THE DMS COMMISSIONING PROCESS
An Engineer's Overview

	The Florida Department of Management Services (DMS) commissioning process paid for itself in the first year through improved building integrity alone, says DMS engineer Roy Waddell. Due to an existing project schedule, commissioning of the first Capital Circle Office Complex buildings did not begin until they were already "out-of-the ground and dried-in." Yet, in each case there was an immediate documented one-year payback for commissioning services.
	Today the savings in money and time for these new buildings are impressive: a drop in cost from an average $80.50 per sq.ft. to an average $60 per sq.ft. (even while experiencing a 4% cost escalation). Development time for prototype buildings dropped from 1,158 days to 680 days, a savings of 478 days.
	As first practiced at DMS, commissioning added about one-percent to "front end" building costs for normal office buildings. Lately, as DMS building professionals have learned to take over some of the commissioning functions, those costs have dropped. (High-performance design and commissioning for such high-tech "energy hogs" as hospitals, labs and computer centers is even more economical for the owner/operator. Front-end costs could rise to several percent, but the operating and maintenance costs are so reduced that such front-end costs are often offset in the first year.) DMS has also found that prototyping buildings has further reduced front-end costs, while continuing to raise the quality of subsequent buildings.
	Getting Started with Commissioning: the CA For people who are just beginning to use high-performance design and commissioning, the commissioning agent (CA) is the key to the operation. Waddell sees an experienced engineer who has been trained in the field and in consulting as the best CA. "Commissioning is on-going shoe-leather management," he says. "This means the CA is someone who is constantly walking the site and talking with the people who are doing the work, who is familiar with all of the building's systems, with how they interact, and how they are supposed to perform."
	DMS now brings its CA and its own commissioning experience into the process at the project's inception - even before the building is designed. The CA will stay on through construction and final testing until "the 100% point" at the end where the final documents are reviewed and the CA-trained operating staff take over the building.
	DMS hires the CA on the basis of a dollar quote for specific services the CA will perform. The three major requirements are: (1) do all of the testing for the owner and provide a building that's functional, (2) provide finished data on the performance of equipment and systems, and (3) train the operating staff and provide a complete set of documents for the maintenance system the CA sets up.
	This also provides the owner/operator with a tracking system during construction and afterwards. "If an item has been a consistent problem issue, you know it early," Waddell says. "You can either get it adjusted properly or replaced before accepting the building, or at least before the warranty expires."
	"The role of the CA does not conflict with the role of design engineers. As most people currently contract for design engineers they really don't have time to closely inspect and monitor projects day-by-day in the field - you know, 'did they seal this properly, or finish that?'"
	DMS experience illustrates the importance of having the CA work directly for the owner/operator. This gives the owner/operator informed control over the project, which is especially important to ensure the impartiality of the testing and inspections. In the private sector, only businesses that build manufacturing facilities routinely maintain such owner/operator control over commissioning. Manufacturers will commonly commission a building to operate for 72 hours at specifications without failure or they won't accept it.
	Finding experienced CAs could be a problem for Florida builders who want to begin commissioning. But Waddell says there are a number of experienced engineers who could probably become commissioning agents in short order. The key word is experienced. Waddell feels an "old hand" engineer who has both building design experience and the on-site "shoe leather" experience he mentioned could pick up all of the training necessary to become a top-notch CA in weeks - or even less.
	Lower Operating Costs: the Long-Term Key to Higher Profits Commissioning is a proven money-maker for the owner during the construction process. It ensures that materials and systems are exactly as specified. But the real payoff for the owner comes after the high-performance building is occupied. Higher productivity is a frequently claimed benefit of the High Performance Workplace, but that is often difficult to document. Not so with operations and maintenance - especially energy costs. Here there are clear, bottom-line figures that will please any owner.
	"These issues of energy efficiency didn't seem as important in the days when energy costs were five percent of a building's operating costs," Waddell says. "Today they are over 17% and an area of significant savings potential to the owner. Under the existing system of building, any off-the-street energy consultant could walk into a building that was just completed and almost automatically cut a building's energy operating costs 15% the day after it was accepted by the owner. But at that point getting those savings is an additional and unnecessary cost. At a minimum the commissioning agent allows you to catch these obviously correctable deficiencies during construction - before they become an additional cost item the owner/operator has to bear."
	"In addition to installing and balancing the proper air-conditioning and lighting through commissioning, energy costs can be cut by such new technology as variable speed pumps and individual lighting controls."
	"But there are other savings too. We have found that when we are saving this much energy we can use smaller electrical transformers and lines. Smaller chillers too. That's a savings that can be made throughout all public buildings - throughout Florida actually. One of the things we do in Florida is consistently oversize the building cooling system. What you often get there - in the worst case - is the Polk County courthouse." (A widely-publicized Florida sick building that was shut down and evacuated for refitting.) "That's one of the reasons why we need to cut the energy costs going to air-conditioning systems. Just because you're using a lot of energy does not mean that you are getting a quality environment. In fact it usually means just the opposite."
	"We set a two-watt per square foot figure as a target and beat it. Other state buildings now run from a high of up to 13.6 watts per square foot down to a low of 4.8. The average is about 5.6. We now have the capability of getting into new buildings at 1/3 of the best energy operating costs we formerly got. And we can retrofit existing state buildings with energy cost cuts of 20%."
	Cutting Costs Even Further: Employee Incentives "One key to making energy-efficiency systems work even better is incentive," Waddell says. "Agencies should be able to use some of their savings for other agency budget items. But the real key to savings is not only management, but also the people who work in the buildings. Employee incentives will make a good energy operations and maintenance (O&M) program work even better. A building that can be controlled by residents and operators can save an easy 15% of energy costs - the equivalent of the energy required to operate the building one day each week. The Legislature understands that. That's what the new $22 million energy loan program for retrofits is all about. And that starts to put the ball right back to agency management." Jim Minter, Contributing Editor
	Editor's Note: Detailed information on the DMS Energy Innovation Program will be published in an upcoming issue.