To determine whether the project had met the state of Maryland requirements for building the facility on a floodplain, we reviewed actions taken by GSA and the project’s design consultants to obtain the needed construction authorizations from MDE. To determine whether steps have been taken to mitigate the risks involved in placing computers in the basement and who was involved in making the decision to place the computers in the basement of the building, we reviewed project documents and interviewed GSA and FDA project management officials, FDA managers responsible for information management resources, and representatives of the firms responsible for designing the new facility. The FDA Revitalization Act and subsequent appropriations acts, particularly the act containing GSA’s appropriations for fiscal year 1992, authorized GSA to construct the FDA facility in College Park, MD. FEMA has not designated a floodplain on this site. If a variance is granted and a basement is authorized, it must be waterproofed. FDA officials informed us that after an exhaustive review of the related constraints, alternatives, and opportunities, the decision to locate the main computer room in the basement of the new facility was reached by consensus of the project team. The FDA representatives were selected from FDA’s Division of Facilities Planning, Engineering and Safety and from CFSAN, which is to occupy the new facility. CFSAN officials told us that backup and off-site storage for the new facility will be developed that are appropriate for the nature of the systems installed, the data stored, and the risk factors at the time the new facility is occupied. They believe that with the steps that have been taken by the design team to protect the building from an external flood, the likelihood of internal water damage (e.g., broken pipe, leak in the roof, or accidental fire sprinkler activation) will be greater than the likelihood of damage from a flood condition. Steps Have Been Taken to Protect the Building From an External Flood

The new facility will have several different, but complementary, systems to mitigate damage from water entering the building. Initially, the design team intended to construct a building of five stories above grade with no basement. However, as the design process evolved with involvement from the local communities, a height restriction of 84 feet was placed upon the site by the College Park-Riverdale Transit District Development Plan for the area surrounding the College Park Airport. We also reviewed the final construction drawings and the specifications for the construction of the superstructure of the building to confirm that the plans included the systems and equipment we were told had been designed into the facility to mitigate the risk of water entering the building.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the construction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facility for its Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) in College Park, Maryland, focusing on: (1) the General Services Administration's (GSA) authority to construct a new facility for FDA in College Park; (2) whether the requirements for building on a floodplain had been met; and (3) the planned placement of computers in the basement of the new building, specifically whether; (a) steps had been taken or will be taken to mitigate the risk of damage from water entering the basement of the building, and (b) CFSAN staff were involved in the decision to place the computer operations in the basement.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) GSA's authority to construct the FDA facility in College Park, MD, is derived from the FDA Revitalization Act and subsequent appropriations acts; (2) the design team for the project has satisfactorily met the minimum requirements, set by the state of Maryland, to construct a building with a basement on a floodplain; (3) the basement was necessary because of a local building height restriction due to the proximity of the site to the College Park Airport; (4) although basements are not normally allowed in buildings on a floodplain in Maryland, the state granted a variance, in part because a taller or wider building was prohibited; (5) the new CFSAN facility has been designed with several systems to mitigate the risk of damage from water entering the building; (6) with the steps taken by the design team to protect the building from an external flood, FDA officials believe that the potential for internal water damage is a greater probability than is damage from a flood condition; (7) to protect the data stored on the computers, CFSAN officials plan to develop a mitigation plan for the new facility that they say will be appropriate to the nature of the systems installed, the data stored, and risk factors at the time the building is occupied; (8) the decision to locate the main computer room in the basement of the building was reached by consensus of the project team - the design team consultants and representatives from GSA and FDA; and (9) the FDA representatives included CFSAN telecommunications personnel and staff from FDA's Office of Information Resources Management.