In 2001, we reported that the UN Headquarters Complex in New York City—built largely between 1949 and 1952—no longer conformed to current safety, fire, and building codes or to UN technology and security requirements. The UN General Assembly noted that conditions in the UN Headquarters Complex posed serious risks to the health and safety of staff, visitors, and tourists. In December 2006, after several years of design and planning, the UN General Assembly unanimously approved the CMP to renovate the UN Headquarters Complex, at a budget not to exceed $1.88 billion. The CMP was initially intended to be implemented between 2006 and 2014. The UN member states authorized the creation of an office and hired a team to oversee the day-to-day project activity. The scope included the renovation of five buildings in the UN Headquarters Complex—the General Assembly Building, the Conference Building, the Secretariat Building, the Library, and the South Annex (see fig.1). The renovation also included the replacement of electrical and other building system components in basements connecting several of the buildings and the construction of a temporary conference building on the north lawn of the complex. To house UN staff during the renovation, the CMP included plans to lease space in nearby buildings, as well as house staff within the temporary north lawn building. Additionally, the CMP included landscaping, demolition of the temporary north building, security upgrades, measures to promote environmental sustainability, and improvements to the reliability and redundancy of headquarters systems such as emergency power. To finance the CMP, the UN General Assembly approved a plan to assess member states for the cost of the CMP, under which they could choose to pay their assessment in either a lump sum or over a 5-year period, from 2007 to 2011. CMP assessments, whether collected as lump-sum or multiyear payments, were invested to earn interest. The UN General Assembly also approved a $45 million working capital reserve for the CMP to cover any temporary cash flow deficits. According to CMP office documents, member states would receive this reserve back in the form of a credit at the end of the project’s construction phase. In the resolution approving the CMP, the UN General Assembly decided that, in the event of cost escalations over the approved budget of $1.88 billion, member states would be subject to a further assessment to meet the revised requirements of the CMP. The United States has contributed approximately $488 million to the CMP, broken down as follows: $378 million in assessed contributions, paid in five annual payments of $75.5 million from 2007 to 2011; $9.9 million in assessed contributions in 2007 to support the CMP’s working capital reserve; and $100 million in UN Tax Equalization Fund credits attributable to the United States in 2011 to fund additional security enhancements, including adjustments to the Conference Building and installing protective structures, including bollards and gates along the perimeter of the UN complex. In several resolutions, the UN General Assembly has noted that it has the sole prerogative to decide on any changes to the CMP’s scope, budget, and implementation strategy. The UN General Assembly has exercised this prerogative to make changes to the CMP or authorize changes proposed by the Secretary-General. These changes include: In December 2007, the UN General Assembly approved an expedited strategy for the CMP known as accelerated strategy IV. The strategy expedited the schedule for the Secretariat Building’s renovation by reducing construction time from 6 to 3 years. The expedited schedule required the UN to vacate most of the Secretariat Building during the renovation—which required the CMP office to increase the amount of leased space. Under the accelerated strategy, all CMP activity was projected to be completed in mid-2013. According to an August 2014 Secretary-General report, the CMP Office will be disbanded in June 2015 and post renovation and close-out activities will continue under the management of the UN’s Office of Central Support Services (Central Support Services). In April 2009, the UN General Assembly decided that certain costs related to the CMP—known as associated costs—would be financed from within the $1.88 billion CMP budget. Associated costs cover a wide range of requirements, such as broadcast equipment, new furniture, and additional staffing requirements to manage information technology and security. Other associated costs requirements include moving supplies and services, archive space, and storage facilities. According to CMP officials, the CMP office originally expected associated costs to be borne by the UN program offices through the UN’s regular budget process. In April 2009, the UN General Assembly requested that the CMP absorb some of the costs associated with setting up and operating a secondary data center, which is intended to enable the UN to continue critical elements of its operations during emergencies that impair its regular information and communication technology infrastructure. The CMP is nearing completion but is 3 years behind schedule, has been granted permission to reduce its scope, and is estimated—by the CMP office—to be approximately $379 million over its original budget as of February 2015. According to the CMP office, schedule delays are due primarily to changes in security requirements. In addition, while three of the five buildings in the original scope of the project are substantially complete, the UN General Assembly removed from the project the renovation of two of the five buildings due to issues in meeting security requirements. The cost overrun is due in part to scope additions authorized by the UN General Assembly without a corresponding increase in budget; however, a majority of the cost overrun is attributable to growth in direct project costs caused primarily by a greater than anticipated need for asbestos abatement, unforeseen conditions in the Conference Building, and renovation complexities in the basements. In resolutions passed in December 2013 and April 2015, the UN General Assembly approved a strategy to fund the cost overrun. Major renovation work on three of the structures in the CMP project scope—the Secretariat Building, Conference Building, and General Assembly Building—is substantially complete. Work on the Secretariat and Conference Buildings began in 2010, and both were fully occupied by May 2013. During the renovation of those two buildings, staff was transferred to leased space off campus and a temporary North Lawn Building. Renovation of the Secretariat Building included demolition, asbestos abatement, and replacement of the glass curtain wall, shown in figure 2. The Secretariat renovation also included a modernization of the office space within the structure, increasing both energy efficiency and the amount of open space available to UN employees. Renovation of the Conference Building included work on conference space, updating the basement infrastructure for electrical and mechanical systems, layout and equipping of work spaces, and preparation of the building for occupancy. Other project activity aimed to increase energy efficiency and enhance building security. A central piece of the Conference Building renovation was the restoration of the UN Security Council Chamber. This included a full cleaning of the tapestries and artwork, as well as reupholstering the seats with the same kind and color of fabric used when the room was built in 1952 (see fig. 3). Work on the General Assembly Building began in June 2013 and was substantially completed by October 2014. The temporary North Lawn Building served as an interim space for the UN General Assembly meetings during that building’s renovation. Work on the General Assembly Building included, among other things, the installation of new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and the reconstruction of interiors, including ceilings, wall coverings, and flooring. Within the General Assembly Building, the General Assembly Hall underwent some of the most extensive work of the UN renovation, as shown in figure 4. Leather chairs, desks, and carpets were fully restored or replaced; the hall was outfitted with updated electronics; and the space was rearranged to increase the number of member states that the chamber could accommodate. Most of the work on the General Assembly Hall was completed in time for the general debate of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly on September 16, 2014. In addition to substantially completing work on the three main buildings of the UN Headquarters Complex, the CMP office completed security enhancements, including placing a line of bollards adjacent to the western perimeter of the complex. The CMP office also constructed two pedestrian screening buildings at the staff entrances to the complex on First Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets and on First Avenue, between 46th and 47th streets. The bollards and the screening buildings, along with other features, were added to the UN Headquarters complex to help the structures withstand a potential attack. While renovation work on three of the five buildings in the UN Headquarters Complex is substantially complete, the CMP project is behind schedule. As shown in table 1, the CMP office is currently reporting a completion date of late 2016; that is approximately 3 years behind the schedule the CMP projected in October 2008, which reflected the Accelerated Strategy IV approved by the UN General Assembly in December 2007. CMP officials attributed most of the schedule delays to enhanced security requirements, which were added to the project in 2011 to implement a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly. While some security upgrades were featured in the original CMP project plan, due to increasing threats the UN faced globally, the UN Department of Safety and Security, in coordination with the U.S. government and the city of New York, identified additional security enhancements not envisaged in the original CMP to mitigate various vulnerabilities at the Headquarters Complex. We reported in 2009 that security upgrades to the CMP represented a key risk to the project’s timely progress. According to the CMP office, implementing enhanced security upgrades to address security issues resulted in delays up to 1 year in completing building renovations. Various other factors contributed to delays in project completion. For example, because of damage to the complex caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, staff members were unable to return from temporary space to the Conference Building on schedule. This relocation was delayed from January 2013 to May 2013.