Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

tracks in such a way that we could truck from a car on the third track, through cars on the second and first tracks, thence into our warehouse. To overcome the criticism made by railroad officials of our first sidetrack layout, the present plan was developed. It provides two longer tracks running through the building instead of three running alongside the building. This plan required changing the location to the south side of G Place and necessitated a longer building in order that as many cars could now be placed on two tracks as it was originally planned to place on three tracks. This new plan has the further advantage of shortening the tunnel under North Capitol Street and allowing unloading indoors instead of trucking from extreme outdoor temperatures into air conditioned paper storage space. As paper is greatly affected by atmospheric conditions, the new plan is decidedly better both from the railroad point of view and from the Printing Office standpoint.

Mr. WOODRUM. All right, Admiral, you may proceed.

Admiral PEOPLES. The original studies for this building contemplated an eight-story building, conforming in height with the existing building at the corner of North Capitol Street and G, the building to be faced with brick, with stone and terra cotta trim.

Because of probable future developments in the area, the Advisory Committee on Design and the Fine Arts Committee directed that the building should be faced with limestone with granite base.

The building originally designed contemplated a large open interior court extending from the fifth floor level up. The detailed studies of floor space requirements, however, showed so great a demand that the court was omitted in the fifth and sixth floors, and extended only from the seventh floor level up, thus increasing the cubic contents of the building.

With development of accurate data on space requirements for mechanical installations and for other uses in the basement, it was found necessary and desirable to excavate and develop basement space under that portion of Jackson Alley lying between buildings 1 and 2 and the new Annex Building No. 3. In order to protect the annex building on the west end from fire hazard it was found desirable to purchase 24 feet of land on H Street at a cost of $17,500.

The changes in floor area above described increased the cubic contents of the contemplated building from 9,800,000 cubic feet to 10,513,000 cubic feet, and the constructed floor area from 607,000 square feet to 650,000 square feet. These changes have been worked out in collaboration with and under the instructions of the Public Printer in order that more efficient and economical operation of the plant could be obtained; to obtain "straight line" production, and to provide adequate and convenient storage space for necessary paper stock.

OTHER ITEMS INCREASING COST OF ANNEX NO. 3

A. Changing windows from wood to steel and providing double steel windows with thermal glass in 35 percent of the openings. This provision is justified by the saving in maintenance cost of the airconditioning system.

B. The spacing of the columns in very large bays, while costly in construction, results in ultimate economy in the spacing of large presses and greater efficiency in operation.

C. The installation of rubber-tile flooring on the eighth floor and certain acoustical treatment were agreed to by the Division as being essential.

D. Special insulation on outside walls to insure even temperatures and humidity in the air-conditioning system.

E. Sprinkler system for new building considered to be essential because of valuable paper stocks and great damage due to disruption of business by fire.

F. The security tax, enacted subsequent to original estimates. This item involves an addition of $177,000 on the entire project. Mr. WOODRUM. What was that last item?

Admiral PEOPLES. Work in connection with the Security Tax Act. Mr. TABER. You mean the payment of the security tax by the contractor?

Admiral PEOPLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. The pay-roll tax.

Admiral PEOPLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. Each one of those items, from "A" down to the last one you mentioned, could have been taken into consideration, could they not? What is the reason you can give why anyone of those items should not have been taken into consideration when they were figuring on the cost under the original estimate, or at the time the original estimates were brought in?

Mr. GIEGENGACK. All I can say on that is that there was no way by which we could go into the matter of having plans and specifications drawn for the building. That is because we did not have the facilities, nor did we have the money with which to go into that. We have to depend on the Procurement Division to develop those things in connection with the building. We would have no way of doing that ourselves.

Mr. WOODRUM. How do we get these estimates? Somebody must prepare the plans and estimates before they are submitted.

Mr. GIEGENGACK. We have nobody to give it to us, except that the mechanical superintendent figures on the square footage required. Mr. WOODRUM. You certainly had facilities that would enable you to tell how much space you needed, and what was the reason for increasing the size of the building.

Mr. GIEGENGACK. There is no increase of space in this building. Admiral PEOPLES. Yes, there is.

Mr. GIEGENGACK. There is only a change in the court.

There is one increase of approximately $17,500 for increased area. That is actually necessary.

Mr. WOODRUM. What is the increased cost of this particular building due to? Do you have a break-down of that? What was the original estimate, and what is the new proposed estimate? How much of the increase is due to a change in the plans, and how much is due to increased cost of construction?

Mr. MARTIN. The deficit is $1,437,335 in the case of this particular building.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is the total for this particular building.
Mr. MARTIN. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. How much of that is due to the increased cost of construction, and how much is due to a change in the plans? Mr. MARTIN. That has not been broken down.

Mr. WOODRUM. You may furnish that for the record.
Mr. MARTIN. We can do that.

Admiral PEOPLES. The largest increase was in the cubic-foot content from 9,800,000 to 10,513,000. That is the largest item in the increased cost of construction. The other items are comparatively minor.

Mr. TABER. The increase in space is 43,000 square feet and about 713,000 cubic feet, while the increase in cost is $1,437,335.

Admiral PEOPLES. Yes, sir.

Mr. TABER. The total original estimate was $4,227,000, meaning an increase of approximately 33 percent in cost, while the increase in the size of the building is only about 7 percent. There is something out of line there.

Mr. MARTIN. There are other factors that enter into the cost besides the cubage. There was a change from brick to stone.

Mr. WOODRUM. Why did they make that change. The building next door is of brick, is it not?

Mr. MARTIN. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. Why did they change this from brick to stone? Mr. REYNOLDS. The Fine Arts Commission believes that North Capitol Street would be developed as a principal artery. They recognized the fact that the old building would eventually be taken down. They did not want to develop that particular area with brick buildings. They wanted to develop it with buildings of a more monumental character.

Mr. WOODRUM. But they do not have to furnish the money to do. it with.

Mr. REYNOLDS. No, sir.

Mr. LUDLOW. What is the difference in cost on that account?
Mr. REYNOLDS. About $80,000.

Mr. WOODRUM. The warehouse building right across the street is constructed of cement.

Mr. REYNOLDS. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. How do you explain the difference there, having a cement building on one side of the street and a stone building on the other side? What does the Fine Arts Commission have to say about that?

Mr. REYNOLDS. We were able, on account of the lower height of the warehouse building, to give it some architectural treatment in concrete, and to convince the Fine Arts Commission that it was proper to have that building of concrete.

I would like to answer the question about bringing in estimates, and then some time later coming around and asking for additional money. It is my responsibility to prepare estimates, but we do not have funds that would enable us to make up a detailed set of drawings prior to the authorization by Congress. The best we can do is to work from sketch plans. We are asking for increases in the limits of cost applying to 37 buildings outside the District of Columbia and 1 in the District of Columbia. In most of those cases the conditions bringing about the increase are quite beyond our control. Conditions arise that cannot be foreseen.

In the case of the buildings for the Public Printer we worked from preliminary sketches that had been prepared previously by him.

As the plans were developed, studies were made of various printing plants throughout the United States. The Government Printing Office and our office sent men to practically every important printing plant in the United States. Certain fundamental conditions were developed that, if used here, would result in increased economies.

Funds are not made available to make complete studies, investigations, and drawings prior to authorizations by Congress.

The following statement gives in detail the reasons for the request for an increase in limit of cost, attention being invited to the additional items not originally requested to be included.

Comparative analysis of estimate for construction, etc., upon which the limit of cost was fixed, and for construction, etc., as per developments as of this date

ANNEX NO. 3 AND BUILDINGS NOS. 1 AND 2

[blocks in formation]

Added to project as a result of changes in design and requirements:
Additional cube (713,400 cubic feet)*..

Site (a small parcel acquired not previously considered).

Double windows in lieu of windows similar to present main building and extension.

Thermal glass in lieu of plain glass..

$4,040, 000 (*)

25,000

21,000

150,000

57,500

500, 000

500,000

20,000

20,000

50,000

50,000

100,000

100,000

4,495,000

4,788, 500

280,000

17,500

90,000

20,000

Stone facing and change of architectural design (annex) (required by other Government agencies)..

[blocks in formation]

Items not included in original estimate and which were intended by Public Printer to be submitted as supplemental items, submitted now that all necessary changes may be made at one time:

[blocks in formation]

Moving and reconnecting existing mechanical equipment and tie to present buildings 2.

25,000

Mezzanine floors and motor platforms.

Power-house facilities, included in annex to replace existing equipment in buildings nos. 1 and 22.

Work to be done or provided by the Government Printing Office and which was added by the legislation (rent of temporary quarters, moving, furniture, etc.)4

Total..

Total, annex no. 3 and buildings nos. 1 and 2....---------

6,802, 232

1 Social-security tax. The act authorizing this tax was not in effect when the project was authorized. When the project was in the development stage, it was found necessary to modernize portions of the mechanical equipment of the present building, which could not have been foreseen in the early stage, inasmuch as there had been no field study of the equipment made at the time of submitting the original estimate. These are special items of betterments requested by the Public Printer as very desirable.

Was included in the act authorizing this project, though not included in the original limit through a definite understanding with representatives of the Public Printer at the time the estimate was prepared.

20,000

259,500

613, 125

1, 216, 125

4,495,000

Comparative analysis of estimate for construction, etc., upon which the limit of cost was fixed, and for construction, etc., as per developments as of this date-Con.

[blocks in formation]

Mr. WOODRUM. Why could you not have known all that when you made up the original estimate as well as now?

Mr. REYNOLDS. Without going into the special details and changes, I think your criticism of this project is proper, because this building is in the District, but due consideration should be given items not originally asked for inclusion. It must be remembered, also, that this and other estimates were made 2 or more years ago; and in estimating on buildings located geographically from Alaska to the Hawaiian Islands and from Maine to Puerto Rico, we have to make some rather quick estimates at times. As the admiral indicated, we could always cover ourselves by adding excess contingent items to our estimates. We do not do that, however, as it always leads to a demand to spend any excess funds in an appropriation. Rather, we prefer to ask Congress for additional funds as we find it necessary. This building can be built for less money than we are asking for here, but neither the Public Printer nor ourselves believe, in view of the vast amount of study that has been put into this project, that this should be done.

Mr. TABER. When you get all through with the job, how much additional floor space will you have in the new lay-out as compared with what you had before?

Mr. GIEGENGACK. About 40 percent.

Mr. TABER. How much did you figure when you asked for your original limit?

Mr. HANSON. That actual increase is not so much. The main item of increase is the enlargement of the warehouse.

Mr. TABER. You have an increase of 60 percent in the warehouse, and you have about a 7-percent increase in the main building.

« AnteriorContinuar »