[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 20, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2418-S2419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FEDERAL CONSTRUCTION METRICATION: A YEAR END REPORT

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I would like to call to the attention of my 
colleagues the Metric in Construction 1995 Year End Report by the 
Construction Metrication Council of the National Institute of Building 
Sciences located here in Washington, DC.
  I found the information outlined in the ``Status of Federal 
Construction Metrication'' chart to me most interesting. In many 
portions of the Federal Government, projects have been constructed in 
metric for 2 years or more and, contrary to the beliefs of many, the 
sky has not fallen in.
  I also recommend the rest of the council's report to my colleagues. 
As the report says, 93 percent of the world's population uses the 
metric system. I continue to believe that the United States will remain 
at a competitive disadvantage with our global trading partners until we 
join that 93 percent.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Metric in 
Construction 1995 Year End Report be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

              Metric in Construction 1995 Year End Report

       Almost all federal construction programs are now converted 
     to the metric system and most agencies are designing and 
     constructing projects in metric units.
       So reported over 20 federal agency representatives at the 
     November 1995 meeting of the Construction Metrication Council 
     (see the agency-by-agency status report on pages 3 and 4). 
     Building on years of work by the nation's voluntary codes, 
     standards, trade and professional construction 
     organizations--and with their support and participation--
     federal construction is providing the catalyst for the long-
     awaited metrication of the nation's construction industry.


                              the numbers

       Government is a major player in the construction industry 
     by virtue of its role as provider of highways, bridges, dams, 
     water and sewer systems, parks, prisons, military bases, 
     space centers, laboratories, embassies, courthouses, schools, 
     and numerous other public facilities. Federal appropriations 
     for construction, including grants to state and local 
     governments, total about $50 billion annually. In 1996, over 
     $20 billion in construction will be designed in metric units 
     and up to $10 billion more put out for bid. By the year 2000, 
     metric construction will approach the $50 billion federal 
     total, not including billions more in state and local 
     matching funds.
       Annual U.S. construction expenditures are about $500 
     billion yearly with roughly one-half allocated to commercial, 
     institutional, industrial and civil works and the other half 
     to homebuiding. Thus, within a few years federally funded 
     metric construction will amount to about 20 percent of all 
     nonresidential construction, with state and local metric 
     construction adding substantially to that percentage.


                               the impact

       American architectural, engineering, and construction firms 
     already use metric measures in their overseas work, and 
     government's buying power rapidly will expose the remainder 
     of nonresidential construction to the metric system. Given 
     this as well as the rapid globalization of the construction 
     industry (just look at the multilingual packaging with metric 
     measurements on the shelves of your local hardware store), 
     nonresidential construction is likely to convert to the 
     metric system within a decade or so. Homebuilders, who are 
     involved in virtually no foreign or governmental work but are 
     nonetheless closely intertwined with the rest of the 
     construction industry, probably will adopt metric measures a 
     few years later.
       Of course, the metric transition could take place faster, 
     as it has in other countries, or, given America's ambivalence 
     toward the metric system, slower. But 93 percent of the 
     world's population uses metric measures and it is only a 
     matter of time before the U.S. construction industry, which 
     accounts for 6 million jobs and 8 percent of the gross 
     national product, joins the nation's automobile, health care, 
     and electronics industries (among others) in completely 
     converting to the metric system.
       When it does, metrication will bring more than efficiency 
     and better quality control to construction: it will benefit 
     every American by helping our nation compete more effectively 
     in the global marketplace.


                              the results

       Hundreds of millions of dollars in federally funded metric 
     projects have been placed under construction in the past 
     three years and the results speak for themselves. As noted in 
     the last Metric in Construction newsletter:
       Conversion has proven to be much less difficult than 
     anticipated.
       There has been no appreciable increase in design or 
     construction costs.
       Architects and engineers like working in metric units.
       Tradesmen adapt readily to metric measures on the job site.
       Construction and product problems have been minimal.

[[Page S2419]]

       However, three product-related issues have surfaced to 
     date:
       Reinforcing steel (``rebar''). The rebar industry first 
     promoted and then withdrew a metric standard but not before 
     most state highway departments had adopted it in their 
     standard design drawings, at significant time and expense. 
     The rebar industry currently is balloting, through ASTM, a 
     new metric standard and hopes to unify everyone behind it 
     over the next year or so.
       Recessed lighting fixtures. Several lighting manufacturers 
     opposed the introduction of modular metric recessed fixtures 
     for use in modular metric suspended ceiling systems. Such 
     fixtures proved to be readily available from other 
     manufacturers, however, and now the opposing manufacturers 
     are supplying them too. All other suspending ceiling 
     components, including T-bars, lay-in tiles and air diffusers, 
     are available from a variety of manufacturers in modular 
     metric sizes.
       Concrete masonry block. Block is also a modular material, 
     but modular metric (so-called ``hard metric'') block is 
     slightly smaller than current inch-pound block. The block 
     industry, as represented by the National Concrete Masonry 
     Association, argues that producing and keeping an inventory 
     of two sizes of otherwise identical block is costly and, in 
     many cases, too costly for the smaller producers that 
     constitute the bulk of the block industry. The industry 
     further argues that inch-pound block can be economically cut 
     to fit any dimension, inch-pound or metric, and that the 
     specification of metric block is therefore both unnecessary 
     and economically damaging to block producers.
       In response to these concerns, the General Services 
     Administration, in its July 1993 Metric Design Guide, 
     encouraged the allowance of either inch-pound or metric block 
     in metric projects. The Construction Metrication Council 
     endorsed GSA's position in the September-October 1993 Metric 
     in Construction newsletter. Since then, contractors have had 
     difficulty obtaining bids on metric block in a number of 
     instances. The Council therefore strongly encourages 
     designers to allow the use of either inch-pound or metric 
     block or to specify nominal wall thicknesses only, thereby 
     leaving the decision to the contractor, with cost the 
     deciding factor.
                                                                    ____



                    construction metrication council

   (English is the international language of business. Metric is the 
                international language of measurement.)

       National Institute of Building Sciences, 1201 L Street, 
     N.W., Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20005, Telephone 202-289-
     7800; fax 202-289-1092.
       Metric in Construction is a bimonthly newsletter published 
     by the Construction Metrication Council to inform the 
     building community about metrication in U.S. construction. 
     The Construction Metrication Council was created by the 
     National Institute of Building Sciences to provide 
     industrywide, public and private sector support for the 
     metrication of federal construction and to promote the 
     adoption and use of the metric system of measurement as a 
     means of increasing the international competitiveness, 
     productivity, and quality of the U.S. construction industry.
       The National Institute of Building Sciences is a nonprofit, 
     nongovernmental organization authorized by Congress to serve 
     as an authoritative source on issues of building science and 
     technology.
       The Council is an outgrowth of the Construction 
     Subcommittee of the Metrication Operating Committee of the 
     federal Interagency Council on Metric Policy. The 
     Construction Subcommittee was formed in 1988 to further the 
     objectives of the 1975 Metric Conversion Act, as amended by 
     the 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act. To foster 
     effective private sector participation, the activities of the 
     subcommittee were transferred to the Council in April 1992.
       Membership in the Council is open to all public and private 
     organizations and individuals with a substantial interest in 
     and commitment to the Council's purposes. The Council meets 
     bimonthly in Washington, D.C.; publishes the Metric Guide for 
     Federal Construction and this bimonthly newsletter, and 
     coordinates a variety of industry metrication task groups. It 
     is funded primarily by contributions from federal agencies.
       Chairman--Thomas R. Rutherford, P.E., Department of 
     Defense.
       Board of Direction--William Aird, P.E., National Society of 
     Professional Engineers; Gertraud Breitkopf, R.A., GSA Public 
     Buildings Service; Ken Chong, P.E., National Science 
     Foundation; James Daves, Federal Highway Administration; 
     James Gross, National Institute of Standards and Technology; 
     Byron Nupp, Department of Commerce; Arnold Prima, FAIA; 
     Martin Reinhart, Sweet's Division/McGraw-Hill; Ralph 
     Spillinger, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; 
     Gerald Underwood, American National Metric Council; Dwain 
     Warne, P.E., GSA Public Buildings Service; Lorelle Young, 
     U.S. Metric Association; Werner Quasebarth, American 
     Institute of Steel Construction.
       Executive Director--William A. Brenner, AIA.

        STATUS OF FEDERAL CONSTRUCTION METRICATION--NOVEMBER 1995       
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Metric conversion date for new
                 Agency                       construction projects     
------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Services Administration........                                 
                                         January 1994: GSA's Public     
                                          Buildings Service builds for  
                                          several federal agencies. All 
                                          major projects under its      
                                          auspices have been constructed
                                          in metric for the past two    
                                          years.                        
Federal Highway Administration.........                                 
                                         October 1996/2000: Recent      
                                          Congressional action has      
                                          pushed back the FHWA 1996     
                                          deadline to 2000, but the     
                                          majority of states report that
                                          they will begin highway       
                                          construction in metric by     
                                          October 1996 or sooner.       
                                          Successful metric projects    
                                          already have been completed in
                                          many states.                  
Army Corps of Engineers................                                 
                                         January 1995: Numerous metric  
                                          projects are under            
                                          construction. New work has    
                                          been designed in metric since 
                                          January 1994.                 
Naval Facilities Engineering Command...                                 
                                         October 1996: New projects are 
                                          being designed in metric now. 
Air Force..............................                                 
                                         October 1996: New projects are 
                                          being designed in metric now. 
Coast Guard............................                                 
                                         In phases, beginning January   
                                          1996: Several metric projects 
                                          are underway now.             
State Department.......................                                 
                                         State has virtually always     
                                          built in metric.              
 National Aeronautics and Space                                         
                 Administration.                                        
                                         October 1995: A number of      
                                          metric projects are under     
                                          construction and more are in  
                                          design.                       
Federal Bureau of Prisons..............                                 
                                         October 1995: New projects are 
                                          being designed in metric now. 
Architect of the Capitol...............                                 
                                         January 1994: In-house design  
                                          and renovation work is        
                                          performed in metric and the   
                                          planned Library of Congress   
                                          storage facility will be built
                                          in metric.                    
Veterans' Administration...............                                 
                                         No date set at this time: Five 
                                          metric projects are in        
                                          planning. A large GSA-built   
                                          project is being constructed  
                                          in metric now.                
Smithsonian Institution................                                 
                                         January 1994: Virtually all    
                                          work has been performed in    
                                          metric for the past two years.
Deparment of Energy....................                                 
                                         January 1994 for major         
                                          projects: Many DOE labs and   
                                          sites have ongoing metric     
                                          construction programs.        
Environmental Protection Agency........                                 
                                         No metric policy on            
                                          construction grants: EPA      
                                          provides water and sewer      
                                          grants to states and          
                                          municipalities but is not     
                                          involved in their             
                                          construction.                 
USDA Forest Service....................                                 
                                         October 1996: The Forest       
                                          Service's metrication schedule
                                          depends in large part on state
                                          highway metrication           
                                          activities.                   
Department of Agriculture..............                                 
                                         January 1995: Major projects   
                                          are in metric now.            
Indian Health Service..................                                 
                                         January 1994: Numerous metric  
                                          projects are in design and    
                                          construction.                 
National Institute of Standards and                                     
                     Technology.                                        
                                         January 1994: Major projects   
                                          are in metric now.            
U.S. Postal Service (USPS is not a                                      
                federal agency).                                        
                                         No date set at this time: But  
                                          several metric pilot projects 
                                          are under way.                
Administrative Office of the U.S.                                       
                         Courts.                                        
                                         January 1994: All new federal  
                                          courthouses have been built in
                                          metric by GSA since 1994.     
Internal Revenue Service...............                                 
                                         January 1994: All major IRS    
                                          buildings are built in metric 
                                          by GSA; small projects are    
                                          designed in-house in metric.  
Naval Sea Systems Command (Ships and                                    
      boats use many of the same                                        
 construction components as buildings,                                  
 particularly structural steel and                                      
 mechanical and electrical equipment).                                  
                                         No formal date: The metric     
                                          design of the LPD 17          
                                          amphibious assault ship is    
                                          nearly completed. Two other   
                                          ships, the SC 21 and the      
                                          ADC(X), are in the early      
                                          stages of metric design.      
                                          NAVSEA's conversion is        
                                          proceeding on a program-by-   
                                          program basis.                
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                          

                          ____________________