United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Testimony 

Before the Subcommittee on the 

Legislative Branch, Committee on 

Appropriations, U.S. Senate 

CAPITOL VISITOR 

CENTER 

Update on Status of 

Project’s Schedule and Cost 

as of April 27, 2006 

Statement of Terrell Dorn, Director 

Bernard L. Ungar, Director 

Physical Infrastructure Issues 

For Release on Delivery

Expected at 10:30 a.m. EDT 

Thursday, April 27, 2006

 

GAO-06-665T 
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 the Architect of the Capitol’s progress in achieving selected

project milestones and in managing the project’s schedule since the 

Subcommittee’s March 15, 2006, hearing on the project.1

 As part of this 

discussion, we will address a number of key challenges and risks that 

continue to face the project, as well as actions AOC has taken or plans to 

take to address these risks. In addition, we will discuss the status of the 

project’s costs and funding. 

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, Gilbane Building Company; our 

observations on the progress of work at the CVC construction site; and our 

discussions with the CVC team (AOC and its major CVC contractors), 

AOC’s Chief Fire Marshal, and representatives from the U.S. Capitol 

Police. We also reviewed AOC’s construction management contractor’s 

periodic schedule assessments and daily reports on the progress of 

interior wall and floor stonework. 

In summary: 

Since the Subcommittee’s March 15 CVC hearing, the CVC team has 

continued to move the project’s construction forward, and AOC is still 

proposing the same opening dates—April 2007 for the base CVC project 

and May 2007 for the House and Senate expansion spaces—but we 

continue to believe, as we said at the March hearing, that the proposed 

opening dates do not allow enough time to complete several critical 

activities and to address problems, challenges, risks, and uncertainties. 

Since the March 15 hearing, the installation of critical interior wall and 

floor stone has continued, together with other interior and exterior 

construction work, and the sequence 2 contractor has further developed 

plans to prevent trade stacking2

 during finish work. However, the pace of 

 1

GAO, Capitol Visitor Center: Status of Project’s Schedule and Cost as of March 15, 2006, 

GA0-06-528T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 15, 2006). 

2

Trade stacking can occur when workers from different trades, such as stone masons, 

electricians, plumbers, or plasterers, have to work in the same area at the same time to 

meet a schedule, sometimes making it difficult to ensure sufficient space and resources for 

concurrent work. 

Page 1 GAO-06-665T 
interior wall and floor stone installation remained below the targeted pace; 

the dates for completing the construction of the overall base project and 

expansion spaces were extended; and several activities fell behind 

schedule—not enough to affect the overall completion dates yet, but 

increasing the potential for future delays. In addition, the sequence 2 

contractor met only 1 of the 13 milestones being tracked for this hearing,

and this contractor’s monthly billings indicate that construction work is 

not likely to be completed on schedule as AOC anticipated. The CVC’s fire 

protection system has not yet been approved; critical building systems still 

have to be commissioned and tested; and although the project’s overall 

design is essentially complete, certain design or work scope elements are

still incomplete or are being clarified or refined. If the CVC team is 

successful in addressing these issues, we believe that the base CVC project 

can still possibly be opened to the public with a temporary cap on visitor

occupancy in May 2007 and that the expansion spaces can likely be

opened for occupancy beginning in mid-August to early September 2007. 

AOC may be able to reduce some of the time scheduled for the expansion 

spaces if it implements a phased opening plan and is able to perform 

acceptance testing of the CVC and the expansion spaces concurrently 

rather than sequentially—possibilities AOC is continuing to explore. 

However, the delays that have occurred since the Subcommittee’s last 

CVC hearing compound the concern we previously expressed that AOC 

will be challenged to meet even the later dates we are projecting because 

of the problems, challenges, risks, and uncertainties facing the project. 

Accordingly, we plan to reassess the project’s schedule again this summer. 

As we reported at the Subcommittee’s March 15 CVC hearing, we estimate 

that the total cost to complete the entire CVC project is about $556 million 

without an allowance for risks and uncertainties and $584 million with 

such an allowance. To date, about $530 million has been provided for CVC 

construction. We continue to estimate that AOC will need about $25.6 

million more in CVC construction funds to complete the entire CVC 

project. This estimate does not allow for risks and uncertainties and takes 

into account funding that AOC plans to use from existing appropriations. 

In addition, as we indicated during the March 15 hearing, AOC 

preliminarily expects to need about $950,000 in fiscal year 2007 AOC 

general administration appropriations that Congress has not yet provided 

to pay for contractual support needed to complete acceptance testing of 

the facility’s fire protection system in time to meet the project’s schedule. 

AOC plans to determine if it can reduce the amount needed for this 

contractual support; we will keep the Subcommittee apprised of this 

situation. 

Page 2 GAO-06-665T 
AOC Has Moved 

Construction 

Forward, but Delays 

Continue and Risks 

and Uncertainties 

Remain 

AOC and it contractors have made progress in a number of areas since the 

Subcommittee’s last CVC hearing, particularly in installing wall stone in 

the orientation and security lobby and in the south atrium. However, some 

milestones were pushed back in March. For example, according to AOC’s 

March 2006 schedule, the base CVC project will have a temporary 

certificate of occupancy on February 21, 2007, 6 workdays later than 

indicated in the February 2006 schedule, and the House and Senate 

expansion spaces will be substantially complete on December 18, 2006, 1 

workday later than indicated in the February 2006 schedule. AOC is still 

proposing an April 2007 opening date for the base project and a May 2007 

occupancy date for the expansion spaces—dates that it believes will 

accommodate possible delays and allow start-up time for operations. AOC 

expects all construction work in the CVC, East Front, and expansion 

spaces to be completed by the April opening date for the base project, but 

the CVC’s occupancy at any one time will be temporarily limited to 3,500,

compared with about 4,200, the normal anticipated occupancy level.3

Schedule slippages that have occurred since the Subcommittee’s March 15 

CVC hearing, coupled with the challenges, risks, and uncertainties that 

continue to face the project, have heightened our concerns about AOC’s 

ability to open the CVC to the public in April 2007. Consequently, we plan 

to reassess the project’s schedule again this summer. 

Our Analysis Indicates 

Later Opening Dates Than 

AOC Is Proposing 

We continue to believe, as we testified in March, that the CVC is not likely 

to be ready for opening with a temporary certificate of occupancy before 

May 2007, about a month later than AOC is proposing. Our projected 

opening date is somewhat later than AOC’s because certain critical work, 

such as interior stonework for the base project and East Front, has not 

generally been proceeding as quickly as planned and CVC team managers 

and members believe that certain other work, such as finish work, will 

take more time than is scheduled to complete. Our projection also 

assumes that AOC will be able to address the challenges it faces and takes 

into account the time that AOC believes is necessary to prepare for 

operations after construction work is completed. However, schedule 

 3

This temporary limit will be necessary because the “horizontal exits,” or passages, through 

the expansion spaces, which the life safety code requires for exiting the base CVC project,

will not be available until later. These horizontal exits cannot be used until the fire alarm

system in the expansion spaces has been fully tested and accepted—work that is not slated 

to be completed until after the base CVC is scheduled to open. Some additional work will 

likely be required to provide temporary emergency exit routes from the CVC, but the CVC 

team does not believe that this work or its costs should be substantial. 

Page 3 GAO-06-665T 
slippages in March raise concerns about AOC’s ability to overcome these 

challenges. Similarly, we continue to believe that the House and Senate

expansion spaces are more likely to be ready in mid-August or early 

September 2007 than in April or May 2007, as AOC is proposing. We 

consider the later time frames for the expansion spaces more likely for 

three reasons. First, AOC has scheduled the acceptance testing of the 

expansion spaces after the acceptance testing of the base project and,

according to our analysis, the base project’s testing will take longer than 

scheduled. Second, AOC’s Chief Fire Marshal believes the acceptance 

testing of the expansion spaces will take longer than scheduled. Third, 

several activities important to the on-time completion of expansion-space 

work slipped in March; and at this time, the sequence 2 subcontractor 

responsible for this work believes that additional slippages in some of 

these activities are likely. However, AOC has begun to address the 

problems affecting the progress of the expansion spaces and plans to 

reassess this situation as the construction work proceeds. The expansion 

spaces could be ready sooner than late summer 2007 if AOC succeeds in 

addressing the problems and starts acceptance testing sooner or opens the 

expansion spaces in phases—possibilities that AOC is continuing to 

explore. 

According to AOC’s construction management contractor, work on the 

project has advanced, in terms of both the dollar value of the work in 

place and individual project elements. In dollar terms, the overall CVC 

project was about 79 percent complete and the sequence 2 work was 

about 67 percent complete as of March 31–up from about 77 percent and

63 percent, respectively, as of February 28. Additionally, wall stone 

installation progressed substantially in the orientation and security lobby 

and in the south atrium and continued in other areas, such as the great hall 

and the East Front’s basement level. AOC’s construction management 

contractor reported additional progress in the CVC’s interior, the utility 

and House connector tunnels, the House and Senate expansion spaces, 

and the building’s exterior, such as on the plaza’s east side in preparation 

for tree planting, which occurred north and south of the auditorium in 

April. In fact, AOC’s construction management contractor reported that 

the CVC’s electrical work was ahead of schedule.

Construction Work Is 

Progressing

Despite the progress in these areas, problems and delays occurred in other 

areas, and several indicators of construction progress that we have been

tracking for the Subcommittee continue to indicate that construction work 

is likely to be completed later than AOC currently anticipates. An update 

on these indicators follows. 

Indicators Raise Questions 

about Proposed Opening Dates 

Page 4 GAO-06-665T 
Sequence 2 contractor continues to miss milestones and completion 

dates are extended. Starting with the Subcommittee’s June 2005 CVC 

hearing, at the Subcommittee’s request, we and AOC have been selecting 

and tracking sequence 2 milestones to help the Subcommittee monitor 

construction progress. These milestones include activities that are either 

on the project’s critical path or that we and AOC believe are critical to the 

project’s timely completion. As figure 1 shows, the sequence 2 contractor 

has generally missed these milestones. For today’s hearing, 13 of these 

milestones were due to be completed, according to the project’s January 

2006 schedule. One was completed ahead of schedule; 2 were completed 

late; and none of the remaining 10 had been completed as of April 24. (See

app. I.) 

Figure 1: Sequence 2 Contractor’s Progress in Meeting Selected Milestones as of

CVC Hearing Dates 

Page 5 GAO-06-665T 
According to AOC’s construction management contractor, the base 

project’s overall completion date fell 6 workdays behind in March, from 

February 13 to February 21, 2007. The February 13 date was set in the 

project’s January 2006 schedule. This 6-workday delay is the net result of 

delays in activities on multiple activity paths. In addition, slippages 

occurred on 15 of 19 critical and near-critical paths that AOC’s 

construction management contractor identified as important to meeting 

the base project’s overall completion date.4

 These delays occurred in, but 

were not limited to, work on the East Front, the upper level of the 

orientation and security lobby, the auditorium, the utility tunnel, the 

assembly room, and the orientation theaters, and they ranged from 1 to 

more than 80 workdays. According to the CVC team, these project delays 

occurred for a variety of reasons, such as design changes, problematic 

sequence 1 work, late submissions or approvals of shop drawings, and 

changes in the sequence of work activities by the sequence 2 contractor. 

Even more important than the individual delays themselves, however, is 

their likely impact on the CVC team’s ability to complete construction 

work on schedule. So many activities have now fallen behind schedule 

that even relatively short additional delays could push back the CVC’s 

overall completion date. According to the construction management 

contractor, there are nine critical and near-critical activity paths in the 

project’s March schedule that have so little slack time that an additional 

delay of 1 to 30 workdays could delay the base project’s overall 

completion date. There were six such paths in the project’s February 

schedule. 

Work on the House and Senate expansion spaces fell 1 workday behind 

schedule in March, AOC’s construction management contractor reported.5

Additionally, and of even greater concern to us, are delays in a number of 

 4

Construction projects typically have one critical path, which is the sequence of activities 

having the longest duration through the schedule. There is no slack time associated with 

these activities, meaning 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. 

Some projects have multiple critical paths simultaneously; the CVC essentially has two 

concurrent critical paths—(1) East Front mechanical and (2) East Front fire acceptance 

testing—and many near critical activity paths which have little slack time. Generally, the

more critical and near-critical activities a project has, the greater is the risk of late 

completion because there are more opportunities for slight delays that can adversely affect 

the project’s completion. 

5

According to the project’s February and March schedules, the overall completion of the

House and Senate expansion spaces remained the same—May 2, 2007. The contract

completion date for this work is March 12, 2007. 

Page 6 GAO-06-665T 
near-critical paths. Some of these paths slipped as much as 29 workdays in 

March. Although most of the time that was lost in March did not affect the 

overall completion date for the expansion spaces, further delays could do

so. Among the activities that were delayed in March were plumbing 

installation on the House service level; duct work installation in space 

intended for use by the U.S. Capitol Police; testing and balancing of the 

heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems on the Senate upper 

level; and completion of the fire alarm system in the House lower level. 

According to the CVC team, these activities were delayed because of 

problems associated with sequence 1 or other sequence 2 work, delays in 

getting approved shop drawings, and delays in completing necessary 

predecessor work or in getting design decisions.

In early April 2006, we told AOC we were concerned about the increasing 

number of delays in expansion space activities and the potential impact of

these delays on the completion of the expansion space work. As further 

cause for concern, we noted that the sequence 2 subcontractor doing the 

expansion space work was expecting additional delays in some of these 

activities and that, in our view, additional design or scope changes were 

possible. Although AOC is not planning to open the expansion spaces until 

May 2007, timely completion of the expansion space work is important 

because certain expansion space work must be completed before the CVC 

can be opened to the public. AOC agreed that continued delays in the 

expansion space work are of concern and recognized that risks and 

uncertainties associated with the work could cause the work to fall farther

behind. AOC has begun to work with the rest of the CVC team to identify 

and address problems that have arisen and risks that threaten the work’s 

on-time completion. 

Value of completed work indicates completion later than scheduled.

Another indicator of construction progress that we and AOC’s 

construction management contractor have been tracking is the value of 

the completed construction work billed to the government each month. 

Both we and the construction management contractor believe that the 

sequence 2 contractor’s monthly billings, including the bill for March 2006,

have generally not been sufficient to meet AOC’s currently scheduled 

completion date. While this indicator has some limitations (for example, 

billings lag behind construction and the contract’s total value does not 

include the value of modifications that are beyond modification 85), it is 

generally regarded in the construction industry as a useful measure of how 

likely a project is to be completed on time. Figure 2 compares the 

sequence 2 contractor’s billings since May 2003 with the project’s 

scheduled completion date and indicates that the sequence 2 contractor is

Page 7 GAO-06-665T 
not likely to finish construction work by December 2006, as AOC expects, 

unless the value of completed work increases significantly. We believe that

a significant increase will be difficult, given the limited number of areas 

that will be ready for finish work at any given time. 

Figure 2: Total Billings by the Sequence 2 Contractor for the Entire CVC Project Compared with the Billings Needed to Finish 

Construction Work on Schedule

Page 8 GAO-06-665T 
Notes: 

1. The early and late lines on this figure reflect the cumulative billings that would be required to 

complete the project through contract modification 85 ($222.8 million total contact value) by the

early and late finish dates shown in the sequence 2 contractor’s schedule. 

2. The actual line reflects the sequence 2 contractor’s actual monthly billings. 

3. Although bills are typically submitted for payment after work is completed, it is often likely that

construction work will be completed on schedule when the actual billing line falls between the 

early and late lines in the figure. With respect to the CVC, the actual billing line has been 

trending below, and in March 2006 went below, the late finish line. Even with the lag in billings, 

this trend indicates that the amount of work being completed each month is not sufficient to 

finish the project on schedule. 

Interior stone installation is progressing, but taking longer than 

expected. Overall, about 64 percent of the CVC’s interior wall stone has 

been installed, according to AOC’s construction management contractor,

and the sequence 2 contractor installed 5,079 pieces of interior wall stone 

during the last 5 weeks, meeting about 94 percent of its 5,384-piece 

production target. By contrast, during the same period, the sequence 2 

contractor installed about 3,090 square feet of floor stone, or about onethird of the 9,300 square feet specified in a preliminary floor stone 

installation plan that the contractor provided to AOC shortly after the 

February 15 hearing. In addition, 7 of the 13 schedule milestones that AOC 

and we have been tracking for the Subcommittee for today’s hearing are 

related to interior wall stone installation, and the sequence 2 contractor 

met 1 of these 7 milestones. According to the CVC team, the sequence 2 

contractor has missed its stone installation targets for a variety of reasons, 

including the need to correct problematic sequence 1 work or properly 

prepare certain spaces for the installation of wall or floor stone, a change

in wall stone design, late delivery of floor stone, or delays in some spaces 

in finishing certain work, such as ceiling work, that usually precedes floor 

stone installation. As we have discussed in the Subcommittee’s previous 

CVC hearings, delays in wall stone installation can lead to additional 

delays in completing follow-on work, such as floor stone installation and 

finish work. Although the CVC team has identified unforeseen conditions

and problematic sequence 1 work as risks that could affect the pace of 

wall stone installation, the team’s efforts to address the risks have not fully

prevented these types of problems from recurring or adversely affecting 

the project’s schedule. Figures 3 and 4 show the sequence 2 contractor’s 

progress in installing interior wall and floor stone since January 23 and 

February 13, 2006, respectively.

Page 9 GAO-06-665T 
Figure 3: Progress of CVC Interior Wall Stone Installation Compared with Targets Set by the Sequence 2 Contractor

Page 10 GAO-06-665T 
Figure 4: Progress of CVC Interior Floor Stone Installation Compared with Preliminary Targets Set by the Sequence 2 

Contractor

Project’s Schedule 

Remains Vulnerable to 

Problems, Challenges, 

Risks, and Uncertainties, 

despite Actions AOC Has 

Taken and Plans to Take 

As we indicated during the Subcommittee’s February 15 and March 15 

CVC hearings, we continue to believe that AOC will be challenged to meet 

even the later opening dates we have identified, given the problems, 

challenges, risks, and uncertainties facing the project. A brief update on 

these and AOC’s plans for addressing them follows: 

• Trade stacking could delay completion. As we discussed during the 

Subcommittee’s previous CVC hearings, trade stacking could hold up 

finish work, such as drywall or ceiling installation, electrical and plumbing 

work, plastering, or floor stone installation. This work could be stacked 

because of delays in wall stone installation. According to AOC’s 

construction management contractor, the pace of wall stone installation 

Page 11 GAO-06-665T 
during March has not been sufficient to eliminate the risk of trade stacking 

and delays in finish work. Such a situation could also increase the risk of 

accidents and injuries. Hence, it remains important, as we said at the 

previous CVC hearings, for the CVC team to closely monitor construction 

to identify potential trade stacking and promptly take steps to address it. 

The CVC team has also identified trade stacking as a high risk, and since

the Subcommittee’s March 15 CVC hearing, the sequence 2 contractor has 

continued to develop area-by-area plans that will show when each 

subcontractor will be working in each area. The sequence 2 contractor has 

finished these plans for most of the work areas and expects to have plans 

for the remaining areas completed by the end of this week. According to 

the sequence 2 contractor, it has been meeting with its key subcontractors 

to reach agreement on the plans and intends to continue meeting regularly 

with them to review and update the plans. The sequence 2 contractor 

pointed out that these plans add more detail to the project’s schedule and 

will serve as a tool for addressing the trade-stacking issue. Although we 

and AOC agree that these area-by-area plans are important and should be 

helpful, we are still concerned about the potential for trade stacking 

because of the delays that have already occurred and the delays that could 

occur if shop drawings for the fire protection system are not approved in 

time to avoid slippages in follow-on work or if changes are required as a

result of the Fire Marshal Division’s review of the drawings. 

• Complex building systems remain a significant risk. The CVC will house 

complex building systems, including systems for heating, air conditioning, 

and ventilation; fire protection; and security. These systems not only have

to perform well individually, but their operation also has to be integrated. 

If the CVC team encounters any significant problems with their 

functioning, either individually or together, during commissioning or 

acceptance testing, the project could be seriously delayed. During the 

Subcommittee’s March 15 CVC hearing, we noted that the sequence 2 

contractor planned to submit the shop drawings for the CVC’s fire 

protection system for review by March 17. However, the contractor has 

not submitted the drawings for the base project as of April 24, in part 

because more time was needed to incorporate changes, AOC’s 

construction management contractor said. AOC expects the drawings to 

be submitted by the end of this week. Delays could arise if the proposed

system does not meet the project’s design specifications or the fire 

Page 12 GAO-06-665T 
protection code’s requirements.6

 AOC’s Chief Fire Marshal believes that it

will take at least 4 weeks to review these drawings. In addition, the Chief 

Fire Marshal notes that delays could occur if the CVC team does not 

adequately pretest the system and correct any problems found during the 

pretesting. Since the Subcommittee’s last CVC hearing, AOC’s 

commissioning contractor submitted its plan for testing the performance 

of the CVC’s smoke control system, which is a critical component of the 

CVC’s fire protection system and must work properly before the CVC can 

be opened to the public. This plan has not yet been approved. In addition,

as we have previously noted, the Chief Fire Marshal’s timely completion of 

the fire protection system’s acceptance testing depends on his ability to 

obtain sufficient funding for a contractor to help perform the tests. 

Furthermore, difficulties the CVC team has had resolving scope, design,

and cost issues associated with the CVC’s technical security system could 

adversely affect the schedule for acquiring and installing cabling and 

equipment for this system, including door hardware. The CVC team and 

representatives from the U.S. Capitol Police have been working to resolve 

these problems. Nevertheless, according to AOC’s construction 

management contractor, certain changes to the scope of the security work 

are likely to set the schedule back to some extent. 

• Building design and work scope continue to evolve. The CVC has 

undergone a number of design and work scope changes. Since the project 

began, AOC’s architectural contractor has issued over 180 design changes 

or clarifications, and as of April 20, 2006, reported having another 14 in 

process. In addition, since the project began, AOC has executed more than 

80 sequence 2 contract modifications valued at over $23 million for work 

that was not anticipated.7

 Some of these changes, such as changes in the 

exhibit gallery and in the East Front, have resulted in delays. In addition, 

shop drawings for a number of project elements, such as the facility’s fire 

protection system, millwork in the food service area and assembly rooms,

and certain portions of the exhibit gallery, have not yet been fully 

approved and are subject to change, and additional design or scope 

 6

According to the sequence 2 subcontractor that is fitting out the House and Senate 

expansion spaces, the delays in getting approved shop drawings for the fire protection

system have already postponed ceiling close ins in the expansion spaces, and the

subcontractor’s CVC project director believes that further such delays pose the single 

greatest risk to the completion schedule for the expansion spaces at this time. 

7

These data exclude sequence 2 contract modifications for work that was planned but not 

included in the sequence 2 base contract. Examples include the fit-out of the House and 

Senate shell spaces, the construction of the utility tunnel, and the purchase and installation 

of food service equipment. 

Page 13 GAO-06-665T 
changes are likely given the project’s experience to date. Project design 

and scope changes are typically reflected in the development of potential

change orders (PCO), many of which result in contract modifications. 

Figure 5 shows the PCOs submitted for consideration for sequences 1 and 

2 since September 2003. Although PCOs are not always approved, they are 

often regarded as a reasonably good indicator of likely future design or 

scope changes that can affect a project’s cost and schedule. Even more 

important, the adverse impact of scope and design changes on a project’s

schedule is likely to increase as the project moves toward completion. For 

example, certain changes to the fire protection system currently being

discussed are likely, if made, to adversely affect the project’s schedule, 

according to AOC. 

Page 14 GAO-06-665T 
Figure 5: Cumulative Number of Potential Change Orders Submitted for CVC Sequences 1 and 2 between September 2003 

and April 2006 

As the figure indicates, new PCOs for sequence 1 were submitted until 

shortly before, and even for several months after, November 2004, when 

AOC determined that the sequence 1 contract work was substantially 

complete. Similarly, PCOs for sequence 2 are still being submitted, and we 

have seen no indication that their submission is likely to stop soon. While 

not all PCOs are approved, many are, and it appears likely to us that some 

of the design or scope changes indicated in PCOs could lead to contract 

modifications that will affect the project’s schedule. AOC agrees that it is 

important to minimize the impact of proposed design and scope changes.

Page 15 GAO-06-665T 
• Opening the CVC and expansion spaces at different times is likely to 

result in a temporary cap on CVC occupancy and increase costs. As we 

reported during the Subcommittee’s February 15 and March 15 CVC 

hearings, AOC’s current plan to open the CVC in April 2007 before the 

expansion spaces are scheduled for completion is likely to result in a 

temporary cap on CVC visitor occupancy and a need to construct 

temporary emergency exits for fire and life safety protection.8

 AOC is 

proposing this sequential approach because it believes that conducting 

acceptance testing for the fire protection system for the CVC and the 

expansion spaces concurrently would delay opening the CVC to the public. 

AOC’s proposed April 2007 opening date for the CVC depends on the 

timely completion of work not only on the base project but also on the 

expansion spaces, since certain expansion space work must be completed

before the CVC’s opening. Inasmuch as work on both the base project and 

the expansion spaces was delayed in March, we believe that it will be 

especially important to monitor the progress of construction to determine 

what additional work (and funding) may be needed to meet AOC’s planned 

date for opening the CVC, including what temporary work may be required 

in the expansion spaces for the CVC to open before the expansion space 

work is complete. According to AOC, it plans to have its construction 

management contractor monitor this situation. 

• Risks from insufficient stone deliveries remain, but may be

diminishing. According to the sequence 2 contractor, it has, since the 

Subcommittee’s last CVC hearing, received 12 of the 12.5 truckloads of 

interior wall stone it was expecting from the stone fabricator and expects 

to receive the remaining wall stone needed for the base project by midJune 2006. AOC’s construction management contractor reported that as of

last week, almost all—about 98 percent—of the wall stone needed for the 

core CVC itself was on site (either installed or awaiting installation); about 

44 percent of the wall stone needed for the atriums and about 30 percent 

of the wall stone needed for the East Front were on site; and none of the 

wall stone for the House connector, Library of Congress, and Cannon 

tunnels had been delivered. According to AOC and its construction 

management contractor, although the supply of interior wall stone was 

insufficient in late 2005 and early 2006, it is adequate for the CVC at this 

time, given the amount of space available for wall stone installation and 

the quantity of stone on hand—over 6,800 pieces. Furthermore, they said 

that they do not expect the wall stone supply for the base project to cause 

 8

According to AOC, the CVC’s occupancy at any one time would be temporarily limited to 

3,500, compared with about 4,200, the normal anticipated occupancy level, until acceptance

testing of the fire protection system for the expansion spaces has been completed. 

Page 16 GAO-06-665T 
further delays in the CVC’s opening, provided that the fabricator sustains 

the pace of deliveries, particularly for the East Front, whose completion is 

critical to the CVC’s opening. Also, although none of the wall stone for the 

House and Senate expansion spaces was on site yet, the subcontractor 

responsible for this work is not anticipating delivery problems at this time. 

On the other hand, AOC’s construction management contractor reported 

that no floor stone was installed during the week of April 10 because, as a 

result of a late delivery from the supplier, the installers ran out of floor 

stone for the exhibit gallery. The sequence 2 contractor said this late 

delivery was unusual for floor stone and no further problems with floor 

stone supply were expected. 

Finally, as we have said in previous discussions with AOC, its construction 

management contractor, and the Subcommittee, it will be important for 

AOC to have adequate analysis and documentation of the reasons and 

responsibilities for delays.9

 On April 11, 2006, AOC executed a contract 

modification authorizing its construction management contractor to have 

one of its managers who has not been involved in the CVC project assess 

the adequacy of this type of information. AOC expects this assessment to 

be completed soon. 

As we testified during the Subcommittee’s March 15 CVC hearing, we 

estimate that the total cost to complete the entire CVC project will be 

about $556 million without an allowance for risks and uncertainties and 

could be as much as about $584 million with such an allowance. To date, 

about $530 million has been provided for CVC construction. This amount 

includes about $3.6 million that was made available for either CVC 

construction or operations and has been approved for CVC construction 

by the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.10 To obtain the 

Estimated Project 

Cost and Funding 

 9

See for example: GAO, Capitol Visitor Center: Effective Schedule Management and 

Updated Cost Information Are Important, GAO-05-811T (Washington, D.C.: June 14, 2005).

10Public Law 108-447, enacted on December 8, 2004, provided that up to $10.6 million could 

be transferred from AOC’s Capitol Building appropriation account for the use of the CVC 

project. The use of the amount transferred is subject to the approval of the House and 

Senate Committees on Appropriations. In June 2005, AOC received approval to use about 

$2.8 million (including about $1.6 million for CVC construction) of this $10.6 million,

leaving a balance of about $7.7 million that could be used in the future after a rescission 

amounting to $84,800. AOC recently received approval to use about an additional $2 million 

of these funds for CVC construction, including, for example, the fabrication and installation

of wayfinding signage and the fit-out of the gift shops, and about $2.3 million for CVC 

operations. Thus, about $3.4 million of the $10.6 million remains available for approval for 

use for CVC construction or operations. 

Page 17 GAO-06-665T 
additional funding that it expected to need to complete the project’s 

construction, AOC, in December 2005, requested $20.6 million as part of its 

budget request for fiscal year 2007. This request was based, in part, on 

discussions with us and took into account our November 16, 2005, 

estimate of the cost to complete the project’s construction without an 

allowance for risks and uncertainties and funding from existing 

appropriations. Our subsequent work—completed in preparation for the 

Subcommittee’s February 15 and March 15 CVC hearings—indicated that 

AOC would need about $5 million more, or about $25.6 million in 

additional CVC construction funds, to complete construction without an 

allowance for risks and uncertainties. AOC plans to request the additional 

$5 million as a supplement to its fiscal year 2007 budget for CVC 

construction. This would bring its total request for fiscal year 2007 CVC 

construction funds to $25.6 million. In addition, AOC has indicated that it

plans to use about $950,000 of the fiscal year 2007 general administration 

appropriations it has requested for contractual support for its Fire Marshal 

Division. 

As we stated in our March 15 testimony, AOC believes that it may be able

to reduce the amount of funds it will need in fiscal year 2007 for 

contractual support in testing the CVC’s fire protection system and plans 

to explore ways to do so. AOC expects that its Fire Marshal Division 

should receive the shop drawings for the CVC’s fire protection system by 

the first week in May, and the Chief Fire Marshal believes that his office 

will need at least 4 weeks to complete its review. It then plans to 

determine how much contractual support it will need to test the system 

and to explore cost savings possibilities. We plan to monitor and report on 

these costs to the Subcommittee as soon as AOC has a firmer estimate. 

Also, at this time, it appears that sufficient contingency funding may be 

available within the current CVC budget to cover the cost increases 

associated with the security system issues we previously discussed. We 

will keep the Subcommittee apprised of this situation. 

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

pleased to answer any questions that you or Members of the 

Subcommittee may have. 

Page 18 GAO-06-665T 
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, John Craig, Maria 

Edelstein, Elizabeth Eisenstadt, Brett Fallavollita, Jeanette Franzel, Jackie 

Hamilton, Bradley James, Joshua Ormond, Scott Riback, and Regina 

Santucci. 

Contacts and 

Acknowledgments 

Page 19 GAO-06-665T 
Page 20 GAO-06-665T 

Appendix I: Capitol Visitor Center Critical 

Construction Milestones, March 16-April 27, 

2006 

Source: AOC’s January 2006 CVC sequence 2 construction schedule for the scheduled early completion dates and AOC and its 

construction management contractor for the actual completion dates as of April 24, 2006. 

Activity Location 

Scheduled

completion

Actual 

completion

Frame Plaster Ceiling Great Hall 3/17/06 4/14/06

Wall Stone Area 3 East Front Basement 3/20/06

Wall Stone Area 5 Auditorium 3/22/06 4/18/06

Wall Stone Area 2 Orientation Lobby Upper Level 3/27/06

Wall Stone Area 3 Orientation Lobby Upper Level 3/31/06 3/09/06

Lath Plaster Ceiling Great Hall 3/31/06

Wall Stone Area 1 East Front Ground 4/03/06

Grid for Wood Ceiling Orientation Theater 4/03/06

Plaster Ceilings Great Hall 4/06/06

Wall Stone Area 2 East Front Ground 4/17/06

Install Bronze Doors Food Service 4/17/06

Install Wood Ceiling Panels Orientation Theater 4/17/06

Wall Stone Area 4 Orientation Lobby 4/21/06

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