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Capitol Visitor Center: Update on Status of Project's Schedule and Cost as of September 25, 2007

GAO-07-1249T Published: Sep 25, 2007. Publicly Released: Sep 25, 2007.
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Highlights

Since the July 31, 2007, Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) hearing, the project's construction has progressed, and Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is now anticipating a November 2008, opening date. In addition, AOC and the sequence 2 contractor have signed a contract modification that extends the date for completing the majority of the sequence 2 work from September 15, 2006 to November 15, 2007. However, because delays have occurred on a number of near-critical paths, and risks to the project's schedule remain, we agree with the November 2008 opening date. AOC has increased its estimate of the cost to complete the CVC project's construction to about $621 million to cover the costs associated with extending the sequence 2 schedule and to provide for delays, change orders, and remaining uncertainties. We believe this estimate is reasonable, provided there are no unusual delays. To date, about $556.2 million has been approved for CVC construction, and AOC has $18.6 million more that it has not yet received approval to obligate. Of this amount, AOC plans to use about $6 million for construction and the remainder for operations. For fiscal year 2008, AOC has requested $20 million for CVC construction and believes that it may need another $39 million.

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Topics

AccountabilityConstruction contractsContract administrationContract modificationsCost analysisCost overrunsFacility constructionFederal facilitiesFederal fundsFuture budget projectionsPublic visitor-centersRisk assessmentSchedule slippagesStrategic planningCost estimates