Federal Research

The Superconducting Super Collider--a potential source of basic knowledge about matter and energy--will, when completed, be the world's largest particle accelerator. The prime contractor for the multibillion dollar project, which is being built about 30 miles south of Dallas, Texas, still has not come up with a fully functioning cost and schedule control system. Such a system--with trend analysis showing the estimated cost and schedule for completing the project--is not expected to be up and running until July 1993 or later. Analysis of the major subcontractors' work in progress showed that the project is over budget and behind schedule. For example, trend analyses show that costs at completion for architect and engineering services and conventional construction will be $630 million over the baseline cost estimate of $1.25 billion. Further, it is unclear how much these increases will ultimately change the project's total cost and schedule. To counter cost increases, the Department of Energy (DOE) plans to follow a build-to-cost strategy. This effort is intended to hold construction costs to baseline cost estimates by eliminating, reducing, or deferring some components. Such actions would reduce the Super Collider's experimental capabilities, could harm the experimental research, and could increase overall costs to the government. DOE recently advised Congress that it may only be able to obtain about $400 million of the $1.7 billion that it is seeking from foreign contributors--leaving a shortfall of $1.3 billion. As a result, Congress faces the prospect of having to substantially boost federal funding to complete the project.

GAO found that: (1) the SSC contractor has not fully implemented a cost and schedule system as the contract requires; (2) the prime contractor's accounting system has misallocated expenses among its accounts; (3) the contractor's accounting records were incomplete and do not include all savings and cost increases; (4) major subcontractors' reports have identified cost overruns and schedule delays; (5) the Department of Energy's (DOE) analyses of the subcontractors' reports showed that the conventional construction subcontractor was 19 percent behind schedule and 51 percent over the baseline cost; (6) funding from foreign countries has been slow to materialize; (7) DOE is considering deleting or deferring the installation of some detector components if it does not receive funding from other sources; (8) without significant funding from Japan, it is doubtful that the goal of $1.7 billion in foreign funding will be met; and (9) a 1-year slip in the project's schedule could increase total SSC cost by $400 million.