Building officials of Miami-Dade County suspect deferred maintenance rather than weak building codes or an inadequate 40-year recertification process required by the county was the likely reason for the June 24 building failure in Surfside, Fla. The partial collapse of the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South residential condominium caused at least 98 fatalities.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology team has collected more than 200 building elements while refining its procedures for evidence identification.