ASHRAE Journal - June 2020 - 26

TECHNICAL FEATURE

commissioning meeting with the commissioning
team and issues the precommissioning checklists with
instructions for the contractor to execute and return
these to the commissioning team before any functional
performance tests (FPT) can begin. This is also the time
to update the commissioning team on any recent news
or changes in schedule or scope.
In some cases, the contractor may not return all the
precommissioning checklists or start-up documentation
in a timely fashion. If this happens, to meet the project
completion schedule should the functional performance
tests (FPTs) begin? Performing checklist items/start-ups
and FPTs in parallel may result in more multiple failures
and deficiencies than if a modified schedule was not
needed.
The owner may have required or changing completion dates that must be adhered to, so to get a temporary or final certificate of occupancy (TCO or CO), the
preliminary commissioning report must be completed
in cooperation with the owner's time frame. Our
Florida code mandates that all documents required
during the commissioning process will be provided to
the owner within 90 days of the receipt of the certificate of occupancy.

Process, Costs and Protections

One important niche part of construction commissioning is the functional performance testing (FPT)
of the major mechanical equipment, assemblies and
building automation systems (BAS)/control systems.
In single, campus or large groups of buildings (such
as schools, local/state/federal government buildings,
universities, large corporate portfolios, etc., where
some specific mechanical-electrical equipment or the
BAS/controls are a sole-sourced commodity), commissioning costs can be affected negatively (be more
expensive to perform for CxA/CxPs) unless owners
make sure their sole-source vendors/controls contractors follow the rules of the contracts and specifications and cooperate fully with the commissioning
team members.
Commissioning or contract specifications should
include wording to require written confirmation by the
supervising contractor that precommissioning checklists/start-up reports are completed by their subordinate
before functional performance testing begins. Language
in contracts and specifications should be written to

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ASHRAE JOURNAL

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J U N E 2020

protect the CxA/CxP from additional costs incurred due
to deficiencies, failures and retesting, such as:
* If a functional performance test fails, corrections
will be made to the deficient equipment or systems by
the contractor, subcontractor or vendor responsible in a
timely fashion and at no cost to the owner. The systems
will be retested until they pass all the parameters of the
functional performance tests.
* Extra travel costs, labor time and any additional
costs for the CxA/CxP to perform any retesting required
because of improper setup of the systems by the contractors or failed functional or performance tests will
be back-charged to the contractor (or primary holder of
the contract with the owner). The contractor or primary
contract holder may choose to recover costs from the
other party(s) responsible.
* Any required retesting by any contractor, subcontractor or vendor shall not be considered a justified
reason for a claim of delay or for a time extension by the
contractor.

Cost Metrics

One model for costs for design and construction commissioning can be primarily based on the amount of
equipment that needs to be supervised, inspected,
reviewed or functionally performance tested. The cost
percent breakdowns can be estimated to be:
* 35%: Administrative and Bureaucratic: mobilization, insurance requirements, owner's project requirements/current facility requirements review, predesign
reviews, review of developing plans/specifications,
design reviews, construction submittal reviews, creation
of test protocols, reports of sart-up and maintenance nd
operation documents, training agendas, production of
reports (print or electronic), etc..
* 65%: Site observations, site visits, issues and resolutions log; travel; lodging; and on-site functional performance testing.
As you can see using the above methodology, the onsite work and testing are most of the cost.
Numerous studies have been performed on cost/benefit commissioning trends, but one recent study that
presented both new and existing buildings was performed by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and
the Building Commissioning Association (BCx)1 in 2018.
It summarizes new building commissioning costs at a
median price of $0.82/ft2 ($8.83/m2) or 0.25% of overall
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