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Museum Support Center. GSA is in the process of identifying nine other administrative, technical and professional persons who will be hired when needed to fill out the full-time, on-site inspection staff. GSA is also engaging the services of several professional and technical support firms to carry out specific inspection tasks, including concrete testing, surveying, and geotechnical equipment monitoring.

The project architects, Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abott, and their engineering consultants remain under contract to the GSA. They will be responsible for reviewing and making recommendations on the large number of submittals required by the contractor, subcontractors, and vendors (principally shop drawings and materials samples). The architect also will be responsible for making periodic visits to the construction site.

Within the Smithsonian responsibility to ensure that GSA adequately represents the Institution's interests is assigned to the Assistant Secretary for Administration and his Director of Facilities. The latter is providing full observation of the activities associated with the project and serves as the day-to-day coordinator within the Smithsonian. As was done during the design phase of the project, technical resources within the Smithsonian will be used frequently to assure that program requirements are being set. For an additional measure of protection the legal firm of Lewis, Mitchell & Moore, of Washington, D.C., specialists in the construction field, has been engaged to observe the conduct of contract administration and operations by GSA and to make recommendations to minimize the Government's exposure toward contractor claims.

Blake Construction is on site and trailers have been placed for office use by Blake and the GSA. Preliminary site grading and some excavation have been started to establish the top of the exterior foundation wall or