Mr. WHITE. It could be completed by the end of the fiscal year, hopefully as soon as possible. If you would like, Mr. Chairman, I can show you from these simple five plans [illustrating] the area we are talking about converting in the building, if that is important. Mr. SLACK. That will not be necessary. However, you consider this to be an emergency item which should be carried in the supplemental? Mr. WHITE. It is, as we understand it, because of the dire need for the space for personnel. ANALYSIS OF COST ESTIMATE Mr. SLACK. I think you already stated this estimate results from inflation as well? Mr. WHITE. Yes. I must point out that because this estimate was made under conditions of extreme time urgency we do not have detailed drawings. We are reasonably familiar with the work which needs to be done. We have included in our estimate, as you will note from page 11 of the justifications, an amount of $28,000, which is included within the $165,000, as an allowance for contingencies and escalation to the end of the present fiscal year. Mr. SLACK. You say there are no detailed drawings? Mr. WHITE. We have no detailed drawings. Mr. SLACK. That might be better and keep people from wanting to make additional changes. Mr. WHITE. That is right. It does mean we have had to provide for contingencies beyond those we would ordinarily provide for. We know, for example, what it costs to put in a door. We have added up the number of doors, partitions, and so on. MANNER OF PERFORMANCE OF WORK Mr. SIKES. If there are no plans, when do you expect to be able to award a contract on this conversion? Mr. WHITE. Mr. Sikes, the proposal is to order whatever equipment is needed in a regular way through competitive bidding, but we would do the installation and other work at the site as we have been doing it there on other projects, by day labor, which is in effect by in-house forces, so this would preclude the need for many detailed drawings from which to obtain bids from construction contractors. Mr. SIKES. That is not a very clear answer. Will the work be completed during this fiscal year? Mr. WHITE. Yes. I am sorry; I misunderstood the question. Mr. SIKES. If you must work without the plans, how do you know the cost or the prospective result? Mr. WHITE. We have drawings. We have single-line sketches at the moment. We will have construction drawings, even for our own workmen. INTERIM HOUSING OF ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL Mr. SIKES. During the period prior to the completion of this new space, where will you use the new personnel? Where will they be housed in the meantime? Mr. WHITE. Mr. Cannon can better answer that question. Mr. CANNON. Temporarily they will have to be piled on top of each other. Obviously the nature of the work at the Court is one which requires quiet for research, for thought, analysis and contemplation. When you have three lawyers all in the same room, and anyone is talking on the telephone, for example, it disturbs and distracts the others from serious thought. It is a major source of inefficiency. Mr. SIKES. Will this prospective space take care of all the additional staff that you are seeking? Mr. CANNON. It will take care of all the additional staff we are seeking, yes. Mr. SIKES. About 10 people? Mr. CANNON. That is right. We have been able to get the clerk's office to agree to vacate an entire storage room and the Justices have agreed to do this. They have sent to the Archives these records and briefs. NUMBER OF OFFICES TO BE PROVIDED Mr. SIKES. How many new offices will be built in this space? Mr. CANNON. There is a plan for nine offices initially, but it could be converted into more as the need arises. Mr. SIKES. What will you do for the storage space which you now have? What will you use for storage when the storage area is converted? Mr. CANNON. It is the custom of the Supreme Court to send its old archival materials to the Archives. At a certain amount of inconvenience, the Justices have agreed to send all the records and briefs up to 3 years ago over to the Archives. Mr. SMITH. Will you have a separate office for each lawyer, or are they partitions? Mr. CANNON. This will not provide a separate office. Mr. SMITH. I understand that. Mr. CANNON. That might be desirable, but we will not achieve that. Mr. SMITH. They have removable partitions which are satisfactory now, do they not? Mr. CANNON. That is right. What it will provide is a quiet area. When one of the law clerks is particularly intensely involved in a case he then can take one of these offices and be totally isolated from everyone else. PREPARATION OF ESTIMATE Mr. SMITH. When did you make the estimate? Mr. WHITE. Within the last month. Mr. SMITH. You figure what percentage for inflation? Mr. WHITE. Eight percent per year, which is perhaps not enough. Mr. SMITH. Can you really get a firm contract? Mr. WHITE. We can get firm contracts for delivery of equipment and materials within the relatively near future, within a month or two. This is one of the reasons for our doing the work ourselves where we can. It is becoming more and more difficult to get firm contracts for construction work a year or two in advance. Mr. SMITH. I understood some contractors cannot get it for a week in advance. Mr. WHITE. Part of the problem, as you know, is that we are not permitted to have escalation clauses in Government contracts for this kind of work. Contractors are just unwilling to take that risk. HOUSE CHAMBER IMPROVEMENTS Mr. SMITH. I thought they were to have increased the candlepower in the House Chamber during the August recess. How about that? Mr. WHITE. We had a meeting on that yesterday. There is some question of whether it can be accomplished within the coming recess. We think we will be able to do that if the Congress will remain in recess until the first of the year. We have to build scaffolding in the Chamber in order to paint the ceiling, which is one method of increasing the candlepower. We cannot increase wattage of the lamps. While we are up there, the idea is to install recessed downlighting, which will not be visible at an angle, but nevertheless will increase the foot candles at the reading level. However, we need time to do the work. We cannot build scaffolding in there and accomplish the work in less than Mr. SMITH. What recess are you talking about? Mr. WHITE. The one which is about to come up in October. Mr. WHITE. We have this continuing problem of being unable to maintain and improve areas which are in use when the Congress is in lengthy session, whereas it used to be, as you know, that Congress would be out of session for longer periods. Mr. SIKES. More accommodating. Mr. WHITE. That is right. Mr. CEDERBERG. We save money by staying in session? ELEVATOR IMPROVEMENTS Mr. WHITE. We have elevators on which we have to defer maintenance until such time as we can get a lengthy recess. Mr. ANDREWS. In the Longworth Building some have been shut down for several years. Mr. WHITE. But there are enough there to keep a sufficient number of elevators in operation at one time. I am thinking of the elevator in this building, used to carry House documents to the storage room in the attic, the one over in the west-central front on the House side. We cannot terminate the operation of that elevator while Congress is in session. Otherwise, everything would have to be carried up and down by hand. We will just have to wait for a lengthy recess. CONTINGENCY AND ESCALATION ALLOWANCES Mr. SIKES. On the $165,000 item you have an allowance for contingencies and escalation, $28,000. That is about 22 percent. The escalation will amount to some amount, certainly, but is this the usual estimate for contingencies? Mr. WHITE. It is more than the usual amount, largely because, as I mentioned, we have only these simple single-line drawings, so we are allowing a little more for the accuracy of the estimate to be improved as the drawings are made up in greater detail. Mr. SIKES. If we cut that a little, would it not stimulate your desire to save money so you would not have to come back and ask for the remainder? Mr. WHITE. We are continually stimulated. It might be restrictive. if, for example, our estimate of escalation were too low, as it turns out to have been in the case of the cafeteria itself. Mr. SLACK. I doubt you can get a firm contract without an escalation clause today. I wouldn't want to do this job without an escalation clause. I would be afraid to. Mr. WHITE. It is a difficulty. We are hoping, for example, that items which are out for bid now will be responded to by the bidding market. We detected the beginnings of some difficulties in the construction industry, of which we are all aware to some extent by reading the newspapers, but we are detecting them in fact whereby contractors are bidding and balancing out increased inflation with reduced hoped-for profits in order to keep going and maintaining their key people. COMPETITIVE BIDDING SITUATION Mr. SIKES. What is the situation on competition in this area? Down in Florida, where things generally are better, there is more competition among contractors for work. Is that true here, or do you have so much Government work being done they are all fat and don't care whether or not they get work? Mr. WHITE. I think it is true here as well. This is a busy construction market, here in the Washington area, so it is not as true as it is in areas where the construction industry is depressed to a greater extent. However, there is still competition here. Part of the problem is that the contractors are seeing diminishing work coming out into the market, especially from the private sector. As a result of that, they are adjusting their bids accordingly. As they say, they are all gamblers. That is the expression they use. Mr. SIKES. Not many contractors now are seeking construction? Mr. WHITE. That is right. Mr. SMITH. One of the problems is that they are scared to death of the penalty clause because they may not be able to secure material delivered. If you do not have a penalty clause, however, they may never finish the project. It is forcing people to go in-house. Mr. WHITE. That is correct. SQUARE FOOTAGE TO BE PROVIDED Mr. CEDERBERG. How many square feet of office space will you get out of this project? Mr. WHITE. 4,300 square feet. Mr. CEDERBERG. How much a square foot are we talking about at $165,000? It is $38 a square foot? Mr. WHITE. About that. Mr. CEDERBERG. Is that not a little high for a conversion? Mr. WHITE. New construction now, for example the new Senate Office Building, runs about $65 per square foot. Mr. CEDERBERG. But your walls are up here, the floors are in, the ceilings are in except that you will lower them a little bit. Mr. SIKES. Everything the Senate does is more expensive. You are not trying to keep up with them, are you? Mr. WHITE. The problem is this: I inspected this space again this morning so it would be fresh in my memory. This space is pure storage space. We have to bring in ventilation and air-conditioning with a separate unit. There is no exterior exposure at all. The mechanical parts of this kind of operation cost a great deal of money. Of course, we have the millwork as well. You will notice the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning, in round numbers, amounts to almost $50,000 out of the $165,000. The millwork, including trim, doors and hardware, amounts to $27,000; the electrical work and lighting fixtures amounts to $11,000. We are proposing to use hardwood millwork and doors similar to those existing in the balance of the building. Mr. CEDERBERG. You know your business better than we do, but it seems to me $38 a square foot is a little high. FURNITURE FOR NEW OFFICES After we get this built, you have nothing to do with buying the furniture, do you? GSA handles that? Mr. WHITE. That is right. Mr. CEDERBERG. How much will we spend for furniture? Do you have some you will move? Mr. WILKINS. We have some we will move. We go to GSA at every opportunity. Mr. CEDERBERG. You don't even have an estimate on that. Mr. WILKINS. We don't anticipate this being ready until the end of the fiscal year, so the furnishings are not as critical as getting the contract for construction. Mr. CEDERBERG. Maybe I shouldn't have asked Mr. Justice White that question about the space. AIR-CONDITIONING REQUIRED Mr. ANDREWS. What kind of air-conditioning arrangements have you in that space now? Mr. WHITE. None. Mr. ANDREWs. No ventilation? Mr. WHITE. There is an exhaust-type ventilation, as you would have for just storage space, so you do not get dampness accumulating in there, but it is not capable of supporting human occupancy. Mr. WYATT. I have no questions. Mr. SLACK. If there are no further questions, we thank you, gentlemen. |