In 1995, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Capital Planning Commission, and Montgomery County approved an updated master plan for the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. This plan is a strategic tool for the efficient allocation of campus resources, the orderly development of future growth and the creation of an environment functionally and aesthetically conducive to accomplishing NIH's mission. Developed for a 20-year planning period, the plan is updated at five-year intervals.

The master plan identifies and reaffirms the Clinical Center Complex as the physical and functional heart of the Bethesda campus. This role is symbolically addressed by the plan's guideline that the Clinical Center Complex will be the tallest campus building, prominent on the campus's future central mall. The new Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center will be the focal point of the Clinical Center Complex.

Public-Private Partnership

NIH and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) formed a public-private partnership for GSA to provide contracting services for the new hospital. Prior to the 1996 Congressional authorization for the new hospital, NIH conducted a procurement for a private partner to serve as development manager. A private sector developer, Boston Properties, Inc., was selected to be responsible for project management and development.

Project Construction Manager

The McCarthy Brothers Company of St. Louis, Missouri was the initial project construction manager. The Centex Construction Group of Dallas, Texas, now serves in that role.