Viewing page 67 of 239

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-36-

building equipment, systems, and components generated by the ongoing preventive maintenance program. With this information, the Institution develops a long-range funding strategy for the Restoration and Renovation of Buildings Program to eliminate the current backlog and provide adequate funding levels to keep pace with the future repair and restoration requirements of the facilities. It is currently expected that a $40 million level will be required in the next five or more years, with a permanent level of funding of about $25-30 million. For fiscal year 1989 the Office of Management and Budget has allowed $23.8 million of the $40 million requested but has given some assurance that the program will be given more funding in the outyears. Once more complete information is available about the current and future needs of the facilities, more precise funding levels can be projected. A copy of the five-year program (fiscal years 1989-1993) is attached.

[[underlined]] Construction Program [[/underlined]]

Major construction projects result from a variety of initiatives. Gifts or transfers of collections have required housing. The availability of historic buildings has stimulated ideas for their use. Program directors initiate ideas for major expansions or changes in their areas. To meet these needs, staff and contractor assistance is sought for preparation of studies and analyses of requirements and early identification of possible solutions. Once a very general range of the scope and cost of the potential project has been estimated, the project is presented through the Secretary's Management Committee to the Secretary and the Regents for general concurrence with the objectives and approval to proceed with planning. If the Regents approve the project, a request for formal authorization is often entered into the legislative process at this point. Each year Smithsonian staff assemble all projects which have been approved in this manner into a five-year program.

In assessing the relative priority of the projects under consideration and projecting when each might be put forward for funding, a number of relevant factors are weighed. Included are the long-range importance of the program itself, the impact of the desired project on the effectiveness of the program and the adverse impact of deferral of the project, the uniqueness of the opportunity presented by the project, the likely economic climate of the coming years, the possibility of private sector financial support for individual projects, the availability of alternative interim measures, and specific timing factors (such as the fixed schedule of an anticipated program initiative, historic date, or the expected termination of a current lease situation). Attached is the currently projected five-year Construction Program, recognizing that external developments could cause a major change in these projections.

[[underlined]] Actions Under Way to Strengthen Planning and Priority Setting [[/underlined]]

At their September 18, 1987 meeting, the Board of Regents suggested that the staff should draft a policy on the setting of priorities in these areas. Thanks in part to Regents Mineta and Johnson, materials are being gathered and discussions are under way with representatives of other cultural organizations, universities, municipal governments and private companies with particularly effective capital programs to research the way