The facilities, which house research in many aspects of daily life in the US date to the 1950s and 1960s and have suffered from “severe funding deficits” over time, it said. Image: grandbrothers/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffNational Institute of Standards and Technology facilities in Gaithersburg, Md., and Boulder, Colo., are in “alarming” physical condition, according to a study by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.
The facilities, which house research in “practically all aspects of our daily lives, from pharmaceuticals to nuclear security, from baby food safety to natural disaster resilience, from cybersecurity to manufacturing,” date to the 1950s and 1960s and have suffered from “severe funding deficits” over time, it said.
Nearly two-thirds don’t meet federal standards for building conditions, leading to “substantive delays in key technology and national security work, serious damage to highly specialized and costly equipment, and significant loss of technical staff productivity,” it said. It cited problems ranging from power outages to water and steam leaks damaging building foundations.
It said that over 12 years, the NIST will need $120 million to $150 million just to “sustain existing facilities and return obsolete components to fitness” plus an additional $300 million to $400 million “to restore lost mission capabilities and provide facilities for new programs.”
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