SERBCA Conference
General Services Administration
September 29, 2011
Public Buildings Service
Southeast Sunbelt Region
Total Building Commissioning
& Recommissioning
Timothy Wisner, PE, CEM, PMP
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G S A ’ S P U B L I C B U I L D I N G S S E R V I C E (P B S)
Landlord for over 400 federal agencies, bureaus & commissions
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Portfolio of 353.9 M rentable square feet
Space for over 1,000,000 tenants
8,603 owned and leased assets
30 LEED certified properties (currently, many more soon)
PBS REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
AK
Rocky Mountain
Region 8
Northwest/Arctic
Region 10
WA
Great Lakes
Region 5
Northeast &
Caribbean
Region 2
ND
MT
MI
WI
SD
OR
Heartland
Region 6
ID
WY
NE
MI
IA
NV
UT
ME
VT NH
MA
CT RI
NY
PR
IN
IL
Pacific Rim
Region 9
New
England
Region 1
OH
PA
CO
NJ
VI
MD
KS
MO
WV
Mid-Atlantic
Region 3
CA
KY
VA
DC
OK
AZ
AR
NC
TN
NM
HI
SC
MS
TX
LA
AL
National Capital
Region 11
GA
Southeast
Region 4
GU
Greater Southwest
Region 7
FL
SOUTHEAST SUNBELT REGION
• Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi and Florida
• 39,000,000 square feet of federally owned or leased office,
laboratory, warehouse, and courts space.
•
Tracked Building Inventory
130 Leased and Owned Buildings in EUAS
•
21.5-million gross square feet (GSF)
– Largest - AFC, 2.4-million GSF
– Smallest – Warehouse 1000 GSF
•
$ 28.9-million FY 09 Utility Cost
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Enough energy to power 10,831 homes annually
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
What is GSA Commissioning?
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GSA has adopted the definition of the
National Conference on Building
Commissioning (NCBC):
“Systematic process of assuring by
verification and documentation, from the
design phase to a minimum of one year
after construction, that all facility systems
perform interactively in accordance with
the design documentation and intent, and
in accordance with the owner’s
operational needs, including preparation
of operation personnel”
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
What is GSA’s Policy on Commissioning?
PBS DIRECTIVE FOR ASSISTANT REGIONAL
ADMINISTRATORS, PBS DIRECTORS,
PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORS,
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
FROM: F. JOSEPH MORAVEC, COMMISSIONER
SUBJECT: Release of The Building
Commissioning Guide
Summary. Each Prospectus level project team whether on new construction, major repair and
alteration, or modernization -shall use “Total
Building Commissioning” practices beginning with
the project planning phase, and concluding at one
year after tenant occupancy.
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
Our Definitive Source Document
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
Old School Commissioning:
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HVAC Systems and Equipment
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Startup, Testing, and Turnover
Total Building Commissioning
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Defines all project performance goals (Programming)
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Proactively supports project goals during design (QA)
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Validates performance in construction (QC)
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Revisits performance goals after tenant occupancy (POE)
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COMMISSIONED BUILDING SYSTEMS
HVAC systems
Plumbing
Building Management System
Power Distribution
Emergency Power
Security
Lighting and Lighting Controls
Domestic Hot Water
Fire Alarm/life safety systems
Vertical Transportation
Building Envelope systems
•curtain wall assemblies
•roofing,
•windows doors
•construction joints,
•etc.
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
Why Does GSA Commission?
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Design Excellence buildings are complex
Our tenants include judges, congresspeople, heads of
federal agencies, and others who we would rather not
disappoint
In all buildings, O&M and utility costs are closely linked to
FFO
In all buildings, tenant labor costs far exceed rent, O&M,
and utilities, so productivity is crucial for tenant satisfaction
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Why GSA Total Building Commissions - Really
Sam M Gibbons US Courthouse, Tampa, FL
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Built late 1990’s, $ 85 million, 240,000 sq. ft. 17-story, high
rise
2001, building was suspect of having “sick building
syndrome” as employees complained of dizziness,
headaches, and itchy eyes.
The building suffered from significant water intrusion
through multiple facade systems
Extensive investigation of existing facade systems to
document conditions and to identify water infiltration
sources
Design of remedial repairs for multiple types of facade
systems including curtainwall, punch windows, metal
panels, louvers, sealants, roofing systems , davits and
tiebacks for the building
Cost in for repairs and testing $ 20 million
Why GSA Total Building Commissions - Really
Willkie D. Ferguson Jr. Courthouse Miami, FL
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Started Construction 2002 with 3-year timeline and $ 100
million budget
Opened 2007 wit $ 69 million increased costs thanks to water
leaks, faulty equipment, and subcontractor lawsuits
Still, after acceptance GSA has had to pay an additional $ 4
million in repairs
WILKIE D. FERGUSON JR. COURTHOUSE
POST OCCUPANCY CLAIMS
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SDV Services Busway repairs and inspections
Siemens Emergency Bus Duct Replacements
Universal HVAC Repairs completed (Floors 6-9)
Universal HVAC Repairs – planned (Floors 10-14)
Teng Commissioning Report of HVAC deficiencies
Reprogramming of HVAC systems
AHU programming pilot
Carpet Replacements
Missing Infrastructure
MCS Claim Settlement
Water Feature repairs
Chiller Piping
Waterproofing exterior limestone columns
Emergency generator exhaust repairs
Roofing repairs
Short Circuit Breaker replacements
$63,100
$52,441.06
$360,100.00
$457,788.00
$320,014.16
$257,856.00
$15,000
$336,657.17
$116,500.00
$210,000.00
$255,318.00
$200,000.00
$135,000.00
$200,000.00
$369,062.00
$319,000.00
WILKIE D. FERGUSON JR. COURTHOUSE
POST OCCUPANCY CLAIMS (continued)
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Noise in Courtrooms at Judge’s bench
DERM UST SAR Reports & Tests-RJA Inspections
Tower Building Sallyport
Chiller cleaning
Guards
Chiller plant leaks design
Control loops Parking area
Correct leak at generator exhaust
Elevator code deficiencies
Sanitary sewer clean-outs
Repair Sallyport wall due to bus duct explosion
UPS Battery tests and re-certifications
UPS Repair
Limit switch for gate arm
MC cable credit
$130,000.00
$30,000.00
$6,814.13
$102,000.00
$26,963.52
$38,976.00
$7,372.00
$53,451.87
$16,000.00
$21,665.00
$2,504.00
$6,184.00
$11,100.00
$12,451.78
$3,465.00
$70,278.00
GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
Wilkie Ferguson Courthouse Energy Use Aug 2010
to July 2011
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
KWH
2010
2011
600000
Projected Use
400000
200000
0
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
What is GSA Recommissioning?
According to the GSA Building Commissioning Guide,
Recommissioning shall generally include:
• Establishing that original basis of design and operation is still
appropriate for use, occupancy, tenant agencies and GSA
goals, and modify the operations/controls sequencing as
appropriate for optimum operations
• Reviewing and benchmarking key systems
operations/performance against the Basis of Design
• Evaluating envelope tightness/pressurization by infrared or
other methods
• Performing energy analysis
• Recommending repairs/modifications to optimize building
performance
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
Why Recommission?
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Buildings are a moving target
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Space usage changes
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Equipment changes
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Systems change
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Original design intent is usually no
longer completely valid
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
Why Recommission?
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O & M is imperfect
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Inadequate budgets
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Training Incomplete or erroneous
understanding of design intent and how to
run the systems
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Incomplete documentation on building
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Retrofits, and no single plan of how to run
the systems as modified
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Systems are too complex for operators
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
EISA Sec 432 Evaluation Compliance Plan
EISA Sec 432 requires Federal Agencies complete Evaluations to
include an energy and water evaluations and commissioning
assessment for all of their covered facilities every four years.
Covered Facilities are a subset of an agency’s inventory that
makes up 75% of its total energy consumption.
GSA’s covered facilities are comprised of 198 Facilities across the
11 regions.
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AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT (ARRA)
• $100 Million for “Building Tune-ups”
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ARRA Recommissioning/Tune-up
• Building Tune-up includes
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First, Fix all obvious Controls Problems
Recommission
Add Advanced Metering
Implement Energy Conservation Measures
Improve building O & M
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ARRA Recommissioning/Tune-up
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Over 180 Buildings for Building Tune-up
Lots in every Region
Selected by highest Energy Intensity
Tune-up has High Return per Dollar Spent
Uniform Building Data
Collection/Confirmation
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ARRA Recommissioning/Tune-up
• Justification for Small Project ECMs
– Mostly, highest ROI wins
– $300 Million in ARRA Small Projects
funding
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
What are our resources?
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Sample Scopes of Work for Commissioning
for
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Design-Bid-Build
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CMc
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Design-Bridge-Build
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Design-Build
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GSA Commissioning & Recommissioning
Summary
Get a copy of “The Building Commissioning
Guide”
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Log on to www.gsa.gov/commissioning
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Log on to www.wbdg.org/commissioning
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SERBCA Conference
Q&A
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