NIST Submits Annual Report to Congress Summarizing FY 2025 NCST Investigations
Summary
NIST submitted its FY 2025 annual report to Congress under the National Construction Safety Team Act, covering investigation progress on the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida; impacts of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico in 2018; and implementation of recommendations from the Joplin tornado investigation. The Champlain Towers South investigation team has completed the majority of its technical work, including materials testing, full-scale building replica tests, and analysis to update the collapse timeline.
What changed
NIST submitted to Congress its annual NCST Act report summarizing FY 2025 activities, including the status of investigations into the 2021 Champlain Towers South partial collapse, Hurricane Maria's impacts on Puerto Rico, and follow-up on Joplin tornado recommendations. The Champlain Towers South investigation team has substantially completed its technical work, including materials testing beneath the building site, full-scale replica tests, and evidence analysis updating the collapse timeline. The NCST Advisory Committee separately submitted its December 2025 report evaluating NCST activities.\n\nFor compliance officers, this report is informational and does not create new regulatory obligations. The investigation's findings and recommendations, expected to improve building failure investigation practices industry-wide, remain pending the team's final report. Entities in the construction and building safety sector should monitor for upcoming NIST technical presentations and potential future building code recommendations.
Archived snapshot
Apr 20, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
NIST Submits Annual Report to Congress Summarizing FY 2025 Progress on National Construction Safety Team Investigations
March 19, 2026
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As part of the Champlain Towers South collapse investigation, an expert examines cracks in a steel-reinforced concrete slab after a slab-column connection test at the University of Washington. Credit: NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has submitted to Congress its annual update on activities under the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act. The report includes an overview of work completed in fiscal year 2025 on the investigation into the 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida.
The report outlines how the investigation’s team has completed the majority of its technical work, including the testing of materials beneath the building site; full-scale building replica tests; analysis of data and evidence to update the building collapse timeline; and more.
The report also provides highlights of NIST’s investigation into the impacts of 2018’s Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico, as well as actions taken to implement recommendations in the NCST Joplin tornado investigation final report to improve building safety and structural integrity.
The full report can be found on the NIST website.
Each year, the NCST Advisory Committee, which advises NIST on carrying out its investigations, also submits a report to Congress. The committee’s most recent report, which includes findings and recommendations related to its evaluation of NCST activities and an assessment of the implementation of the committee’s recommendations, was submitted to Congress in December 2025.
In the report’s summary of the investigation to date, the committee stated that the Champlain Towers South team “has conducted a thorough and comprehensive building collapse investigation.” It also stated that the committee expects that “the CTS NCST reports on its investigative methodologies will improve the state of practice for investigations of less severe, but more common building failures.” The committee also provided recommendations for the team’s final report.
The Champlain Towers South investigation team plans to provide its next technical presentation in the form of a video update in June 2026. All previous updates on the investigation can be found on the NIST website.
Buildings and Construction, Building codes and standards, Building damage and repair, Structural engineering, Materials, Concrete / cement, Resilience and Disaster and failure studies
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Champlain Towers South Collapse National Construction Safety Team Champlain Towers South Investigation Nears Completion of Technical Work
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Released March 19, 2026, Updated March 30, 2026
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