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GAO warns 2021 courthouse design guide could raise building size and costs; Judiciary and GSA say they will reassess
Summary
A House subcommittee hearing heard Government Accountability Office testimony that changes in the U.S. Courts’ 2021 design guide would increase courthouse space and construction costs, while the judiciary and GSA defended security needs and said they will collaborate to reassess the standards and collect utilization data.
WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office told a House subcommittee that revisions to the U.S. Courts’ 2021 design guide are likely to increase the size and cost of future federal courthouses, potentially costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more per project.
"We identified 16 substantive changes and estimated that together, they would increase the size of future courthouses by 6% and their cost by 12% on average," Director Maroney of the Government Accountability Office said in testimony to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. Maroney told the committee that modeling of seven recent projects showed an estimated $143,000,000 increase in construction costs if the updated standards were applied.
The GAO report, requested by the subcommittee after long-standing concerns about overbuilt federal courthouses, recommended that the judiciary reassess several circulation and space standards in consultation with…
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