Central Engineering Building Collection, 1983-1992.

ArchivalResource

Felberg, Fred H. Central Engineering Building Collection, 1983-1992.

Central Engineering Building Collection, 1983-1992.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/733102065

The collection is composed of correspondence, reports, and drawings involving the formulation, construction and occupation of the JPL Central Engineering Building. The collection is arranged chronologically. Before the novel agreement at funding the new construction was agreed upon, several other alternatives were studied. A preliminary review of alternate approaches to acquiring a major engineering office building at Oak Grove dated March 29, 1983 is present in the collection in the "Miscellaneous Documents" file for 1983 (folder 1). Five alternative sources to funding were examined: NASA Construction of Facilities (CofF) funding on existing Oak Grove land, NASA CofF on new Oak Grove land, private investor funding on Oak Grove land, private investor funding on adjacent private land, and Caltech funding on Oak Grove land. Various drafts of the memo of understanding between NASA and Caltech regarding the funding and future payment of the CEB are also present in the collection (folders 2, 11). NASA Liaison to the project was General Billie J. McGarvey, NASA Director of Facilities Engineering and Computer Management Division. There are several reports and draft proposals in the collection regarding the CEB that were sent to McGarvey. A copy of the 1985 NASA Appropriations Bill passed by Congress in June 1984 is also present in the collection (folder 9). This was required to authorize NASA and Caltech to alter their contract to provide funding for the CEB. The Central Engineering Building proved to be a good test for alternate ways of funding the construction of new facilities than the traditional "Construction of Facilities" process. There were several comparisons between the CEB and other buildings on the Lab that were built around the same time, such as the Earth and Space Science Laboratory and the Microdevices Laboratory. The comparisons proved that the alternate method of financing new construction was both faster and cheaper than the previous Construction of Facilities method of funding. These comparisons are in the collection in various evaluations of the Central Engineering Building (folder 14.).

0.3 cubic ft. (15 folders)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives