Testimony 

Before the Subcommittee on the 

Legislative Branch, Committee on 

Appropriations, U.S. Senate 

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 10:30 a.m. EDT 

Tuesday, June 14, 2005 CAPITOL VISITOR 

CENTER 

Effective Schedule 

Management and Updated 

Cost Information Are 

Needed 

Statement of Bernard L. Ungar, Director 

Terrell Dorn, Assistant Director 

Physical Infrastructure Issues 

GAO-05-811T 
Page 1 GAO-05-811T 

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

We are pleased to be here today to discuss GAO’s ongoing work on the 

progress of the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) project. As requested, we will 

focus our remarks today on the Architect of the Capitol’s (AOC) progress 

in achieving selected project milestones and in managing the project’s 

schedule since the Subcommittee’s May 17 hearing on the project.1

 We will 

also discuss the project’s costs and funding, including the potential impact 

of schedule-related issues on the project’s costs. Our observations 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, Gilbane Building Company; our observations on 

the progress of work at the CVC construction site; and our discussions 

with CVC project staff, including AOC, its construction management 

contractor, and representatives of an AOC schedule consultant, 

McDonough Bolyard Peck (MBP). We did not perform an audit; rather we 

performed our work to assist Congress in conducting its oversight 

activities. 

In summary, AOC’s sequence 2 contractor, Manhattan Construction 

Company, has met 3 of 11 significant milestones scheduled for completion 

by today’s hearing. The sequence 2 contractor missed the other 8 

milestones for several reasons, such as unforeseen site conditions and a 

design problem. AOC does not expect these delays to affect the CVC 

project’s scheduled September 2006 completion date because AOC 

believes that the contractor can recover the lost time. Furthermore, 

certain utility tunnel work is scheduled for completion about 5 months 

later than previously reported, but AOC does not expect this delay to 

postpone the project’s completion date because AOC plans to use 

temporary equipment that will allow the project to move forward but will 

also increase its costs. However, largely because of past problems and 

risks and uncertainties that face the project, we continue to believe that 

the project is more likely to be completed in the December 2006 to March 

2007 time frame than in September 2006, as shown in AOC’s schedule. 

AOC and its construction management contractor have continued their 

efforts to address two of the areas we identified during the 

Subcommittee’s May 17 CVC hearing as requiring priority attention—

having a realistic, acceptable schedule and aggressively monitoring and 

 1

GAO, Capitol Visitor Center, Priority Attention Needed to Manage Schedules and 

Contracts, GAO-05-714T (Washington, D.C.: May 17, 2005). 
Page 2 GAO-05-811T 

managing adherence to the schedule. But AOC has not yet developed risk 

mitigation plans or, as the Subcommittee requested, prepared a master 

schedule that integrates the major steps needed to complete construction 

with the steps needed to prepare for operations. Until recently, AOC did 

not have funding to continue contractual support it had been receiving to 

help plan and prepare for CVC operations. We continue to believe that 

these areas require AOC’s priority attention and that the project’s 

estimated cost at completion will be between $522 million and $559 

million, and that, as we indicated during the May 17 hearing, AOC will 

likely need as much as $37 million more than it has requested to cover 

risks and uncertainties to complete the project. We believe that most of 

these additional funds will be needed in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, 

although exactly how much will be needed at any one time is not clear. We 

are recommending that this fall AOC update its estimate of the cost to 

complete the project. 

AOC and its major construction contractors have made progress since the 

Subcommittee’s May 17 hearing. As of May 31, the construction 

management contractor reported that the CVC project’s construction was 

about 65 percent complete. The sequence 1 contractor, Centex 

Construction Company, which was responsible for the project’s 

excavation and structural work, has continued to address punch-list items, 

such as stopping water leaks that continue to appear in perimeter walls. 

According to the construction management contractor, as of May 31, the 

sequence 1 contractor had completed almost all of the items on the punch 

list. AOC expects the sequence 1 contractor to be completely done with 

this list and off site by June 30, although the contractor may have to return 

later to address some issues. Furthermore, the sequence 2 contractor, 

which is responsible for the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and finishing 

work, continued to make progress in these areas, including erecting 

masonry block, placing concrete, and installing finish stone, sheetrock and 

plaster, and granite pavers. The sequence 2 contractor also continued 

work on the utility tunnel. 

As the Subcommittee requested, we worked with AOC on the selection of 

several sequence 2 milestones that the Subcommittee can use to help track 

the project’s progress from the Subcommittee’s May 17 hearing to July 31. 

These milestones are shown in appendix 1 and include activities on the 

project’s critical path, as well as other activities that we and AOC believe 

Schedule Milestones 

and Management 
Page 3 GAO-05-811T 

are important for the project’s timely completion.2 AOC’s sequence 2 

contractor completed 3 of the 11 activities listed in appendix 1 as 

scheduled for completion by today. The 11 activities include certain stone 

work in the Great Hall, a portion of the masonry wall in the auditorium, 

and certain utility tunnel work. According to AOC, the delays in 8 of these 

activities were caused by a number of factors, such as unforeseen site 

conditions, a design problem, and delays in completing certain masonry 

work that had to be completed before other work could be done. AOC 

does not expect these delays to postpone the project’s scheduled 

September 2006 completion date because it believes that the sequence 2 

contractor can recover the lost time. 

Since the May 17 hearing, AOC learned that the utility tunnel, which was 

expected to be operational in October 2005, is not now likely to be 

operational until March 2006. According to AOC, this date slipped because 

of unforeseen site conditions and the need to do certain work earlier than 

originally anticipated. The sequence 2 contractor has indicated that the 

impact of this delay on the project’s scheduled September 2006 

completion date will be mitigated by the use of temporary 

dehumidification equipment. However, this mitigation approach will result 

in additional costs, as explained later in this statement. Also since the May 

17 hearing, AOC’s contractors have updated the project’s master schedule, 

and the new schedule shows seven paths that are critical or are within 15 

days of being critical. For example, the updated schedule shows millwork 

and finishing the auditorium to be within 10 days and 15 days, 

respectively, of being critical. Having so many critical or near-critical paths 

complicates schedule management and increases the risk of problems that 

could lead AOC to miss its scheduled completion date. 

In our May 17 statement, we provided several observations on AOC’s 

management of the project’s schedules, including our view that problems 

in this area contributed to slippage in the project’s scheduled completion 

date and additional project costs associated with delays. We also 

 2

A critical path is a sequence of activities in a schedule that has the longest duration. There 

is no scheduling flexibility or slack time associated with the activities. This means that a 

delay in a critical path activity will delay the entire project unless a way is found to reduce 

the time required for other activities along the critical path. A schedule may have multiple 

critical paths simultaneously, and the critical path through a project can change as the 

project is updated and the time estimated to complete the tasks changes. Currently, AOC’s 

schedule shows CVC’s critical path running through wall stone and East Front stonework, 

and also shows other work elements, such as utility tunnel and millwork, as near critical 

(i.e. having little slack time). 
Page 4 GAO-05-811T 

discussed recommendations we had already made to AOC to enhance its 

schedule management. AOC had agreed with these recommendations and 

had generally begun to implement them, but, it still needed, in our view, to 

give priority attention to them to keep the project on track and as close to 

budget as possible. A brief discussion follows of the issues that need 

AOC’s priority attention and the current status of AOC’s actions to address 

these issues. 

• Having realistic time frames for completing work and obtaining 

fully acceptable schedules from contractors. Over the course of the 

project, AOC’s schedules have shown dates for completing tasks that 

project personnel themselves considered unlikely to be met. In addition, 

the master project schedule ( prepared by AOC’s construction 

management contractor) that AOC was using in May 2005 did not tie all 

interrelated activities together and did not identify the resources to be 

applied for all the activities, as AOC’s contract requires. On June 10, the 

construction management contractor told us that it had reassessed the 

reasonableness of the activity durations and found that they reasonably 

reflected the time required to perform the activities. Last week, AOC 

provided us with a revised master schedule that the construction 

management contractor said (1) reflected significant improvement in the 

linkage of interrelated tasks and (2) provided sufficient information to 

manage the project’s resources. AOC said that it planned to approve and 

accept this schedule subject to several conditions. Although our initial 

review of this revised schedule indicates that a number of improvements 

have been made, we have not yet had time to fully evaluate it. We will have 

a more complete assessment for the Subcommittee by its next CVC 

oversight hearing. Furthermore, as we said during the May 17 hearing, we 

continue to believe that AOC’s scheduled September 2006 completion date 

is optimistic and that the project is more likely to be done in the December 

2006 to March 2007 time frame, largely because of past problems, the risks 

to the schedule identified during our assessment of it in early 2004, and 

future risks and uncertainties facing the project. We plan to update our 

risk assessment for AOC’s revised schedule and have our update 

completed in September 2005. Our update will include a review of activity 

durations. 

• Aggressive monitoring and managing contractors’ adherence to the 

schedule, including documenting and addressing the causes of 

delays, and reporting accurately to Congress on the status of the 

project’s schedule. We noted in our May 17 testimony that neither AOC 

nor its construction management contractor had previously (1) adhered to 

contract provisions calling for monthly progress review meetings and 

schedule updates and revisions, (2) systematically tracked and 
Page 5 GAO-05-811T 

documented delays and their causes as they occurred or apportioned their 

time and costs to the appropriate parties on an ongoing basis, and (3) 

always accurately reported on the status of the project’s schedule. AOC 

and the construction management contractor have been working with the 

schedule consultant to develop a new, systematic process for tracking, 

analyzing, and documenting schedule progress and delays, addressing 

schedule issues, approving proposed schedule changes, and reporting on 

the schedule’s status. On June 7, AOC, the construction management 

contractor, the sequence 2 contractor, and the schedule consultant 

conducted the first monthly schedule status review session using the 

newly developed approach. If effectively implemented and sustained, we 

believe that this new approach should generally resolve the schedule 

management concerns we previously raised, although it is not yet clear 

how delays will be handled on an ongoing basis. We believe that the 

successful implementation of this new approach, including the effective 

handling of delays, depends heavily on the CVC project team’s continuous 

commitment of sufficient skilled resources to schedule management. On 

June 9, the construction management contractor told us that a project 

control engineer who had been assigned temporarily to help manage the 

project’s schedule would be working full time on the project starting June 

13. We plan to closely monitor the implementation of this new approach, 

including the resources devoted to it, the handling of delays, and the 

accuracy of the information provided to Congress. 

• Developing and implementing risk mitigation plans. In the course of 

monitoring the CVC project, we have identified a number of risks and 

uncertainties that could have significant adverse effects on the project’s 

schedule and costs. Some of these risks, such as underground 

obstructions and unforeseen conditions, have already materialized and 

have had the anticipated adverse effects. We believe the project continues 

to face risks and uncertainties, such as unforeseen conditions associated 

with the project’s remaining tunnels and other work, scope gaps or other 

problems associated with the segmentation of the project between two 

major contractors, and shortages in the supply of stone and skilled stone 

workers. Although we have recommended that AOC develop and 

implement risk mitigation plans for these types of risks and uncertainties, 

AOC has not yet done so. AOC has agreed, however, to begin to do this 

shortly, and, according to AOC’s CVC project executive, is exploring 

possible approaches. 

• Preparing a master schedule that integrates the major steps 

needed to complete CVC construction and the steps necessary to 

prepare for operations. A number of activities, such as hiring and 

training staff, procuring supplies and services, and developing policies and 
Page 6 GAO-05-811T 

procedures, need to be planned and carried out on a timely basis for CVC 

to open to the public when construction is complete. Although AOC has 

started to plan and prepare for CVC operations, as we indicated in our May 

17 testimony, it has not yet developed a schedule that integrates the 

construction activities with those activities necessary to prepare for 

operations. The Subcommittee requested such a schedule during its April 

13, 2005, hearing on AOC’s fiscal year 2006 budget request. Because of a 

lack of funds, AOC had not been able to extend the work of a contractor 

that had been helping it plan and prepare for operations. Last week, AOC 

received the funding needed to re-engage this contractor, and AOC said 

that it would be working with the contractor to continue planning and 

preparing for CVC operations. 

As we said during the Subcommittee’s May 17 hearing, we estimate that 

the cost to complete the construction of the CVC project, including 

proposed revisions to its scope, will range from about $522 million without 

provision for risks and uncertainties to about $559 million with provision 

for risks and uncertainties. As of June 10, 2005, about $483.7 million had 

been provided for CVC construction. In its fiscal year 2006 budget request, 

AOC asked Congress for an additional $36.9 million for CVC construction. 

AOC believes this amount will be sufficient to complete construction and, 

if approved, will bring the total funding provided for the project’s 

construction to $520.6 million. Adding $1.7 million to this amount for 

additional work related to the air filtration system that we believe will 

likely be necessary brings the total funding needed to slightly more than 

the previously cited $522 million. AOC believes that it could obtain this 

$1.7 million, if needed, from the Department of Defense. AOC’s $36.9 

million budget request includes $4.2 million for potential additions to the 

project’s scope (e.g. congressional seals, an orientation film, and storage 

space for backpacks) that Congress will have to consider when deciding 

on AOC’s fiscal year 2006 CVC budget request. 

AOC has not asked Congress for the additional $37 million ($559 million 

minus $522 million) that we believe will likely be needed to address the 

risks and uncertainties that continue to face the project. These include, 

but are not limited to, shortages in the supply of stone and skilled stone 

workers, unforeseen conditions, scope gaps, further delays, possible 

additional requirements or time for life safety or security changes and 

commissioning, unknown operator requirements, and contractor 

coordination issues. These types of problems have been occurring, and as 

of June 1, 2005, AOC had received proposed sequence 2 change orders 

with costs estimated to exceed the funding available in fiscal year 2005 for 

Project Costs and 

Funding 
Page 7 GAO-05-811T 

sequence 2 changes by about $400,000.3 AOC plans to help cover this 

potential shortfall by requesting approval from the House and Senate 

Committees on Appropriations to reprogram funds from other project 

elements that it does not believe will be needed for those elements. AOC 

can also request approval from these Committees to use part of $10.6 

million that Congress approved for transfer to the CVC project from funds 

appropriated for Capitol Buildings operations and maintenance.4

For several reasons, we believe that AOC may need additional funds for 

CVC construction in the next several months. These reasons include the 

pace at which AOC is receiving proposed change orders for sequence 2, 

the problems it is encountering and likely to encounter in finishing the 

project, and the uncertainties associated with how much AOC may have to 

pay for sequence 2 delays as well as when AOC will have fiscal year 2006 

funds available to it. For example, AOC is likely to incur additional costs 

for dehumidification if the expected delay in the utility tunnel cannot be 

mitigated or AOC has to obtain temporary equipment to provide steam and 

chilled water to CVC. AOC may be able to meet this need as well as the 

other already identified needs by additional reprogramming of funds and 

by obtaining approval to use some of the previously discussed $10.6 

million.5

 However, these funds may not be sufficient to address the risks 

and uncertainties that may materialize from later this fiscal year through 

fiscal year 2007. Thus, while AOC may not need all of the remaining $37 

million we have suggested be allowed for risks and uncertainties, we 

believe AOC is likely to need more funds in fiscal years 2006 and 2007 than 

it has already received and has requested to complete the construction of 

CVC’s currently approved scope, although the exact amount and timing 

are not clear at this time. Effective implementation of our 

 3

In our May 17 testimony, we reported that AOC had about $700,000 remaining in its fiscal 

year 2005 funding for sequence 2 changes after deducting estimated costs for proposed 

changes it had received. 

4

Public Law 108-447, enacted in December 2004, provided that up to $10.6 million could be 

so transferred upon the approval of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. 

In March 2005, AOC requested that about $4 million of these funds be transferred to CVC, 

including some funds for construction-related work, such as design of the gift shop space. 

As of June 10, AOC had received approval to use about $2.8 million of this $10.6 million. 

None of the $10.6 million was included in the $483.7 million above. 

5

AOC plans to fund anticipated additional costs for the House connector tunnel, the 

Jefferson Building connection to the Library of Congress tunnel, and certain securityrelated work by requesting approval to reprogram about $1.6 million from sequence 1 

construction and the East Front Interface to these project elements. 
Page 8 GAO-05-811T 

recommendations, including risk mitigation, could reduce AOC’s funding 

needs. 

Given the development of a new project schedule, the pace at which 

sequence 2 change orders are being proposed, and the risks and 

uncertainties that continue to face the project, we recommend that, in the 

September to November 2005 time frame, the Architect of the Capitol 

update the estimated cost to complete the project. We believe that such 

information will be useful to Congress as it considers AOC’s budget 

request for fiscal year 2007 as well as any other requests AOC may make 

for CVC funding. We expect to have our risk assessment of AOC’s new 

project schedule done in September and believe that the information 

developed during this assessment will be important in estimating future 

costs. In addition, we believe that AOC will have more information on the 

possible costs of sequence 2 delays by that time. AOC has agreed to do this 

update. 

Mr. Chairman, this completes our prepared statement. We would be happy 

to answer questions that you or other Subcommittee Members may have. 

For further information about this testimony, please contact Bernard 

Ungar at (202) 512-4232 or Terrell Dorn at (202) 512-6923. Other key 

contributors to this testimony include Shirley Abel, Maria Edelstein, 

Elizabeth Eisenstadt, Brett Fallavolitta, Jeanette Franzel, Jackie Hamilton, 

Bradley James, Scott Riback, and Kris Trueblood. 

Recommendation for 

Executive Action 

Contacts and 

Acknowledgments 
Page 9 GAO-05-811T 

Activity Location 

Scheduled 

completion 

Actual

 completion

Wall Stone Area 1 Great Halla,b 5/11/05 6/06/05

Scheduled for completion between 5/17/05 and 6/14/05 

 Wall Stone Area 3 Base Support Great Halla 5/20/05 5/20/05

 Wall Stone Layout Area 4 Great Hall 5/20/05 6/06/05

 Saw Cut Road at 2nd Street Utility Tunnela 5/24/05 

 Wall Stone Area 4 Base Support Great Halla 5/27/05 

 Wall Stone Layout Area 5 Great Hall 5/27/05 5/27/05

 Masonry Wall Lower Level East Cong. Auditorium 6/03/05 5/25/05

 Wall Stone Area 5 Base Support Great Halla 6/06/05 6/09/05

 Wall Stone Layout Area 6 Great Hall 6/06/05 

 Drill/Set Soldier Piles at 2nd Street Utility Tunnela 6/08/05 

 Wall Stone Area 6 Base Support Great Halla 6/13/05 

Scheduled for completion between 6/15/05 and 7/31/05 

 Wall Stone Layout Area 8 Great Hall 6/20/05 

 Masonry Wall Orientation Theater 6/24/05 

 Wall Stone Layout Area 9 Great Hall 6/24/05 

 Wall Stone Area 9 Base Support Great Halla 7/05/05 

 Wall Stone Installation Area 2 Great Hall 7/06/05 

 Wall Stone Installation Area 3 Great Hall 7/06/05 

 Wall Stone Installation Area 4 Great Hall 7/15/05 

 Wall Stone Area 9 Base Great Halla 7/15/05 

 Excavate/shore Station 0-1 Utility Tunnela 7/21/05 

 Concrete Working Slab 2nd Street Utility Tunnela 7/26/05 

 Waterproof Working Slab Station 0-1 Utility Tunnela 7/29/05 

Source: AOC’s April 2005 CVC sequence 2 construction schedule for the scheduled completion dates and AOC and its 

construction management contractor for the actual completion dates. 

Note: Actual completion information was obtained on June 9, and AOC did not expect that the 

wall stone area 6 base-support work in the Great Hall would be done by June 13; it is now 

expected to be done after June 14. 

a

These activities are critical. 

b

This activity was scheduled for completion by the Subcommittee’s May 17 hearing but was not 

done as of that date. 

Appendix I: Capitol Visitor Center Critical 

Construction Milestones May 2005-July 2005 

(543135) 
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