Lawmakers grapple with CVC woes

Becoming increasingly disenchanted with the Architect of the Capitol’s (AoC) management of the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and other lawmakers have met to discuss how to get the project under control.

Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee’s legislative branch panel, recently held a private conference to hear committee members’ opinions for the future of the project, which is over budget and behind schedule.

{mosads}She has held three oversight hearings on the CVC’s progress, with each becoming more heated. At the most recent, in late April, Wasserman Schultz told acting Architect of the Capitol Stephen Ayers that she had lost confidence in the AoC’s handling of the project.

But Wasserman Schultz said the latest committee meeting was “really good.”

“We had a good conversation among members,” she remarked. “We are equally concerned. Oversight has been helpful, [but we need] tighter control. Serious, serious steps [need to be taken].”

She declined to specify how the committee would address the AoC’s oversight of the CVC, but said “a lot of things have been discussed. We don’t have a conclusion [yet].”

Ranking member Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) echoed many of Wasserman Schultz’s concerns.

He said the committee must develop solutions, ideas and suggestions to help the Architect’s Office finish the CVC.
Although Wamp said he didn’t think “anybody wants to rip” the project out of the AoC’s hands, he suggested that the committee ask the agency what it can do to help get the schedule under control.

Wamp also suggested that AoC officials be barred from leaving the agency until the project is complete. (Former Architect Alan Hantman and CVC Project Executive Bob Hixon both recently retired.)

Wamp continued: “Who is actually shaking the contractor by the lapel here?”

He said that government bureaus do not typically want such conflict, “but we need it. I’m talking about penalties. Incentives and penalties.”

Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), who sits on the panel, recommended that Congress hire an outside group to get “advice” and “evaluate the entire project and find out why things are happening.”

“Where we are now is not acceptable,” Ruppersberger said, noting that he thought seeking the advice of the most respected people in the construction business could accelerate the project’s completion.

Before the next oversight hearing, Wasserman Schultz and Wamp are planning to meet with the contractors, Manhattan and Gilbane, to urge them to get the project under control, a spokesman for Wasserman Schultz, Jonathan Beeton, said.
Located under the east side of the Capitol, the three-level, 580,000 square-foot facility is nearly three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself. There are six skylights, a 16,500 square-foot exhibition gallery, 26 restrooms and a dining area that will hold 550 people.

The CVC originally was scheduled to open for the 2005 presidential inauguration, and now it is uncertain whether it will open in time for the 2009 ceremony. And, to boot, the Government Accountability Office estimates that the project will cost about $600 million — more than double the original price tag.

AoC officials argue that the facility has changed in size and scope since the plans were first introduced more than a decade ago. Missed construction benchmarks, advanced security requirements, the addition of House and Senate expansion spaces and unexpected delays have been blamed for the project’s postponement.

Nevertheless, Wasserman Schultz and other lawmakers do not have the slightest notion of when the facility might open — the latest estimate is Sept. 2008.

“I couldn’t even guess. I have no idea. I don’t have the expertise,” Wasserman Schultz said. “It’s really distressing.”

Other lawmakers are not confident that there will be an opening anytime soon. Members grow angry or joke when asked when they believe the CVC will be accessible to the public.

“2012. It sounds like a good time,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), noting that every construction job takes longer than anticipated.

“It will be three or four more years until it’s done and we actually have people moving through it.”

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) also was unsure about when the ribbon would be cut.

“I hope it happens while I’m in Congress,” the 27-term lawmaker said. “That is something that must’ve been done by a defense contractor,” Dingell offered, saying that defense contractors consistently miss deadlines and underestimate costs.
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who previously had oversight of the project, has been a harsh critic of the ballooning price tag and delays.

Kingston guessed that the CVC would open “about the time we sign a peace agreement in Iraq.”

He had further doubts about the AoC and said that the agency will say it is finished but that something wouldn’t be painted and other details wouldn’t quite be completed.

Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), the ranking member of the House Administration Committee, smiled when asked about the completion date and responded: “About the time that you retire.

“I’m expecting 2008 sometime,” Ehlers continued. “I predict one year later than the architect, and I have been more right than he has.”

Another lawmaker admitted that he has not been keeping up with the project’s schedule.

“My guess is sometime this fall,” Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Md.) said. When told the opening date now is set for September 2008, Wynn replied, “What? What are they doing? I guess I’m way off.”

Rep. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who sits on the legislative branch panel, guessed that the project would be completed in two years.

“I think it’s going to be very hard to open this near an election. [There will be] a November or December opening post-election,” Udall said. “I don’t think this has been a very popular project from the beginning. With all the budget cuts, who’s going to want to cut a ribbon on this monstrosity [while] cutting other programs?”

Wamp predicted that the CVC would open in “2008 in the middle of a huge election.”

“This was proposed to be open by last presidential inauguration. It is absolutely imperative that this facility opens before then,” Wamp continued. “It is four years from the original target date … Only in Washington.”

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), who also sits on the panel monitoring the project, guessed that the project would be open “somewhere between 2009 and 2010.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) joked that the visitor center would be open “in my lifetime.” Though he continued: “I’m relatively certain. I wouldn’t put money on it. I’m pretty confident, that’s about as far as I’m willing to go.”