WHO WE ARE

The Division of Technical Resources (DTR) is one of five Divisions within the NIH Office of Research Facilities (ORF).  The NIH Office of Research Facilities (ORF) supports the NIH mission by providing, maintaining, and operating safe, healthy, and attractive facilities. ORF operates as a "Central Service" and reports directly to the Office of Management (OM), located within the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

DTR provides technical support to the ORF and various NIH institutes through a host of services that include:

·         Providing comprehensive review and oversight of design and construction documents for NIH intramural and extramural Biosafety Level (BSL)-2, BSL-3 and BSL-4 biomedical research and animal research facilities and numerous NIH grant projects.

·         Ensuring that NIH facility design and construction projects conform to applicable regulations, codes and standards, policies and guidelines.

·         Developing and maintaining the NIH Design Requirements Manual (DRM) which is one of the only detailed design requirements and guidance manuals for biomedical research laboratory and animal research facilities in the U.S.

·         Providing technical training in compliance with IACET professional development criteria.

·         Conducting scientific studies and research to resolving technical issues of an unusual scope and difficulty to advance emerging scientific technologies used in the design of federal biomedical research facilities. The results of many of the studies conducted by DTR have been cited and, in many cases, adopted as national and international standards for biomedical labs and healthcare facilities.

DTR is comprised of the Office of the Director and two branches. 

The DTR Office of the Director oversees and conducts feasibility studies, comprehensive analyses, and leads investigations of an unusual scope and difficulty to advance emerging scientific technologies used in the design of federal biomedical research and healthcare facilities.

The Standards and Policy Branch (SPB) develops and maintains ORF policies and standard operating procedures and develops national and international standards based on best practices and state-of-the-art bio-environmental research conducted at the NIH. SPB also develops and conducts technical trainings that ensure quality compliance to the DRM. The Technical Support Branch (TSB) ensures that NIH facility design and construction conform to applicable regulations, codes and standards, policies and guidelines through the comprehensive review and oversight of design and construction documents for NIH intramural and extramural Biosafety Level (BSL)-2, BSL-3 and BSL-4 biomedical research and animal research facilities. In addition, TSB provides design review and consultative services for healthcare facilities, numerous grants, international projects and over 150 universities.