Stephen Ayers: A Capitol Visionary

When Stephen Ayers took over as acting Architect of the Capitol in 2007, he faced the urgent need to finish construction of the troubled Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) that was behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

With Congress breathing fire, Ayers, a former Air Force captain, took a bold step. He appointed the harshest CVC critic, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigator, to manage the controversial project and bring it to completion.

"One of the brilliant things Stephen Ayers did was hire Bernie Unger, the lead GAO auditor who went to every congressional hearing and ripped the Architect's office," said David Ferguson, Ayers' chief administrative officer. "People looked at Stephen, and said, 'Are you nuts?'"

The move paid off. After meticulous planning, some serious fence-mending with Congress and the establishment of realistic timetables and cost projections, the three--level subterranean visitor center opened its doors on Dec. 1, 2008, meeting the schedule that Ayers had promised.

The project was three years late and cost taxpayers $621 million, or $356 million more than originally anticipated. Yet Ayers' steadfast approach made the best of an unfortunate situation and brought order and process to the project and to other functions in the Architect's office as well.

"We rebuilt our credibility, set reasonable goals, met our milestones and didn't make excuses," said the 46-year-old Ayers.

The underground CVC, with a footprint bigger than the Capitol itself, has attracted nearly 800,000 visitors since it opened and most recently 19,000 people in one day.

The world-class facility houses a 600-seat restaurant, theaters, gift shops, an exhibition hall, conference rooms, offices, two immense skylights with a view of the Capitol dome, and a large meeting room outfitted with emergency voting capabilities for the House and Senate.

Ayers said he jumped into a mammoth project that "quite frankly was out of control and didn't have a completion schedule." He said Congress was holding monthly oversight hearings, the Architect's office was not trusted and that there was "a media feeding frenzy."

"At the same time, I had people jumping ship. We were going through project managers, and senior people on the job continued to leave. I was faced with a real crisis," he said. "It was at a stage where there would be no one left on the team, no one who knew the history, and we were in the precarious situation where we could lose control of contractors and vendors."

That's when he turned to Unger, the GAO auditor who had no engineering or architectural experience, but who brought independence, an in-depth knowledge of the project and the respect of Congress.

Unger said he was surprised when he got the call from Ayers, turned it down at first and then finally agreed to terms that included a commitment that "we would be upfront with Congress on the true costs, timing and any problems."

"Stephen Ayers stuck to his word. He never asked me to cloud anything," said Unger. "He asked what he could do to help and then took care of it. He did not micromanage."

Unger said the previous architect, Alan Hantman, had been "overly optimistic," made promises he couldn't keep and took a great deal of political heat. He said Ayers had to be a savvy manager and deal with the intense political realities that came with the job, challenges he capably handled.

Those familiar with the project said the problems involved more than mismanagement. The budget rose dramatically because of increased security needs after the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks, changes ordered by Congress itself, contractor issues, unexpected engineering problems, difficulties meeting the fire codes and a host of other factors.

Ferguson said Ayers pulled together a team of architects and engineers, examined every possible detail and "came up with a package six inches thick with details of all actions that needed to be taken, specific milestones, assessments of what could go wrong and contingencies for every event."

While the project was a painful and costly experience, Ayers said this first significant addition to the Capitol since construction of the renowned dome during the Civil War has provided important amenities for visitors and greatly enhanced the historic building.

"The Capitol has been built in many increments and all in classical style," said Ayers. "Each of those additions and major renovations was done in a high-style for the time. Today's visitor center has been built in the high-style of these times."

This article was jointly prepared by the Partnership for Public Service, a group seeking to enhance the performance of the federal government, and washingtonpost.com. Visit www.ourpublicservice.org for more about the organization's work to recognize the men and women who serve our nation.