Technical Assessment 

of the Capital Facility 

Needs of the National 

Institute of Standards 

and Technology

REPORT RELEASE WEBINAR – FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Aerial view of NIST Gaithersburg Campus, 

NIST Public Affairs Office (PAO)
The Committee

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ROSS B. COROTIS (NAE), University of Colorado Boulder, Chair

DOUG ALDRICH, Aldrich & Associates, LLC 

JAMES B. CLAYTON, Institute for Responsible Infrastructure Stewardship 

JAMES “JACK” DEMPSEY, Asset Management Partnership, LLC

ERIC DILLINGER, Woolpert Inc.

VIRGINIA K. HOLTZMAN-BELL, Captain, U.S. Coast Guard (retired)

STEVEN H. MCKNIGHT, Strategic Alliances, Virginia Tech

CHRISTINE MERDON, Merdon Strategies, LLC

KENT BLAIR ROCHFORD, SPIE (The International Society of Optics and 

Photonics)

C. DAVID TURNER, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (retired), 3E Turner & 

Associates 

JORGE R. URRUTIA, MSI Universal

MARK WEATHERLY, Weatherly Consulting, LLC
Statement of Task

At the request of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Office of Facilities and 

Property Management (OFPM), [the National Academies] shall convene an ad hoc study 

committee that shall investigate the following four (4) focus areas:

1. Identifying the NIST facilities and utilities infrastructure in greatest need of recapitalization, of 

repair, and of those most impacting the research mission’s implementation;

2. Assessing the composition of individual capital and repair projects to bring the NIST 

Gaithersburg, Maryland and Boulder, Colorado campuses’ research and support facilities and 

utilities infrastructure up to current standards of acceptable operational performance to meet 

their assigned mission objectives;

3. Evaluating at a high level the completeness, accuracy, and relevance of cost estimates 

(already developed by/for NIST) for proposed individual capital and repair projects; and

4. Identifying potential factors and approaches that NIST should consider in developing a 

comprehensive capital strategy for its two campuses’ portfolio of facilities and utilities 

infrastructure.

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Statement of Task, cont.

The study shall consider and identify approaches based on five (5), ten (10), fifteen (15), and 

twenty (20) year prioritization outlooks.

In addition, to better inform capital facility planning and operational sustainment of NIST’s two 

campuses, the ad hoc study committee shall review comparable available facility condition 

methodologies and metrics of other historically designated federal agencies at an overall portfolio 

level, and provide recommendations in determining the minimum levels of funding (two 

components – for individual building and utility infrastructure capitalization/re-capitalization and for 

the campuses’ overall annual operations/maintenance/repair [OMR] needs) required to sustain 

NIST’s assets at an overall portfolio level.

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Bottom Line Up Front

Finding 3-4: NIST facilities are not world class and are therefore a growing impediment against 

attracting and retaining staff in a highly competitive STEM environment. Moreover, the 

longstanding facilities problems have created a culture of workarounds by scientific staff that 

distracts from R&D efforts.

Based on the laboratory tours and discussions with researchers, the committee estimates overall 

technical staff productivity losses of 10%-40% due to rework, repairs, and workaround efforts by 

the researchers.

Recommendation 4-5: OFPM’s entire NIST Coordinated Recovery Plan, both the Sub-Plan for 

Recapitalization (CMR-funded) and the Sub-Plan for Stabilization (SCMMR-funded), should be 

approved and fully funded beginning in FY 2023, subject to continuing refinement.

NOTE: CMR, Construction and Major Renovations; SCMMR, Safety, Capacity, Maintenance, and 

Major Repairs

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Example: Lack of Humidity Control Stopping Work

NIST provides Standard Reference Materials for gases 

that are subject to regulation, such as greenhouse 

gases (for example, carbon dioxide and methane), 

emission gases (for example, nitric oxide and sulfur 

dioxide) for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 

as well as special needs for law enforcement (e.g., 

ethanol for breathalyzers). Between October and March, 

low humidity creates static charge that renders a critical 

instrument inoperable. As a result, customers may be 

forced to wait up to 6 months for measurements and risk 

being out of compliance with EPA standards. A 2002 

economic analysis found that this activity yielded a 

benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 24:1.

(Median BCR for NIST work is 9:1. A BCR of 3:1 is 

significant in industry.)

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Gauge showing low relative 

humidity in a NIST laboratory, 

NIST PAO
Key Takeaways

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) potential to help the Nation is 

drastically hindered by the “alarming” and “critical” state of funding for the sustainment, 

restoration and modernization of NIST’s facilities.

• NIST researchers have continued to deliver world-class research by dint of heroic dedication, 

often fighting the poor condition and lacking functionality of their own facilities to do their jobs.

• Solving NIST’s unsatisfactory facilities situation requires immediate, top-down attention and 

resolute action by leaders of NIST, the Department of Commerce (DOC), and Congress. 

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Key Takeaways, cont.

• OFPM uses good practices for planning, programming and budgeting, but past budget 

requests submitted by the President to Congress have sought funding for only a fraction of 

their needs. 

• OFPM has formulated plans to address the facilities situation at NIST. The committee believes 

these plans are the right approach and should be funded and implemented as soon as 

possible. 

• Failing to repair and recapitalize NIST's facilities puts NIST's mission at risk, impacting public 

safety, national security, and the U.S. economy. 

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Example: Roof Leak Destroys Equipment

The semiconductor industry is of critical importance to the 

U.S. The nanoscale reliability laboratory is instrumental in 

analyses that support wafer fabrication. Due to a leaking 

roof an electron microscope was put out of commission 

for 6 months for repairs, and undetected corrosion 

subsequently caused a fire in the high-voltage (220 kV) 

drive circuitry, destroying the microscope entirely. The 

replacement cost for this electron microscope is estimated 

at $2.5 million. A lack of attention to roof maintenance 

took a vital, expensive instrument offline and led to its 

eventual destruction.

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Barrel catching water from a ceiling 

leak at the Boulder Laboratories, 

NIST PAO
Historical NIST Capital Funding

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FIGURE 4-2 NIST’s 20-Year Capital Funding History converted to 2022 $US. SOURCES: The Office of Facilities and 

Property Management and data from Construction Analytics, 2022, “Construction Inflation 2022,” Construction Analytics, 

Updated May 3, 2022, https://edzarenski.com/2022/02/11/construction-inflation-2022/. NOTES: AML, Advanced 

Measurement Laboratory; ARRA, American Reinvestment and Recovery Act; CMR, Construction and Major 

Renovations; SCMMR, Safety, Capacity, Maintenance, and Major Repairs 
OFPM Draft Recovery Plan and Necessary Funding 

Levels (Fiscal Year 2022 dollars)

Funding Component Amount Needed Annually

Construction and Major Renovations (CMR) $300 million to $400 million 

Safety, Capacity, Maintenance, and Major Repairs 

(SCMMR)

$120 million to $150 million 

Total needed for Construction of Research Facilities 

(CRF)

$420 million to $550 million 

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NIST OFPM has a two-pronged plan:

• Sub-Plan for Stabilization (SCMMR-funded)

• Sub-Plan for Recapitalization (CMR-funded)

• Approximately 12-year period

TABLE 4-1 Overview of NIST Facility and Infrastructure Funding Needs

NOTE: CRF funding is the sum of CMR and SCMMR funding. SOURCE: 

OFPM Point Paper “NIST Facilities Summary for Representative Trone, 

June 2022”.
Recommendations – Existing Facility Conditions

Recommendation 3-1: NIST should modernize laboratory facilities to provide the 

performance needed to meet the measurement science and mission-focused R&D 

challenges for today and the future, and to attract and retain the scientists and engineers 

required to solve these challenges. Current conditions and functionality are adversely 

impacting NIST’s current mission and modernization is well overdue and desperately 

needed.

Recommendation 3–2: NIST should address the underlying deficiencies with campus 

infrastructure including the central utility plants, distribution systems, and electrical power 

quality and continuity to ensure that the modernization plan investment is effective. If not 

developed in conjunction with laboratory modernization, the requirements of the new 

laboratories will continue to not be met. 

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Example: Lack of Humidity Control Impacts National 

Security

The Quantum Sensor Laboratory in 

Boulder has developed unique 

superconducting X-ray and gamma 

ray spectrometers for materials 

analysis and telescope arrays. NIST 

provides these devices to U.S. 

government agencies for security 

applications in nuclear materials 

identification. Deliveries to Idaho 

National Laboratory and Los Alamos 

National Laboratory were repeatedly 

delayed with the delays traced to low 

humidity during packaging.

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Enclosed workspace in the Quantum Sensor 

Laboratory, NIST PAO
Recommendations – Sustainment, Restoration, and 

Modernization of NIST’S Existing Facilities

Recommendation 4-1: NIST and DOC leadership should ensure that the leadership of the DOC, 

Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the 

House and Senate Appropriations and Oversight Committees are fully aware of NIST’s facility needs 

and the national consequences of not meeting those needs. So that OMB, OSTP, and Congress can 

fully support NIST in recovering from its unsatisfactory facility situation, NIST and DOC should also 

consider:

• Establishing practices that prevent or fully mitigate the diversion of appropriated NIST CRF funds 

to non-NIST organizations and to other purposes within NIST, e.g., Institutional Support taxation 

for CRF spending and the burdensome insertion of information technology network requirements 

into the CRF budget.

• Requiring semi-annual follow-up verification and accountability from NIST to ensure that adequate 

funding is provided and implemented for annual sustainment, restoration, and modernization 

requirements, and that increased annual investments in CRF backlog reduction and facility 

sustainment, restoration, and modernization of NIST’s existing facilities are spent as intended and 

optimize their return in terms of meeting the nation’s economic and security challenges.

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Recommendations – Sustainment, Restoration, and 

Modernization of NIST’S Existing Facilities, cont.

Recommendation 4-2: NIST should improve its communication of the impacts on taxpayers and 

consumers of inadequate appropriations of CRF funding. To make its CRF budget justifications 

and other communications more compelling and accurate, greater input and collaboration is 

necessary from NIST scientists, facilities officials, and budget and communications staff, working 

together.

Recommendation 4-3: NIST and DOC should increase and intensify efforts to advocate that 

Congress invest fully in NIST’s Coordinated Recovery Plan beginning in FY 2023 to restore 

NIST’s existing portfolio to a functional status while continually updating the Recovery Plan. NIST 

and DOC should annually ensure that the Recovery Plan’s annual investment amounts and NIST 

budget requests are appropriately adjusted to reflect actual and projected inflation rates as well 

as refined cost estimates.

Recommendation 4-4: OFPM should continue refining and updating its Draft Coordinated 

Recovery Plan. The purpose of such continued refinement would be to ensure that every year 

going forward reflects the latest inflation rates and collectively addresses all categories of funding 

requirements in a coordinated combination of CMR projects and SCMMR-funded work.

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Recommendations – Sustainment, Restoration, and 

Modernization of NIST’S Existing Facilities, cont.

Recommendation 4-5: OFPM’s entire NIST Coordinated Recovery Plan, both the SubPlan for Recapitalization (CMR-funded) and the Sub-Plan for Stabilization (SCMMRfunded), should be approved and fully funded beginning in FY 2023, subject to continuing 

refinement.

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Recommendations – Practices of Portfolio Management 

and Capital Project Planning

Recommendation 5-1: OFPM has a sound Draft Recovery Sub-Plan for Recapitalization 

(CMR-funded) and should seek funding of $300 million to $400 million annually for at least 

12 years to enable NIST to restore lost mission capabilities and provide facilities for new 

NIST programs.

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Funding Component Amount Needed Annually

Construction and Major Renovations (CMR) $300 million to $400 million 

Safety, Capacity, Maintenance, and Major Repairs 

(SCMMR)

$120 million to $150 million 

Total needed for Construction of Research Facilities 

(CRF)

$420 million to $550 million 

TABLE 4-1 Overview of NIST Facility and Infrastructure Funding Needs

NOTE: CRF funding is the sum of CMR and SCMMR funding. SOURCE: 

OFPM Point Paper “NIST Facilities Summary for Representative Trone, 

June 2022”.
Example: 2021 Physics World Breakthrough of the Year 

in a Newly Renovated Laboratory

A demonstration project for quantum 

entanglement of microresonators

(awarded the 2021 Physics World 

Breakthrough of the Year) was delayed 

18 months until a suitable renovated 

laboratory could be located, a delay in 

a critical advance in the global race for 

quantum science superiority.

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The newly renovated laboratory where the awardwinning work was conducted, NIST PAO
Key Recommendations – Sustainable Ownership 

Strategies for the NIST Facility Portfolio

Recommendation 6-1: NIST should develop and maintain facility and infrastructure total 

cost of ownership standards for each unique facility and infrastructure type that identifies: 

(a) first cost, (b) annual operations costs (utility, security, custodial, safety, and janitorial), 

(c) sustainment costs, and (d) renewal (restoration and modernization) costs on a per unit 

basis as a baseline for identifying and forecasting the total cost of ownership for each new 

and existing facility, and supporting infrastructure with the resulting funding requirement 

identified as part of the overall research program needs.

Recommendation 6-2: NIST should expand its current real property asset management 

system and strategy beyond condition assessment and deferred maintenance reporting and 

provide a proactive, life-cycle approach to real property ownership for the NIST real 

property portfolio that aligns with the Federal Real Property Reform Act of 2016 and the 

associated framework by Government Accountability Office and the 2023 Academies report 

Strategies to Renew Federal Facilities.

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WHERE TO DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

• A prepublication copy of report, still subject to editorial correction, is available at 

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26684

• A final version of the report will be available at the same URL by February 28, 2023.

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Questions?

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Aerial view of Boulder Laboratories, NIST PAO
Acronyms and Abbreviations

• AML Advanced Measurement Laboratory 

• ARRA American Reinvestment and Recovery Act

• BCR benefit-cost ratio

• CRF Construction of Research Facilities

• CMR Construction and Major Renovations

• DOC Department of Commerce

• NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

• OFPM [NIST] Office of Facilities and Property Management

• OMB Office of Management and Budget

• OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

• OMR operations/maintenance/repair

• PAO public affairs office

• R&D research and development

• SCMMR Safety, Capacity, Maintenance, and Major Repairs

• STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

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