Kansas lawmakers must not let a plan to build university research facilities be waylaid by procedural conflicts.

It really would be a shame if plans to finance major new research facilities at three state universities are derailed by disagreements over the details concerning state building requirements.

Rep. Kenny Wilk, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that there is broad support in the Legislature for funding the facilities but that many lawmakers and state officials are balking at requests to bypass some standard procedures for state projects.

The $110 million being requested would fund a biomedical research center at Kansas University, a food safety laboratory at Kansas State University and an aviation safety facility at Wichita State University. To speed the building process on these projects, the Kansas Board of Regents has asked the state to waive certain state laws dealing with disclosure and how the state negotiates for professional services. To trim the cost of the projects, the regents also hoped to bypass the standard fee of 1 percent of a project’s price tag for state architectural services.

These are not insignificant issues, and both sides have solid reasons to defend their point of view. The regents want to pursue these projects more as a private business would. To them, that means cutting some of the red tape and completing the facilities sooner. State officials point out that the regulations on state building projects are intended to protect taxpayers’ investment and ensure the quality of work done on state buildings.

Both points are valid, but hopefully, both sides will keep their eye on the prize  the prize being the research facilities that are so important to state universities and the economic vitality of the state. The details are important, but lawmakers and the regents must not lose sight of the big picture of this proposal.

Compromise will be necessary. The issue of building inspections is one example. The regents sought an exemption from state building inspections not because they didn’t want the projects to be inspected but because state inspections often aren’t done in a timely fashion, which causes unnecessary delays. This sounds like a problem that should be dealt with on all state projects, not just the research facilities. Delays in state inspections not only slow projects but raise the building costs.

Some middle ground already has been found. Officials should not give up. They must continue to work on these details and not pack in the project because of issues that are minor in comparison with the major boost these facilities would provide for research and economic development in the state.