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Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report (1971)

Chapter: The General Services Administration

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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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Suggested Citation:"The General Services Administration." National Research Council. 1971. Management of the military facilities procurement program. Final report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/28198.
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anticipated to grow at 3 3% per year, a problem i s apparent when view- ing the fact that processing product iv i ty trends have shown l i t t l e im- provement Being a labor-intensive func t ion , processing costs are fore- cast to nse at a rate fas ter than the growth o f mail volume In the near term i t i s ejq)ected that some labor saving mechanization resulted i n savings o f 5 8 thousand man-years By 1975, when presently conceived modes o f mechanization are completely implemented, an additional 7 7 thousand man-years w i l l be saved Hie s t a r t l i n g fact i s that th i s saving represents only 2% of processing man-years o f clerk and mailhand- lers Quite evident i s the forecast that the expansion o f present mech- anization w i l l neither do the job o f ra is ing product iv i ty nor reduce the processing costs o f postal operation This processing represents the majori ty o f the costs increase forecast f o r the t o t a l postal program Something w i l l have to change, postal rates w i l l increase dramatically i n the next two decades or the service w i l l deteriorate substant ial ly I t I S apparent that the Post Of f ice mission and requisi te f a c i l i t y acquisi t ion needs and methods are not e i ther a panacea f o r the Post Of f ice or relatable i n pa ra l l e l to Department o f Defense construction procurement a c t i v i t i e s B THE GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION The major l eg i s la t ive authority f o r the present funct ioning o f GSA i s the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act o f 1949 which consolidated scattered functions r e l a t ing t o construction and maintenance o f buildings under the Adminis- t r a t o r o f General Services and the Public Buildings Act o f 1959 which authorized GSA to construct public bmldings including the use o f contracts f o r the accomp- lishment o f such construction The material on the construction system of the General Services Administration which follows I S taken from "Construction Contracting Systems," a report on the systems used by PBS and other organizations which resulted from a study conducted from Septenber, 1968 to March, 1970 by Will iam J Gregg, Chairman, Public Bui ld- ing Service, GSA, Ralph C Nash, Associate Dean, George Washington University Law Center, and Phi l ip G Reid, Deputy Director, Federal Procurement Regulations S t a f f , Of f i ce o f General Counsel, GSA The study group met with PBS personnel, reviewed current operating s t a t i s t i c s , reviewed previous studies o f PBS operations (There have been over 100 o f these studies since the mid-1950's, ^approximately 35 o f which dealt with some aspect o f design and construction), and studies procedures employed by other federal a^ncies, state agencies, and private organizations The organizations and people interviewed included four PBS regional d i rec tors , the HUD regional d i rec t - or f o r Chicago, nine construction coiq>anies, four architect and engineer f i rms , f i v e corporations, s i x gpvemmental a^ncies , the Associated General Contractor's Turnkey Committee, and the GSA Public Advisory Panel on Architectural Services The study group studies PBS funding f o r new construction, t ransfer projec ts , repair and improvement, and leases f o r the past 20 years The study indicated a steady increase m lease funds and a steady decline i n new construction funds since 1966 For example, m 1969, GSA had only $10,000,000 i n new construction funds plus $30,000,000 m construction funds from other agencies as compared 150

with $176,000,000 fo r leases and $125,000,000 f o r repairs and iii9)rovements In 1969, the Senate Committee on Appropriations urged the resunption o f a reasona- ble program of construction, point ing out that the current increased use o f leas- ing I S false econoDQr At the present time, 212,000,000 t o t a l sq f t o f space (80% owned) is controlled by GSA of which 87,000,000 sq, f t (60% owned) i s o f f i c e space Of the current $2,000,000,000 o f construction projec ts , only $290,000,000 worth I S under construction (14%), $462,000 m projects have had designs completed (23%), $805,000,000 i n projects are i n the process o f design (40%), PBS has not been too successful i n t imely award o f construction contracts In the las t f i v e years, they have obligated from 46% to 80% of the budgetary appropriations The average time reqiured by PBS to construct a $10,000,000 o f f i c e b m l d m g reported- l y I S 59 months compared wi th 24 months f o r private industry (see Figure 46 which I S taken d i r ec t ly from the study groin's report) Figure 47 shows a l i s t i n g o f events i n the present GSA bu i ld ing cycle as applied to the construction of a $10,000,000 o f f i c e bu i ld ing GSA has made periodic surveys on a community by community basis to determine the housing requirements o f federal agencies Based on these surveys, the GSA regional o f f i c e s prepare community plans whidi permit them to select projects f o r submission to the cen- t r a l o f f i c e m March o f each year A preliminary prospectus acconpanies each recommendation A project review committee reviews the regional recommendations and submits a l i s t of projects to the Commissioner o f PBS which he submits to the GSA Administrator i n September At th i s po in t , a potent ia l project may have been m the making anywhere from one t o f i v e years Cost estimates are prepared on the basis o f very general information and current pr ices, and only recently have provisions been made to cover the cost o f escala- t i o n Hie Public Works Committees o f Congress w i l l usually grant approval o f projects shortly a f t e r t h e i r A^ril hearings These approvals establish the cost f o r approved projects and, m carrying out the projec ts , the GSA Administrator may increase the l i m i t o f such costs by a maximum of 10% However, he may not exceed his t o t a l authorization and, therefore, whenever he exceeds the budget f o r one pro jec t , he must make i t (;p on savings on other projects Obviously, t h i s i s becoming increasingly d i f f i c u l t to do As shown on Figure 47, although authorization may occur i n A p r i l or May, appropri- ations usually are not made u n t i l la te i n the calendar year Site selection and acquis i t ion, selection o f an archi tect , and award o f a design contract have been assumed to take ninety days However, actual practice indicates that f i v e to s i x months i s required, and therefore i t may be A p n l or May o f the fo l lowing year before the design contract i s awarded The next step m the process fo l lowing the award o f the design contract i s the inclusion i n the construction budget siibmitted to the Bureau o f the Budgpt I f t h i s i s done m July o f the same year there w i l l be a 2-year lag between s i t e , ewenses, and construction appropriations I f i t I S put o f f u n t i l July o f the fol lowing year, there w i l l be a 3-year lag PBS has aimed at the 2-year lag which would necessitate award o f a construction contract by 30 Jme, 26 months a f t e r award o f the design contract Current s t a t i s t i c s i n - dicate that there i s actually a 29-month lapse The general pol ic ies and procedures governing contracts are prescribed i n the 151

L PRELIMINARY PLANNING 1 SITE AND ARCHITECT . SELECTION, INVITATION FOR BIDS 1 GSA DESIGN (16 MO) AND DESIGN REVIEW (8 MO) VARIABLE 5-* -24- CONSTRUCTION -59- -30- MONTHS PRIVATE INDUSTRY INVITATION , FORBIDS J PRELIMINARY PLANNING- SITE AND ARCHITECT SELECTION DESIGN AND DESIGN REVIEW CONSTRUCTION TIME DIFFERENCE 1 VARIABLE i n 2 • 1 5 ——r ^ ^ MONTHS Figure ^ Average time f o r PBS and private industry to design and bui ld a $10 m i l l i o n o f f i c e building

tn AVfMGE TIME FOt GSA TOCONSRUCT AtlOMILUON OFFICE MMIOINC-MMO \ \^ \ \ \ \ Figure hi Present PBS building cycle f o r construction of a $10 m i l l i o n o f f i c e building

Federal Procurement Regulations (GSAPR5), and i n a series o f 13 handbooks The study groiqi's recomgoendations which have s igr i i f i can t app l i c ab i l i t y t o the m i l i t a r y construction system are as follows CI) Ef fec t ive Use o f Preliminary Planning To save substantial t ime, Architect/Engineer select ion, i n i t i a l design, and s i t e selection should be performed p r i o r to ^ p r o p n a t i o n o f funds f o r design o f project Authority to use preliminaxy planning funds to acquire s i t e options must be obtained (2) Single ^ p r o p n a t i o n To improve operating e f f i c i e n c y , PBS should press f o r Congressional approval o f a lunp-sum appropriation f o r each project or f o r a re- volving fund f o r a l l future projects (3) Design Review A system o f concurrent design review ( m the archi tect ' s o f f i c e when feasible)should be adopted, and the nunber o f design reviews should be reduced, thus shortening design period (4) Design Schedules Adopt shorter design schedules conparable to industry practice (5) Construction Schedules Construction schedules should be progressively shortened u n t i l they ul t imately match private industry schedules (6) Phased-Construction Use phased-construction t o the maximum extent compatible with the system o f construction contracting employed (7) Rejecting Nonresponsible Contractors Ins t i tu t e e f fec t ive contractor performance-rating system to be used m making responsibi l i ty determinations (8) Sequential Design-Advertised Bid-Construction System Make major modifications to present sequential system and use on other than major projects (9) Turnkey Construction System Use Tuxnkey e]q)enmentally on simple design projects CIO) Construction Manager System 154

in cn PBS SEQUENTIAL DESIGN-BID- CONSTRUCT CYCLE MODIFIED PBS SEQUENTIAL DESIGN-BID- CONSTRUCT CYCLE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER CYCLE (24 months) /(^)propriation of construction funds) ^ 64 MO (40 months) X ^ p r o of construction funds) P 43 MO ^ (12 months) ^ (31 months) TURNKEY CYCLE 26 MO -(Approp of construction funds) 24 MO 0 10 20 J . C63) (40) (55) (49) C52) (24) J APPROPRIATION OF DESIGN FUNDS ( fo r a l l four above) 30 40 MONTHS 50 60 70 *Base, Regional Recommendation **Base, Selection of architect (Private Developer) (24) Figure <t8 Comparison of time cycles f o r potential PBS building systems

(NOTE PtELIMINARV P L A N N I N G A N D SINGLE APPROPRIATION NOT INCLUDED SINCE THEV ARE NOT VET OPERATIONAL) tn 43 M O >4 M O 12 MO ( C o n i l r u e l l o n ) 4 t l i YR Sih VR 6t l i VR 3rd VR 2nd VR l i t VR I I i I I I V ' ' ' vv • kv V ^ • \' kv " K • ' • ' V I V — V I • ' — — I • • • • \ 1 Figure ^9 Proposed building cycle using PBS sequential design-bid-construct system modified as recommended by the study

ISMo 4. MMo J . 26 Ms-(Pnlim nvy naming) I (Apimpriata Funfc) I (Datgn DMignRwIaw Comlructlon) l i tYr JL fadYr 4" 3rd Yr 4' 4lh Yr 4" SHiYr- VI \ f i g u r e 50 Proposed b u i l d i n g cycle using preliminery planning funds, construction manager, p r o j e c t manager, s i n g l e (design/construction) a p p r o p r i a t i o n , concurrent design review, and phased construction

-Ji»Yr- -24 M O - -S MO- (Prallmlnary Con t ract ) - W Y r - , 7 MO • (SaUt Contract) - 4 l h Y r - 12 MO _ (Canitructlon) SHiYr- tn 00 \ V«4 \ Figure 51 Proposed b u i l d i n g cycle using preliminary planning funds, s i n g l e a p p r o p r i a t i o n , p r o j e c t manager, and Turnkey procedures

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