Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the condition of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) facilities for research, development, and flight activities.
GAO found that: (1) NASA facilities, many of which were 30 to 50 years old, were deteriorating due to age, weather, and insufficient or deferred maintenance, but the extent of visible deterioration varied considerably; (2) serious facility problems included rusted and unreliable heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems, leaking steam lines, water valves, and pumps, peeling or missing paint, and leaking roofs; (3) insufficient or deferred maintenance has resulted in the need for costly repairs at some facilities; (4) NASA lacked comprehensive guidance to standardize centers' facility maintenance operations; (5) NASA, recognizing the growing problem, made facility maintenance a part of its goal to improve its institutional structure, and worked to determine its total maintenance funding needs; (6) some centers made a stronger commitment to allocating funds to maintenance than others did; (7) NASA indicated that only its research and management appropriation specifically identified maintenance activity; (8) in eight centers, variances in the research and development appropriation allocations accounted for most of the difference in centers' total maintenance funding from 1985 to 1989; (9) centers often attempted to cope with reduced funding by deferring maintenance, resulting in a backlog of maintenance activities; (10) between 1985 and 1989, centers allocated only 0.9 to 1.5 percent of their facilities' replacement value; (11) between 1985 and 1989, 8 centers spent about $125.8 million annually to maintain their facilities; and (12) NASA did not have adequate information to properly administer facility maintenance activities.
