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National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility


Threats to U.S. Food and Animal Agriculture

The United States’ food and animal agriculture supply is a highly integrated, open, global, and complex infrastructure. Increased imports of agricultural products and growing numbers of international travelers to and from the United States have had positive effects, but have also opened our food and agricultural supply to possible foreign animal disease outbreaks. The recent global H1N1 outbreak and other regional foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have demonstrated the vulnerabilities present when there is a lack of available vaccines, countermeasures, and other rapid response capabilities to curb an outbreak. The food and agriculture industry is a significant contributor to U.S. economic prosperity; therefore, the loss of a significant food market would have dire economic and potentially human health consequences.

Current and previous Administrations have affirmed these threats and the need to prepare and respond through Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9: Defense of United States Agriculture and Food (January 2004) and the National Security Strategy for Countering Biological Threats (November 2009). In addition, the Congressional report, The Clock Is Ticking, pointed to the likelihood of biological threats and advised the United States to “strengthen our resilience by developing the capability to produce vaccines and therapeutics rapidly and inexpensively.” To supply the needed capabilities, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have the joint responsibility to protect our Nation’s animal agriculture and public health from these threats. The Department is leading these efforts through the construction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas.

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NBAF Site: Manhattan, Kansas

Manhattan, Kansas was selected as the NBAF location after an extensive three-year site selection process that included a thorough risk assessment, environmental impact assessment, and security assessment. The Manhattan location puts the NBAF in proximity to research of NBAF-related missions in veterinary, agriculture, and bio-security research expertise, and resources. This location also puts NBAF in proximity to a major hub of the veterinary pharmaceutical industry. The NBAF will be built on a site on Kansas State University adjacent to the existing Biosecurity Research Institute.

Read more about the NBAF site location in Manhattan, Kansas.

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NBAF Mission and Research

NBAF will be a state-of-the-art biocontainment facility for the study of foreign animal, emerging and zoonotic (transmitted from animals to humans) diseases that threaten the U.S. animal agriculture and public health. NBAF will provide and strengthen our nation with critical capabilities to conduct research, develop vaccines and other countermeasures, and train veterinarians in preparedness and response against these diseases. For the past 50 years, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) has served our nation as the primary facility to conduct this research. However, PIADC is nearing the end of its life-cycle and needs to be replaced in order to meet U.S. research requirements and ensure the timely development of countermeasures in the event of an outbreak. NBAF meets that need and will serve as a replacement for the PIADC facility. Strategically, NBAF will boast of new and expanded capabilities, specifically, Biosafety Level (BSL) 4 containment for the study of high-consequence diseases affecting large livestock.

Specifically, NBAF will meet its mission by:

  • Providing enhanced research capabilities to diagnose foreign animal, emerging and zoonotic diseases in large livestock
  • Providing expanded vaccine and countermeasure development capabilities for large livestock
  • Replacing and expanding research currently done at the PIADC in New York, and continuing the partnership between the Department and the USDA Animal Research Service (ARS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

NBAF rests on a strategic partnership between DHS and USDA. These agencies set research priorities based on threats to animal agriculture, and conduct risk assessments, gap analysis and other necessary evaluations to protect our nation from threats to our animal agriculture and public health. Within the facility, DHS and USDA will continue the work of PIADC at NBAF to conduct research, diagnostics, vaccine development and testing, and training in preparedness and response for veterinary and animal agricultural specialists.

The following diseases would be studied at NBAF which would require BSL-3 and BSL-4 laboratory capabilities:

  • Nipah Virus
  • Hendra Virus
  • African Swine Fever
  • Rift Valley Fever
  • Japanese Encephalitis Virus
  • Foot and Mouth Disease
  • Classical Swine Fever
  • Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia

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Project Status

In an unprecedented tight funding environment, DHS will continue to assess the best way to complete the NBAF mission. In accordance with the President's budget for 2013, DHS is requesting the National Research Council (NRC) convene a committee of experts to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the requirements for a large animal foreign and emerging disease research and diagnostic laboratory facility in the United States.

Given the extensive and rigorous site selection process carried out by the government from 2006-2009, the panel will not revisit the site selection or consider alternative locations for NBAF other than Manhattan, Kansas. The consensus report developed by the Committee will be used by DHS to develop a budget going forward to meet the urgent needs of the Nation to be on the frontline of livestock animal health research to defend against foreign animal, emerging, and zoonotic diseases.

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Facility Information

The NBAF is being designed by the NBAF Design Partnership (Perkins & Will, FLAD & Associates, Merrick & Co., AEI Engineering Inc., CCRD Partners, and Affiliated Engineers, Inc.) an award-winning team of architects, engineers and planners. The NBAF will be a state of the art laboratory with critical research adjacencies for DHS and USDA to carry out their unique and congruent missions.  NBAF will contain 580,000 gross square feet of facility space which includes BSL-2, 3, and 4 shared research space for the development of vaccines and other countermeasures. Approximately 10% of the space will be for BSL-4 research.

Read more about the laboratory biosafety levels and definition of terms used in the NBAF discussion.

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Iterative Risk Assessment Process

DHS conducted multiple studies of risk quantification, including the Site-Specific Risk Assessment (SSRA), which was updated in February 2012. The SSRA has been recognized as an important step in the planning of risk since it was completed at multiple stages in the development of the facility design.

In 2010 S&T completed a SSRA on the 15% design plan for the National Bio- Agro- Defense Facility (NBAF). This SSRA was evaluated by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Science and several concerns were noted. As part of its on-going risk management process and to comply with recent Congressional requirements, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) updated the NBAF SSRA by incorporating recommendations from the NRC and the most recent design plans. The Updated SSRA includes an Executive Summary (PDF, 66 pages - 3.3MB), Volume I (PDF, 432 pages - 95.4MB), Volume II (PDF, 491 pages - 19.7MB), and Appendices (PDF, 360 pages - 20.0MB).

The Updated SSRA satisfies the Congressional requirements for demonstrating how calculated risks have been significantly reduced by incorporating mitigation measures into the risk assessment and updating the analysis to allow for a cumulative risk calculation. The significant changes in the Updated SSRA include:

  • A more systematic approach to the assessment of potential accidents and characterization of uncertainties;
  • Incorporation of tornado modeling;
  • Additional data (susceptible populations, outbreak control measure resources, etc.) collected for the NBAF location and used in the epidemiological and economic modeling;
  • An assessment of cumulative risk of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) release over the predicted lifetime of the NBAF; and
  • An assessment of the unique risks of a large animal high containment laboratory (ABSL-4).

The Updated SSRA assessment found that the current NBAF design is sound and can incorporate best practices used in other animal and zoonotic pathogen laboratory facilities. The NBAF design incorporated significant design changes beyond the industry standard to reduce risk by using fully redundant systems and process monitoring for exhaust air and other waste handling systems. In addition, the biocontainment areas have been designed to a standard that is similar to that applied in the nuclear industry for structural and containment building integrity in a tornado event.

DHS found that the relatively low risk observed across the various potential release events, originating locations, and pathways are reflective of the design, operational plans, and response practices that have been adopted or improved upon since the initial design and SSRA completed in 2010.

The Updated SSRA was evaluated by the National Research Council (NRC) for risk assessment methodology - specifically evaluating the methodologies, assumptions, and parameters used in the risk assessment.

NRC noted that the Updated SSRA is a substantial improvement over the previous SSRA and is built upon appropriate models, methods, and approaches for a risk assessment. Additionally, the NRC affirmed the NBAF design and recognized that the plans are sound and conform to or improve upon currently accepted biocontainment design standards.

Questions raised in the report focus on the assumptions used to capture the uncertainties of risk.  These questions will be addressed as DHS continues to assess risk as a part of its Iterative Risk Process. The NRC did not assess the operational safety of the NBAF.

DHS appreciates the work of the NRC.  The findings of this assessment will be incorporated into future plans and processes of operating the NBAF as part of the iterative risk process.  These efforts advance the planning for a safe and secure state-of-the-art biocontainment facility for study of foreign animal and zoonotic diseases that threaten the U.S. animal agriculture and public health.

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NBAF Project Timeline and Transition from Plum Island

The timeline for designing, constructing, and operating the NBAF is as follows:

NBAF Timeline 

Environmental Impact Study

Determined Suitability of the Kansas Site

Completed

Record of Decision

The Department Stated that NBAF will be Sited in Kansas

Completed

Design

Develop Detailed Design

Underway

Site Preparation

Prepare Site for Construction

Underway

Construction

Begin Construction of Central Utility Plant / Laboratory

February 2012/August 2012 *

Commissioning

Complete Facility Commissioning

July 2018 *

Facility Accreditation

Receive Select Agent Permit

February 2020 *

Facility Operational

Begin Research and Vaccine Trials

October 2020 *

* The NBAF baseline schedule is pending a Mission Need Review that will be completed by the National Research Council in 2012.

Once construction of NBAF is completed - an estimated five-year project - the current mission activities at the PIADC will begin to transition to the new facility. The transition process is expected to take approximately two years.

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Project Documentation

The Department of Homeland Security is committed to open communication and providing stakeholders with access to pertinent information and relevant documentation regarding the planning, design, construction, and operation of the NBAF.

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The Department is fully committed to providing the public access to information about the NBAF and opportunities for involvement.  Please send inquiries to the address below

NBAF Program Manager
S&T DOR STOP 0217
Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Lane, SW
Washington, DC 20528-0217
nbafprogrammanager@dhs.gov

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