Capitol Visitor Center: Status of Schedule, Fire Protection,	 
Cost, and Related Issues (18-OCT-05, GAO-06-180T).		 
                                                                 
GAO testified before Congress on the progress on the Capitol	 
Visitor Center (CVC) project. Our remarks will focus on (1) the  
Architect of the Capitol's (AOC) progress in managing the	 
project's schedule since Congress's September 15 hearing on the  
project, (2) issues associated with the CVC's fire protection	 
system, and (3) the project's costs and funding. Our ability to  
fully address these issues is limited by two important factors.  
First, AOC's sequence 2 construction contractor's--Manhattan	 
Construction Company--September 2005 schedule reflects a number  
of significant changes, and AOC has not yet had the opportunity  
to fully evaluate these changes. Second, neither AOC nor its	 
construction management contractor--Gilbane Building Company--has
completed the evaluation of elements of the project schedule that
we recommended during Congress's September 15 hearing. Thus,	 
while we will discuss the schedule's status, we will not be able 
to provide specific estimated completion dates until AOC and its 
construction management contractor complete their assessments and
we have the opportunity to evaluate them. Similarly, while we	 
will discuss the status of the project's costs and funding, we	 
will wait until the project schedule is fully reviewed and	 
stabilized and we have had an opportunity to evaluate AOC's	 
consultant's, McDonough Bolyard Peck (MBP), cost-estimation work 
before we comprehensively update our November 2004 estimate of	 
the cost to complete the project.				 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-06-180T					        
    ACCNO:   A39757						        
  TITLE:     Capitol Visitor Center: Status of Schedule, Fire	      
Protection, Cost, and Related Issues				 
     DATE:   10/18/2005 
  SUBJECT:   Construction (process)				 
	     Construction contracts				 
	     Construction costs 				 
	     Contract administration				 
	     Contract oversight 				 
	     Cost analysis					 
	     Cost overruns					 
	     Facility construction				 
	     Monitoring 					 
	     Schedule slippages 				 
	     Public visitor-centers				 
	     Cost estimates					 
	     Capitol Visitor Center Project			 

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GAO-06-180T

                 United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Testimony

Before the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Committee on
Appropriations, U.S. Senate

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 10:30 a.m. EDT CAPITOL VISITOR

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

CENTER

         Status of Schedule, Fire Protection, Cost, and Related Issues

Statement of Bernard L. Ungar, Director Terrell Dorn, Assistant Director
Physical Infrastructure Issues

GAO-06-180T

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:

We are pleased to be here today to assist the Subcommittee in monitoring
progress on the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) project. Our remarks will
focus on (1) the Architect of the Capitol's (AOC) progress in managing the
project's schedule since the Subcommittee's September 15 hearing on the
project, (2) issues associated with the CVC's fire protection system, and
(3) the project's costs and funding.1 Our ability to fully address these
issues is limited by two important factors. First, AOC's sequence 2
construction contractor's-Manhattan Construction Company- September 2005
schedule reflects a number of significant changes, and AOC has not yet had
the opportunity to fully evaluate these changes. Second, neither AOC nor
its construction management contractor- Gilbane Building Company-has
completed the evaluation of elements of the project schedule that we
recommended during the Subcommittee's September 15 hearing. Thus, while we
will discuss the schedule's status today, we will not be able to provide
specific estimated completion dates until AOC and its construction
management contractor complete their assessments and we have the
opportunity to evaluate them. Similarly, while we will discuss the status
of the project's costs and funding today, we will wait until the project
schedule is fully reviewed and stabilized and we have had an opportunity
to evaluate AOC's consultant's, McDonough Bolyard Peck (MBP),
cost-estimation work before we comprehensively update our November 2004
estimate of the cost to complete the project.

Our remarks today are based on our review of schedules and financial
reports for the CVC project and related records maintained by AOC and its
construction management contractor; our observations on the progress of
work at the CVC construction site; and our discussions with CVC project
staff (including AOC, its major CVC contractors, and representatives of
MBP), AOC's Chief Fire Marshal, United States Capitol Police (USCP)
representatives, and officials responsible for managing the Capitol Power
Plant (CPP). We did not perform an audit; rather, we performed our work to
assist Congress in conducting its oversight activities.

In summary, AOC and its construction contractors have made progress in
managing the schedule and accomplishing work since the Subcommittee's
September 15 CVC hearing, but additional delays have been encountered.

1See GAO, Capitol Visitor Center: Schedule Delays Continue; Reassessment
Underway, GAO-05-1037T (Washington, D.C.: September 15, 2005).

Work on all interior levels of the CVC, various sections of the House and
Senate expansion spaces, the plaza, and the utility tunnel has continued.
However, additional delays have occurred in a number of areas. For
example, despite an increase in the number of stone masons working on the
project in September, the project lost about 2 weeks on interior stone
work installation and a similar amount of time on the utility tunnel.

Moreover, some revisions have been made to project activities and
schedules, but these revisions have not been fully evaluated. The sequence
2 contractor revised the manner in which the HVAC and fire protection
systems' commissioning work and acceptance testing would be done, which
changed this contractor's scheduled completion date for the base project
to December 11, 2006, from a completion date of February 26, 2007, in the
contractor's August schedule. However, neither AOC nor its construction
management contractor has had time to fully evaluate these revisions. In
addition, AOC's construction management contractor has now integrated into
the project's September 2005 schedule a number of recently prepared
component schedules, including schedules for preparing for CVC operations
and House and Senate expansion space construction. This integrated project
schedule shows the base project as being ready for opening to the public
by mid December 2006 and a completion date of February 26, 2007, for the
House and Senate expansion spaces.2 However, neither AOC nor its
construction management contractor has fully evaluated the activity
durations or adequacy of resource levels shown in the base project's
schedule as we recommended in our September 15 statement. Also, the
September 2005 schedule does not yet fully reflect input from AOC's Chief
Fire Marshal on commissioning or testing and inspection activities. Thus,
we are not now in a position to estimate a specific completion date, and
our views should be regarded as preliminary at this time. With this
qualification in mind, we have not seen recent evidence that would change
our preliminary view that a base project completion date in 2006 will be
difficult to achieve and that construction

2AOC set September 15, 2006, as the contractual date for completing the
base project's construction and for opening the CVC facility to the
public. The House and Senate expansion spaces were scheduled to be
completed after that date. AOC set the September contract completion date
in November 2004, when it reached agreement with the contractor on a new
date for starting sequence 2 that reflected the delays experienced on
sequence 1. On September 6, 2005, AOC informed Capitol Preservation
Commission representatives that it still expected the base project's
construction to be substantially complete on September 15, 2006, but was
postponing the date for opening the facility to the public to December 15,
2006, so that it could complete system tests, minor punch-list work, and
preparations for operations.

completion in early to mid 2007 is more likely unless AOC and its
contractors take extraordinary action or change the project's scope, which
could result in additional costs to the Government. Our view is based on
the schedule slippages that have already occurred, the views of project
personnel that several activities (such as interior wall stone
installation and interior finish work) are likely to take longer than
shown in the schedule, the large number of activities that the current
project schedule shows as being at risk of causing the project's
completion date to slip, and the risks and uncertainties that continue to
face the project. While we view the increased number of stone masons as
quite positive, it is not clear whether the contractor will be able to
maintain a sufficiently high number of masons on the site or whether
sufficient stone supplies will be available on time given the problems
that have been experienced in this regard. AOC and its construction
manager expect to have their evaluations of the sequence 2 contractor's
schedule changes, scheduled activity durations, and proposed resource
levels done by the end of this year. We will reevaluate the project
schedule and inform the Subcommittee of our results after AOC and its
construction management contractor have what they consider to be a
reasonably stable integrated schedule.

The design of the CVC's fire protection system has undergone a number of
changes-largely to reconcile conflicts between security and life and fire
safety requirements-and in a number of instances has been the focus of
considerable debate among stakeholders (e.g. CVC project team members,
AOC's Chief Fire Marshal and AOC fire protection engineers, and USCP
representatives). Changes to the system's design and scope have resulted
in about $900,000 in cost increases so far and could result in additional
increased costs of about $4.4 million based on anticipated changes as of
September 30, 2005. The bulk of the potential $5.3 million cost increase
stems from two factors-a change in the manner smoke will be kept from
egress stairwells that was requested by AOC's Chief Fire Marshal and
agreed to by the stakeholders and which resolves a conflict between
security and life and fire safety requirements, and a disagreement between
AOC and a contractor over contract requirements for certain detection
devices. The increased cost figure could change significantly, however,
because some CVC project team members believe that the estimated costs for
these changes are too high, costs for all proposed or anticipated changes
have not yet been fully evaluated, and negotiations relative to the
estimated $4.4 million in anticipated changes have not been completed. We
have discussed the costs associated with the stairwell change with AOC,
and it has agreed to fully evaluate the situation before it executes any
additional contract modifications for this change. Based on our
discussions with the CVC project team, AOC's Chief Fire Marshal, and

USCP representatives, it appears that the fire protection system design is
now essentially complete and agreed to by all the stakeholders. Finally,
coordination problems have existed between the CVC project team and AOC's
Chief Fire Marshall in arranging for inspections of completed work, but
steps are being taken to resolve the problems.

We have not updated our interim estimate of a cost of between $525.6
million and about $559 million to complete the project, which we reported
at the Subcommittee's September 15 CVC hearing, because AOC's consultant
just completed its updated cost estimate and we have not yet had the
opportunity to evaluate it, and because the project schedule has not yet
stabilized. As soon as we evaluate MBP's report and the project schedule
stabilizes, we will begin our work to reassess the reasonableness of
project completion dates and comprehensively update our cost-tocomplete
estimate. No additional funding beyond the $527.9 million for CVC
construction and the $7.8 million that remained available for CVC
operations or construction that we reported at the Subcommittee's last CVC
hearing has been provided for the CVC.

Project Schedules Have Been Revised but Not Fully Evaluated

While work in several areas has moved forward since the Subcommittee's
September 15 CVC hearing, additional delays have been encountered, and
project schedules have been revised but not fully reviewed or evaluated.
Construction work has continued on the CVC, the East Front, the plaza, the
House and Senate expansion spaces, and the utility tunnel since the
Subcommittee's September 15 hearing. For example, wall stone installation
work has continued in the great hall, the orientation theaters, and the
auditorium, and the number of stone masons working in the interior of the
CVC has increased since mid August. Some stone masons worked on weekends
between mid August and mid September. In addition, excavation, concrete,
and piping work in the utility tunnel has been proceeding, as has
mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work in the CVC.

On the other hand, between the Subcommittee's September 15 hearing and
October 12, the sequence 2 contractor completed work on only 3 of the 11
activities we and AOC have been tracking for the Subcommittee. None of
these activities had been completed by the target dates shown in the
contractor's April 2005 baseline schedule, although one was completed by
the date shown in the contractor's June 2005 schedule. (See app. I.)
Furthermore, additional delays have occurred on interior and exterior
stonework installation, the East Front, the utility tunnel, and the House
connector tunnel. For example, according to AOC's construction

management contractor, during September, the sequence 2 contractor gained
only 12 workdays on critical interior stonework and 10 workdays on the
utility tunnel out of a possible 21 days of work. According to the
construction management contractor, stonework has been delayed due a
shortage of stone masons, a lack of critical pieces of stone, the need to
do remedial concrete work in the orientation theaters and along the
exterior concrete walls and interior concrete floors of the auditorium,
and delays in getting shop drawings for stonework on the East Front.
According to AOC's construction management contractor, excavation work on
First Street for the utility tunnel has been delayed due to unforeseen
conditions and the need to stop work for the former Chief Justice's
funeral at the Supreme Court, and unforeseen conditions have also delayed
work on the House connector tunnel.

During September, the sequence 2 contractor changed the manner in which
the HVAC and Fire Protection system's commissioning work and acceptance
testing would be done, with the potential result of a time savings. The
changes largely involved re-sequencing work and doing work concurrently
that the August schedule showed would be done sequentially. According to
the contractor's revised schedule, these changes will result in an
improvement of over 60 workdays and bring the scheduled completion date
for this work to December 11, 2006, compared to the February 26, 2007,
date shown in the August schedule. However, these changes have not yet
been fully evaluated. AOC and its construction management contractor are
reviewing the changes, as is AOC's Chief Fire Marshal. AOC and its
construction management contractor believe it will take about 30 to 60
days to complete their assessments, and AOC's Chief Fire Marshal believes
that he may have his evaluation done before the end of October.

Altogether, the construction management contractor has identified a total
of 11 critical activity paths in the September schedule that will extend
the base project's completion date beyond AOC's September 15, 2006, target
date if expected lost time cannot be recovered or further delays cannot be
prevented. In addition to the critical paths related to the HVAC system
and the fire alarm system that are discussed above, examples of other base
project critical path activities included in the contractor's September
schedule are utility tunnel and piping, stonework in the East Front,
interior wall stone in such areas as the orientation theaters and atria,
stonework in the auditorium and exhibit gallery, millwork and casework
installation in the orientation theaters and atria, fabrication and
installation of bronze doors, and penthouse mechanical work. Of the 11
critical activity paths in the September schedule, completion dates for 4

paths improved compared to the August schedule, but completion dates for
the other 7 paths, including all of the stonework paths, slipped. For
example, according to the construction management contractor, the
September schedule shows all of the work associated with the fire alarm
testing critical path being completed by November 22, 2006, an improvement
over the August schedule's date of February 26, 2007; the September
schedule also shows all of the work associated with the interior
auditorium wall stone critical path being completed by December 12, 2005,
more than a month later than the August schedule's date of November 2,
2005. The sequence 2 contractor's September 2005 schedule indicates that
construction work on the base CVC will be essentially complete by
September 15, 2006, and that remaining work between that date and December
11, 2006, will largely consist of testing, balancing, and commissioning
the HVAC system; testing and inspecting the fire protection system;
punch-list work; and preparing for operations.

Most of the activities discussed above are among the activities we
previously identified as likely having optimistic durations, suggesting
that it could take even longer to complete them than shown in the project
schedule. These activities served as the basis for the recommendation we
made to AOC during the Subcommittee's September 15 hearing that AOC
rigorously evaluate the durations for the activities shown in the project
schedule. According to AOC, it has not yet completed this evaluation.
Moreover, we continue to believe that having such a large number of
critical activity paths complicates project management and makes on-time
completion more difficult.

AOC's construction management contractor has continued to integrate
various component schedules into the CVC construction and summary
schedules as they have been completed, and the integrated schedule
contains about 6,500 activities. Consequently, AOC now has a summary
schedule that integrates the completion of CVC and House and Senate
expansion space construction with preparations necessary for opening the
CVC to the public. This integrated summary schedule shows CVC construction
as well as the activities necessary for opening the CVC to the public
being completed by mid December 2006, the time AOC proposed last month for
opening the CVC to the public. That is, AOC expects construction work on
the base CVC project to be substantially completed by September 15, 2006,
but expects such work as HVAC commissioning, fire protection system
testing and inspection, punch-list work, and operations preparations work
to be ongoing until December 15, 2006. According to AOC's sequence 2 and
construction management contractors, it is not yet clear whether expansion
space construction will

have progressed to the point where temporary work for fire safety once
believed to be necessary to open the CVC to the public will no longer have
to be done. They said that they are still analyzing the work associated
with those areas where the base project interfaces with the expansion
spaces and whether and how the need for temporary work for fire safety can
be minimized or eliminated.

Although the sequence 2 contractor has taken, plans to take, and is
considering various actions3 to recover lost time and prevent or mitigate
further delays, we continue to believe that the contractor will have
difficulty completing construction before early to mid 2007. Our reasons
for concern include the uncertainty associated with the September changes
in the HVAC commissioning and fire protection system schedules that have
not yet been fully reviewed, the schedule slippages to date, optimistic
durations for a number of activities based on the views of CVC team
members, the large number of activity paths that are critical, and risks
and uncertainties that continue to face the project. AOC's construction
management contractor also points out that further delays could result
from congressional requests to stop work due to high noise levels in the
East Front and delays in completing CVC ceiling work necessary for the
HVAC and fire protection systems, although the CVC team is considering
ways to mitigate these risks. We also note that the Chief Fire Marshal has
not yet approved the construction drawings for the fire protection system
or the schedule for the system's commissioning and testing.

In addition to our views on the project's September schedule changes and
progress, we would also like to briefly discuss several schedule-related
issues about which we have previously raised questions or issues or made
recommendations to AOC.

3In September, the sequence 2 contractor increased the number of stone
masons working on the project. For example, AOC's construction management
contractor reported that an average of 22 stone masons worked on the
project each work day for the work week ending October 14, compared to an
average of 14 each work day for the work week ending August 26. Stone
masons also worked on several weekends, and the contractor plans to
further increase the number of stonemasons during October and to
re-sequence stonework to help mitigate a delay in the exhibit gallery. The
contractor has hired an additional subcontractor to help construct the
utility tunnel and is considering working longer hours or additional
weekends to recover time. The contractor also plans to continue to
evaluate the schedule to see what changes can be made to save time in a
variety of areas.

o  	We have been recommending for some time that AOC improve schedule
management and analyze and document delays and the reasons and
responsibilities for them on an ongoing basis-at least monthly. We have
noted considerable improvements in the CVC team's schedule analysis and
management since the arrival of the construction management contractor's
project control engineer several months ago. Shortly after his arrival,
the scope and depth of schedule analysis and management improved
significantly, and AOC's construction management contractor modified its
monitoring process to capture information on delays. However, we continue
to be concerned about AOC's not having adequate information systematically
compiled and analyzed to fully evaluate the causes and potential
responsibilities for delays on an ongoing basis. In our view, not having
this type of information on an ongoing basis is likely to create problems
later on should disputes arise and knowledgeable staff leave. Also, in
this regard, we have previously expressed concerns about the need for the
project schedule to show resources to be applied to meet schedule dates.
While the sequence 2 contractor has shown proposed resource levels for
many activities, proposed resource levels have not been included for many
of the new activities added to the project schedule. The lack of such
information can complicate the analysis of delays, including their causes
and costs. AOC agreed that these issues are important and said it would
discuss them with its construction management contractor.

o  	We have previously recommended that AOC develop risk mitigation plans
to address risks and uncertainties facing the project. In July, AOC asked
one of its consultants-MBP-to assist it in identifying risks and
developing plans to address those risks. AOC has identified over 50 risks
facing the project and established a process for addressing them. AOC has
begun to develop and implement plans for managing these risks. As of
October 11, AOC had developed plans for addressing 12 risks, such as
unforeseen conditions associated with constructing the House connector
tunnel, and fabrication and installation of custom bronze doors and
windows. AOC said that it will continue to develop plans for the remaining
risks. It also plans to discuss the risks at a weekly meeting and add new
risks to its list and develop mitigation plans for them as they are
identified.

o  	The September schedule shows utility tunnel construction being
completed in February 2006 and CVC's air handlers beginning to operate at
that time, assuming that they can get steam and chilled water from the
Capitol Power Plant. During our September 15 testimony, we noted several
problems associated with CPP that could adversely affect the CVC as well
as other congressional buildings if not corrected or addressed. These
problems included, for example, potential delays in completing the

West Refrigeration Plant Expansion Project, which is necessary to provide
chilled water to the CVC; the removal from service of two chillers in the
East Refrigeration Plant because of refrigerant gas leaks; fire damage to
a steam boiler; and staffing and training issues associated with operating
the new plant and the absence of a CPP director. Since the Subcommittee's
September 15 CVC hearing, the fire damage to the boiler has been repaired,
and the two coal-burning boilers that were taken off line for maintenance
had been put back on line; however, another maintenance problem occurred
with one of the boilers and it had to be turned off for repairs, which AOC
expects to have completed by the end of this week. Also, over the Columbus
Day weekend, heavy rains caused damage to electrical equipment that
resulted in a power outage affecting the entire plant. Power was restored
within a few hours; however, because of damage to the electrical
equipment, power is not available at certain locations within the plant.
In particular, one of the chillers in the East Plant is inoperable because
power cannot be provided to it. This incident prompted AOC to make a
change that affects the West Refrigeration Plant Expansion Project.
Specifically, AOC has decided to reconfigure the chilled water piping
system to allow the West Plant to operate in isolation of West Plant
Expansion. This change, which could result in an increase to the contract
cost, will decrease CPP's reliance on the older East Plant and will
enhance its capacity to reliably provide chilled water to the CVC and
other congressional buildings. Finally, AOC recently advertised the vacant
director's position. At this time, GAO has an active engagement to assess
certain CPP issues, such as staffing and training for, and the estimated
cost to complete, the West Refrigeration Plant Expansion Project. This
engagement is being conducted as part of a separate review for the
Subcommittee.

o  	Although AOC determined that the sequence 1 work was substantially
complete in November 2004, the sequence 1 contractor has continued to work
on punch-list items. Since the Subcommittee's September 15 CVC hearing,
AOC's construction management contractor added about 15 additional work
items to this list, such as chipping concrete interfering with wall stone
installation and repairing drains. According to AOC's construction
management contractor, the sequence 1 contractor has been making
satisfactory progress in completing the punch-list work.

Fire Protection System Issues Are in the Process of Being Resolved

The CVC's fire protection system is complicated, interfaces with security
and other building systems, and encompasses a variety of subsystems and
components, such as smoke and heat detectors, an alarm system, a sprinkler
system, a smoke evacuation system, door locks that will open in the event
of a fire, monitoring and control systems, emergency signage, lighting,
communication, and a system for preventing smoke from entering
stairwells-referred to as stair pressurization-to allow occupants to get
out of the building. We have identified three issues related to the fire
protection system, each of which we would like to briefly discuss.

1. 	Evolving design: The CVC's fire protection system has undergone a
number of design changes and has been the subject of debate among relevant
stakeholders for a number of reasons, largely due to conflicts between
security and life and fire safety requirements. According to AOC, the
building codes governing the design of the CVC often conflict with
security requirements, do not recognize the unique security needs of the
Capitol, and are particularly silent when it comes to the integration of
new air filtration technologies. In addition, AOC said that security
requirements and the decision to add state-of-the art air filtration
technology to the project when the construction documents were almost
complete forced the project team to redesign all of the air handling
systems in a compressed timeframe in order to maintain the overall
schedule. It also forced the project team to devise a complex design
solution with AOC's Chief Fire Marshal and USCP while sequence 2 was out
for bid as well as after the contract had been awarded. On October 5, we
attended meetings of representatives from the CVC project team, AOC's Fire
Marshal Division, and USCP where issues surrounding the CVC's fire
protection system were discussed. Based on those discussions and
information subsequently provided by AOC and USCP, it appears to us that
the design of the CVC's fire protection system is now essentially complete
and agreed to by all of the relevant stakeholders. The CVC project team
and the Chief Fire Marshal note, however, that not all of the shop
drawings related to the fire protection system have been submitted or
approved, and some issues could arise during the review process.

2. 	Increased cost: As of September 30, executed contract modifications
and anticipated changes related to CVC's fire protection system totaled
about $5.3 million, with most of this amount, about $4.4 million, being
estimated costs for anticipated changes that have not been fully evaluated
or approved. Changes to the system's design and scope already made have
resulted in about $900,000 in cost increases. Costs for changes that have
been made or that are anticipated have increased or are expected to
increase for several reasons, but the bulk of the

increases stems largely from two factors-changes requested by AOC's Chief
Fire Marshal aimed at ensuring that the system meets fire safety standards
based on his interpretation of code requirements (an area where conflict
existed between fire safety and security requirements) and a disagreement
between AOC and a contractor on contract requirements regarding certain
detection devices. The most costly change involving the security/fire
safety conflict that the CVC team has agreed to relates to the manner in
which fresh air will be brought into the building to pressurize stairwells
to prevent smoke infiltration in the event of a fire. The estimated costs
for this change (including the expansion space) amount to about $2.2
million, or over 40 percent of the estimated increased costs for the fire
protection system. Differences of opinion among CVC team members exist on
the magnitude of the estimated costs for this change. We have discussed
this issue with AOC, and it has agreed to fully evaluate the cost before
it executes additional contract modifications relating to stair
pressurization. The final costs for the stair pressurization and detection
devices in question as well as the other anticipated changes could change
significantly from the estimated amounts once any open issues regarding
costs are resolved. It is also possible that some of the proposed change
orders include work items that are not related to the CVC's fire
protection system, and to the extent this situation exists, costs for such
work items would not be attributable to the fire protection system.

3. 	Coordination problems: The CVC project team and AOC' s Fire Marshal
Division have been experiencing difficulties arranging for timely
inspections of completed work due to coordination problems involving the
amount of notice and documentation needed before inspections can occur. To
improve coordination, the CVC project team has been working with its
construction management contractor and the Chief Fire Marshal to develop a
systematic process for arranging for and documenting fire safety
inspections and is considering hiring a consultant to help facilitate the
coordination process. The Chief Fire Marshal has increased staffing
devoted to the CVC and is planning to obtain contract support to help
perform CVC inspections. The Chief Fire Marshal is also reviewing the
sequence 2 contractor's September 2005 schedule to determine whether the
sequencing of work and the time allotted for fire safety and occupancy
inspections are acceptable.

Our Project Cost Estimate Update Awaits Assessment of Consultant Estimate and
Schedule Stabilization; Funding Provided Has Not Changed Since September 2005

AOC's consultant-MBP-finished its work last week to update the estimated
cost to complete the project. We have not yet had time to evaluate MBP's
report. Also, as we said during the Subcommittee's September 15 CVC
hearing, we are waiting for the project schedule to stabilize before we
begin our work to comprehensively update our November 2004 estimate of the
cost to complete the project. Thus, we are not revising our interim
updated estimated cost to complete the project of between $525.6 million
and about $559 million that we discussed at the Subcommittee's September
15 CVC hearing. As soon as we evaluate MBP's report and the project
schedule stabilizes, we will begin our work to assess the reasonableness
of the scheduled completion dates for the CVC and the House and Senate
expansion spaces and comprehensively update our estimate of the cost to
complete the project.

No additional funding beyond the $527.9 million for construction and the
$7.8 million that was available for CVC construction or operations has
been provided for the project since the Subcommittee's September 15
hearing.4 As you may recall, Mr. Chairman, at your last CVC hearing, we
expressed concern about possible duplication of work and costs in areas
where the responsibilities of AOC's CVC construction and operations
contractors overlap, such as in designing wayfinding signage and the gift
shops. AOC agreed to work with its operations planning contractor to
clarify the contractor's scope of work, eliminate any duplication, and
adjust the operations contract's funding accordingly. AOC told us that it
has discussed these issues with its contractor and concluded that while no
duplication of work or funding exists, it needs to clarify the contract's
scope of work on wayfinding signage because it included more work than the
contractor would actually do.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes our statement. We would be pleased to answer
any questions that you or Members of the Subcommittee may have.

4AOC had planned to use $100,000 of its fiscal year 2006 appropriation for
CVC construction to move a fire alarm control panel in the Capitol
building related to CVC construction but outside the CVC work area. AOC
has decided to pay for this move with other funds, thus making the
$100,000 available for other CVC construction purposes subject to approval
of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. As we reported in
September, AOC had also used about $805,000 in CVC operations funds for
certain construction work that had been funded by the fiscal year 2006
construction appropriation. These funds also could be used for other CVC
work subject to the Committees' approval.

Contacts and	For further information about this testimony, please contact
Bernard Ungar at (202) 512-4232 or Terrell Dorn at (202) 512-6923. Other
key

Acknowledgments 	contributors to this testimony include Shirley Abel,
Michael Armes, John Craig, George Depaoli, Maria Edelstein, Brett
Fallavollita, Jeanette Franzel, Jackie Hamilton, Bradley James, Scott
Riback, Kris Trueblood, and Alwynne Wilbur.

     Appendix I: Capitol Visitor Center Critical Construction Target Dates
                        September 16 - October 18, 2005
                                                                                                                          Wall                                  10"                        Excavate                                                                                                                                             Wall                                                Wall                                                Wall                                                Wall                                                                     
    April   June 2005 Actual                   Finish Finish      Drill/Set                                               Stone Great                          South                         and                                            Concrete                                                                                Sta.        Stone                                               Stone                                               Stone                                               Stone Orientation                  Perimeter                             
    2005    Scheduled Finish Activity Location   Date   Date Date  Soldier                                  0:00-1:00     Area  Hall  7/15/05 11/03/05 9/14/05 Fire  Site 7/19/05 1/09/06   Shore                             0:00-1:00     Working                            0:00-1:00     Waterproof                           0:00-1:00     Area                                  Auditorium    Area                                  Auditorium    Area                                  Auditorium    Area      Theater  9/13/05 9/28/05 CMU Walls                             
  Scheduled                                                         Piles   Utility                                         9                                  Line                          Sta.   Utility                                   Slab   Utility                                  Working   Utility                                   1                                                   2                                                   3                                                  5*                                          Orientation                 
                                                                    Sta.    Tunnel  6/08/05 8/23/05 9/21/05               Base                                                                      Tunnel  7/21/05 10/05/05                  Sta.   Tunnel  7/26/05 10/10/05                   Slab    Tunnel  7/29/05 10/13/05                      Congressional 8/08/05 7/22/05                       Congressional 8/22/05 8/05/05                       Congressional 9/06/05 8/19/05                 Base                                               Lobby 9/20/05 9/16/05 

Source: AOC's April and June 2005 CVC sequence 2 construction schedules
for the scheduled completion dates and AOC and its construction management
contractor for the actual completion dates.

Note: Actual completion information was obtained on October 12, 2005.

*This activity was not noted listed in the April schedule. All other
activities were critical in the April schedule or became critical in
subsequent schedules.

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