Capitol Visitor Center Debut Again Delayed

And project managers, citing security concerns, have declined to make public details of government contracts with builders.

Supporters in Congress on both sides of the aisle, as well as the Capitol's architect and former police chief, blame much of the delay and extra expense on expanding security concerns, which added about $150 million to the cost.

"The design morphed" with the evolving threats, said Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance W. Gainer, who was chief of the Capitol Police for four years during the project. He said security experts worried about an array of threats.

"What will someone want to do 10 years from now, and how will we be prepared for that?" he asked. How would an enemy penetrate? What would he bring in? How would he attack? "We played each one of those scenarios out," he said.

"We were unmerciful in our demands and requests. . . . Any threat that was coming up, we wanted to make sure that we could counter. . . . I think we added to the time and cost, much to the chagrin of the architect," Gainer added.

The Architect of the Capitol -- and the man ultimately responsible for the center -- was Alan M. Hantman. Much criticized over the project's delays and problems, Hantman retired from the post Feb. 4 at the end of his 10-year term.

"I wanted to serve every last possible minute," Hantman said in a recent interview. "I'm really very proud of it. . . . It's been a learning curve for everybody. When we originally did the project, at $265 million, it was pre-9/11."

The Sept. 11 attacks came just as the center's original design was being finished.

Hantman said the choices were to halt work and reassess the security picture or forge ahead and add enhancements while the project continued. He said the latter course was taken, largely to save money in the face of the rising cost of building materials.

Earlier that year, the project had hired Gilbane Building Co. of Providence, R.I., to manage construction. The architect's office has declined to release details of the Gilbane contract or any other project contract.

"There are a number of security components. . . . Almost every contractor that works on the project interfaces to some extent with a security element," spokesman Tom Fontana said in a statement.

Wasserman-Schultz said she understood how security concerns influenced and slowed the work.

"For back then, those arguments hold water," she said. "But, you know, we're at 2007 now. Nine-eleven was six years ago. Those problems were accounted for and the scheduling adjustments were made."

"They're out of excuses in my book," she said.

Damned and praised, construction on the Capitol Visitor Center is about 91 percent complete, officials said last week.

After the work is finished, the building's complex fire, security, heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems must undergo months of testing, officials have said. Employees and a visitor center director must be hired. Exhibits must be readied, artifacts installed.

More time and money will probably be required, critics have said.

"Fifty years from now," said Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), who chaired numerous hearings on the project, "the citizens of this country . . . [will] be proud" of the center.

"They'll be proud of it now," he said. "But the cost of it won't look so horrendous 50 years from now."