Application of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis to Homeland Security Issues in Constructed Facilities: A Case Study.
Application of Life-Cycle Cost Analysis to Homeland
Security Issues in Constructed Facilities: A Case Study.
(1072 K)
Chapman, R. E.
NISTIR 7025; 87 p. October 2003.
Available from:
Orders Only) 800-553-6847;
Website: http://www.ntis.gov
Keywords:
costs; economics; commercial buildings; construction;
economic analysis; hazard mitigation; homeland security;
life-cycle costing
Abstract:
The Office of Applied Economics, a unit of the Building
and Fire Research Laboratory at the National Institute
of Standards and Technology, is developing economic
tools - evaluation methods and software for implementing
these methods - for evaluating the management of
terrorist risks. This report is one in a series focused
on these economic tools. It illustrates how to apply a
series of standardized methods to evaluate and compare
the cost-effectiveness of security-related investments
in constructed facilities. This report describes a
renovation project for a prototypical data center. The
renovation has been planned for some time to upgrade the
data center's HVAC, telecommunications and data
processing systems and to address a number of generic
security concerns. The building owners employ two
different renovation strategies. The first, referred to
as the Base Case, employs upgrades which are consistent
with pre-9/11 levels of security. The second, referred
to as the proposed Alternative, recognizes that in the
post-9/11 environment the data center faces heightened
risks in two areas. These risks are associated with the
vulnerability of information technology resources and
the potential for damage to the facility and its
contents from chemical, biological, radiological, and
explosive hazards. Two scenarios-the potential for a
cyber attack and the potential for a terrorist
attack-are used to capture these risks. The results of
this study demonstrate that the Proposed Alternative
results in lower life-cycle costs and is hence the more
cost-effective choice. Additional economic measures are
reported that underscore the superior performance of the
Proposed Alternative. Finally, this study demonstrates
how a detailed cost-accounting framework promotes better
decision making by identifying unambiguously who bears
which costs, how costsx are allocated among several
widely-accepted budget categories, and how costs are
allocated among key building components.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899