The estimated completiondate of the Capitol Visitor Center has been officially been pushed back two months, and more delays are possible as the overdue, over-budget project continues to face critical challenges, the federal government’s chief watchdog said this week.
Contractors made progress on the 580,000-square-foot underground facility between March 13 and Tuesday, when the Government Accountability Office offered its most-recent update to Congress. But continued delays on the fire-protection system will push the scheduled completion — not opening — date to at least mid-2008 and perhaps later.
The fire system is considered the “critical path” component, according to the GAO, and “each day of delay in the critical path could delay the completion of the entire project.” Even June 2008 “does not allow time for installing artifacts in the exhibit gallery or preparing for operations,” according to a footnote in the GAO’s testimony.
Construction of the center was launched five years ago. It was initially scheduled to open in January 2005 and cost $265 million.
But the facility now has an estimated $592 million price tag “without an allowance for risks and uncertainties, and over $600 million with such an allowance,” the GAO said. So far, $538.4 million has been obligated for work, the Architect of the Capitol continues to request millions more, and “we estimate that AOC may need further appropriations in future fiscal years for construction changes and claims,” the GAO wrote.
In his statement to House Appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch, acting Architect of the Capitol Stephen Ayers said the project is 93 percent complete, and the construction team is “pushing hard to ensure progress is being made on a daily basis on the CVC, and that the work remains of the highest quality.”
But he also acknowledged that the previous “overall schedule was not realistic” given numerous missed deadlines.
“It did not adequately address the length of time necessary to commission the building systems, and to conduct the crucial pre-testing and testing of the fire alarm, life-safety, and security systems to ensure that all the building’s systems are integrated and work together properly,” Ayers said.
