“Funding and completing the West Lab Project will enable the lab to provide its important national security work and continues to hold strong support by Congress.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5) alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rep. Lori Trahan (MA-3), and Rep. Seth Moulton (MA-6) sent a letter to Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, requesting a status update on the revitalization effort of the West Lab Project at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.
“While we thank the Air Force for breaking ground on the Compound Semi-Conductor Laboratory and Microelectronic Integration Facility (CSL-MIF) last July, we want to ensure the successful completion of the Engineering Prototyping Facility (EPF) and that both projects remain on track,” wrote the lawmakers.
In 1951, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) established the Lincoln Laboratory on Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. The laboratory went on to create the nation’s first air defense system and other technologies critical to national security. In fiscal year 2016, the Department of Defense (DoD) acknowledged a critical need for facility modernization and requested funding for the West Lab Project, which includes revitalization to two major buildings of the lab.
“We are seeking clarity on future funding for this project given variances in past budget requests,” wrote the lawmakers. “We understand the challenges posed by the construction of the two unique, state-of-the-art facilities, but want to underscore that your engagement with this project has been, and remains, essential to its timely completion.”
After the EPF was descoped in the Air Force’s fiscal year 2021 and 2022 military construction budget, the lawmakers are requesting budgetary, schedule, and execution updates on both the CSL-MIF, which has already begun construction, and the EPF, which will receive bids next year to start construction.