Capital Asset Improvement Plan For 

Scientific and Laboratory Facilities

 July 2023
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APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan 3 

Introduction

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 

safeguards the health, welfare, and value of American agriculture and natural resources. 

Key to this mission is work conducted at scientific and laboratory facilities around the 

United States and the world. They develop and use state-of-the art methods and 

technologies to prevent and control the spread of animal and plant pests and diseases 

and reduce damage caused by wildlife. These scientific and laboratory facilities require 

highly specialized equipment and systems – including air ventilation and wastewater 

treatment – to properly function. In addition, they often must be built and maintained to 

meet mandated biosafety requirements to protect human, animal, and plant health, as 

well as the environment. Many of these facilities are approaching or have exceeded their 

life span. 

Maintaining the condition and functionality of facilities is an ongoing process that demands 

significant management of capital resources. The Agency receives approximately $3 million 

each year in appropriations to repair and maintain of its broad portfolio of capital assets. This 

amount of funding is negligible compared to the full scope of the Agency’s facility needs, and 

APHIS must also use program funding to make necessary facility repairs where appropriate 

and needed, at the expense of program operations. 

APHIS developed this Capital Asset Improvement Plan to strategically prioritize its facility 

needs. The project was led by the APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan working group, 

which included representatives from Marketing and Regulatory Programs Business Services’

 Acquisition and Asset Management Division and Policy and Program Development’s 

Budget and Program Analysis Staff. Representatives from each APHIS program unit provided 

expertise and details on individual facility repair and replacement needs to effectively 

capture the program-level facility data.
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APHIS Facility Evaluation and 

Prioritization Process

The APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan working 

group inventoried our more than 70 scientific and 

laboratory facilities. The group focused on 

mission-critical facilities that would create a 

significant work stoppage should the facility fail. 

They further narrowed the list by focusing on 

government-owned facilities. APHIS operates in a 

mix of government-owned and leased facilities, as 

well as other types of arrangements. Focusing on 

government-owned facilities will make the 

construction process simpler and provides more 

long-term benefits to the Agency and taxpayers. 

Finally, only facilities fully funded through 

appropriations were considered. Some facilities 

are funded in part or in whole by user fees, and 

these fees are intended to cover a program’s full 

operational costs, including facilities. 

The consolidated group of 13 facilities was then 

plotted in a matrix (Figure 1) based on a program 

priority ranking method used in the budget 

formulation process and each facility’s Facility 

Condition Index (FCI). The FCI is the sum of the 

costs of needed repairs divided by the replacement 

value of the facility. APHIS strives to maintain an 

FCI for facilities assessed of less than 0.10, meaning 

that the cost to make repairs is less than 10 percent 

of the estimated replacement value for the facility. 

Three facilities ranked highest based on both the 

program priority ranking and the FCI scores (above 

0.10). The top three Federally owned, appropriated 

funded, highest priority facilities in need of repair 

are as follows:

1. Fruit fly rearing and eclosion facility in 

Edinburg, Texas (Moore Air Base)

2. Diagnostics bacteriology and pathology 

laboratories in Ames, Iowa (National Centers 

for Animal Health)

3. Screwworm rearing facility in Pacora, Panama

Figure 1. Program Priority Ranking and 

Facility Condition Index Matrix

Lower FCI

High Program Ranking

Higher FCI

Higher Program Ranking

Lower FCI

Lower Program Ranking

Higher FCI

Lower Program Ranking

Fruit fly rearing and eclosion Facility 

in Edinburgh, Texas (Moore Air Base)

Diagnostics bacteriology and 

pathology laboratories in 

Ames, Iowa

Screwworm rearing facility 

in Pacora, Panama

High

Low Facility Condition High

Program Ranking
APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan 5 

Fruit Fly Rearing and Eclosion Facility in 

Edinburg, Texas (Moore Air Base)

Exotic fruit flies are among the most destructive 

pests of fruits and vegetables in the world. APHIS 

and cooperating State departments of agriculture 

have used surveillance, quarantine restrictions, and 

mating disruption to keep fruit flies from establishing 

in this country for the past 2 decades. Mating 

disruption involves releasing sterile flies into a 

target area to reduce the reproductive potential of 

any wild flies in the area. The sterile eggs are 

produced in a rearing facility, after which they move 

to an eclosion facility to hatch.

The current facility at Moore Air Base is more than 

35 years old. Despite upgrades, it often incurs 

production losses due to aging infrastructure and 

building environmental problems that prevent 

the facility from meeting the capacity needed for 

sterile Mexican fruit fly (Mexfly) releases. High temperatures and humidity in the facility facilitate the 

growth of mold in the heating, ventilation, and air 

conditioning system. Interior doors, door hardware, 

flooring, ceilings, air registers, and other hardware, 

need repair or replacement. In addition to the poor 

conditions at the facility, it does not have enough 

capacity to produce the required number of sterile 

flies for an effective preventive release program 

to prevent Mexfly outbreaks that occur annually, 

threatening the production of the Texas citrus 

industry. Congress previously provided $47 million 

to build a replacement facility in the same location. 

It is located on USDA property that includes access 

to runways and is close to the sterile release sites in 

commercial citrus groves and vulnerable residential 

areas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Additional 

funding is needed for this project to increase the 

capacity for sterile fly production to quickly 

eradicate outbreaks.

Appropriations for fruit fly activities have remained 

relatively flat in recent years, which has limited the 

Agency’s ability to invest in the necessary 

infrastructure to keep this program operating at the 

full scale needed to address exotic fruit flies. APHIS 
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has been able to use flexibility within the Specialty 

Crop Pests and the Agency’s Buildings and Facilities 

line items to implement small repairs and 

maintenance projects at these facilities. However, 

APHIS must implement major renovations and 

construction projects to ensure continued program 

success. Additional resources above the currently 

funded line item are needed for these mission-critical 

facility projects without significantly impacting 

program activities. Having a secure, steady supply 

of sterile insects is essential to preventing Mexfly 

from becoming established in the Lower Rio Grande 

Valley and protecting the Texas citrus industry.
APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan 7 

Diagnostics Bacteriology and Pathology 

Laboratories in Ames, Iowa (National Centers 

for Animal Health) g

The Mycobacteria and Brucella (MB) laboratory was 

built as a 5-year temporary facility while the 

combined laboratory facility was built on the 

National Centers for Animal Health (NCAH) campus 

in Ames, Iowa. It was originally occupied in 2004.

Space intended for the MB laboratory was not built 

into the combined laboratory facility as planned 

due to escalating project costs. 

The temporary facility is now more than 12 years 

beyond its lifespan. Repairs and facility failures are 

expensive and logistically challenging, hindering 

the program’s ability to conduct the mission work 

in this laboratory. The facility also continues to 

develop structural problems associated with age 

and wear. Additionally, the facility does not have a 

modern backup system and experiences frequent 

power failures. These failures directly impact the 

safety and security the building.

The MB laboratory houses several mission-critical 

functions including the reference laboratory for 

the Agency’s bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis 

programs and the next generation core sequencing 

laboratory for the National Veterinary Services 

Laboratories (NVSL). NVSL is recognized by the 

World Organization for Animal Health and the Food 

and Agriculture Organization as an international 

reference laboratory for significant animal diseases. 

NVSL provides diagnostic testing services ranging 

from a single laboratory test to comprehensive 

laboratory services covering many pathogens for 

suspected outbreaks of domestic and foreign 

animal diseases. APHIS does not have other 

facilities to support the testing volume currently 

supported by this building. The core sequencing 

laboratory enables APHIS to identify and monitor 

endemic and emerging diseases and supports One 

Health efforts with zoonotic pathogens like SARSCoV-2 and Salmonella. 
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This laboratory contains biosafety level (BSL)-2 

and BSL-3 laboratory spaces. It also contains Select 

Agents, biological agents that could pose a severe 

threat to animal and public health and safety. In 

addition, the facility is not built to modern 

biosecurity and biosafety standards, has significant 

structural issues including water leakage and 

ventilation issues, and does not have the 

redundances and the engineering controls of a 

permanent facility. The MB replacement laboratory 

would be built as an addition to the existing 

Building 21 laboratory on the NCAH campus. Building 

the addition allows for a state-of-the-art facility in 

fewer square feet than the current laboratory while 

incorporating modern laboratory standards and 

best practices. 

Replacing this facility is an urgent need. If this 

laboratory were to fail, it would lead to an immediate 

halt of program efforts, harming producers and 

APHIS disease control programs.
APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan 9 

Screwworm Rearing Facility in Pacora, Panama

 APHIS and its cooperators have eradicated the New 

World screwworm (NWS) from the United States, 

Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, 

Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and down to the 

southern-most portion of Panama. APHIS’ 

international efforts prevent the reestablishment 

of screwworm in the United States by collaborating 

with Panama and Colombia to maintain a biological 

barrier zone in Eastern Panama along the border of 

Colombia and Panama. The program relies on field 

operations (including epidemiological surveillance, 

animal movement control, and outreach to industry 

about screwworm prevention) and sterile insect 

technique, a process where APHIS and cooperators 

produce and sterilize insects and release them 

in the barrier zone to mate with wild insects and 

prevent reproduction. The United States also has 

access to the sterile flies in the event of an outbreak 

in U.S. territory. APHIS and cooperators produce 

approximately 20 million sterile flies per week at the 

Panama rearing facility. The facility has a maximum 

capacity of 80 million per week.

APHIS and Panama’s Ministry of Agricultural 

Development established the Commission for the 

Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm (COPEG) 

as an independent commission in 1994. At the time, 

APHIS and cooperators produced sterile insects 

in Mexico. The screwworm population had been 

eradicated from North America and pushed further 

into Central America, and APHIS and cooperators 

determined that the sterile insect production 

facility should be located closer to the barrier. 

Construction on the current facility began in 2003 

and was completed in 2006. It became fully 

operational in 2008. COPEG operates the only sterile 

NWS production facility in the world. APHIS estimates 

that the NWS program saves $2.3 billion for cattle 

producers in North and Central America each year.

The facility is now more than 15 years old, and its 

maintenance needs are increasing. Additionally, 

due to the use of an irradiator, the facility also has 

significant security infrastructure needs. Over the 

next several years, APHIS has identified priority 

projects for the facility in several areas:
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1. Critical Infrastructure Upgrades: Upgrade 

existing fire suppression systems, recharge the 

cobalt irradiator (or replace with a cobalt 

alternative depending on outcomes of research 

underway), ensure operation of the back-up 

electricity supply monitoring system, and 

replace the obsolete water treatment system.

2. Security Initiatives: Improve security of entrance 

gates and control points for critical assets.

3. Maintenance/Repairs: Maintain production plant 

and mechanical equipment monitoring systems to 

ensure biological security and renovate air 

ventilation systems.

4. Equipment: Replace insect research laboratory 

equipment and sterile insect eclosion 

equipment for dispersal operations.

This critical but aging facility will require additional 

resources to continue producing high-quality sterile 

insects for the ongoing barrier maintenance program, 

as well as developing research and methods that 

enhance the efficiency and quality of sterile 

screwworm production and dispersal. If this facility 

fails, NWS populations would grow and spread 

throughout Central America and could be 

reintroduced into the United States, which would 

significantly impact cattle producers and 

consumers. Without a reliable source of sterile 

insects, control and eradication of screwworm 

would be much more difficult.
APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan 11 

Conclusion

The APHIS Capital Asset Improvement Plan is the first step to ensuring that the Agency’s 

mission-critical scientific and laboratory facilities remain not only functional but 

state-of-the-art. This is necessary to recruit the best scientists around the world and to 

ensure APHIS can accomplish its mission to protect American agriculture and natural 

resources. This plan aligns with and supports Agency and Departmental efforts to better 

manage and maintain its overall portfolio of capital assets. 
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