total replacement using 

 new construction. 



In regard to closing and/or consolidation of facilities, ARS has 

 closed over 30 facilities since 1979. The agency uses the following 

 criteria in making the decision to close and/or consolidate the func- 

 tion with another location: Condition of facility; whether the mis- 

 sion of the facility has been completed; if not, if the mission can 

 be accomphshed elsewhere; whether there is a criticsd mass of sci- 

 entists; whether the facility is cost efficient to operate in relation 

 to its productivity and accomplishments; and whether the research 

 is duplicative of research being conducted by other organizations. 

 Implementation of closure actions follows Secretary and congres- 

 sional approvals and user contacts. 



With regard to the agricultural research facihties of the States 

 and other institutions that conduct agricultural research, State and 

 other non-Federal resources historically have provided the bulk of 

 funds to construct such facilities. In many cases, the current need 

 exceeds their capacity to respond. 



