According to ASHRAE, implementation of the commissioning process outlined in the proposed guideline should result in reduced capital and life-cycle costs for facilities. The guideline will also describe the process that will verify that a facility and its systems meet the owner’s project requirements.

Once approved, the guideline will be used by the National Institute for Building Sciences as its “Total Building Commissioning Process Guideline.”

“Using this integrated process results in owners receiving the expected, including a fully functional, fine-tuned facility,” said Charles Dorgan, Ph.D., P.E., chair of the committee writing the guideline. “It ensures complete documentation of systems and assemblies and trained operating and maintenance personnel.”

Due to the integration and interdependency of systems and assemblies, a performance deficiency in one system can result in less than optimal performance by other systems, according to Dorgan.

Some objectives of the guideline include clearly documenting the owner’s project requirements, providing documentation and tools to improve the quality of deliverables, providing a uniform and effective process for delivery of construction projects, and more.

For further details on the guideline, go to www.ashrae.org (website).

Publication date: 09/02/2002