BOWIE, Md. - Crockett Facilities Services Inc. (CFSI), a provider of building operations and maintenance, mechanical contracting, and HVAC services to government and commercial clients, was recently awarded a contract by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

CFSI is providing HVAC services, along with preventive maintenance and emergency repairs, at NASA’s headquarters building in Washington, D.C. The five-year contract, which commenced April 1, has a total value of approximately $500,000.

“Mission critical - this is it! This is where all the program decisions are made,” said Mark Crockett, vice president of Crockett Facilities Services.

MISSION CRITICAL INDEED

It could be argued that NASA was one of the original “mission critical” buildings.

The facility’s systems under contract include those for all data centers and IT closets; it includes Liebert, Stulz, and Data Aire units (2-20 tons, ceiling hung). “We’re under contract to provide monthly maintenance, that’s our commitment. We have two hours to respond to any service request, 24/7/365.”

The leased building is owned by a property management company, Crockett said. “As the contractor, our employees must work under a specific level of security clearance required for employees providing maintenance of a leased system, not systems for the main building,” he explained.

The NASA contract has an added requirement for a safety plan; the contractor’s proposal also included a quality control plan. “In our debrief, NASA told us we had the best technical approach and price.

“They gave us an equipment list - we gave them a detailed maintenance schedule for that equipment, résumés, and a detailed safety plan,” Crockett said, in addition to “past performance” referrals.

The benefit of being a smaller company, he said, is that there is not a lot of bureaucracy, allowing Crockett and his team to make decisions quickly. “We’re pretty fast on our feet.”

GOVERNMENT WORK

The company has been in business 11 years. Twenty-five years ago, Crockett started his career in the Merchant Marines, then went to work for a government contractor as a building engineer. “It always seemed that I was in government contracts. Running the business is a newer challenge.”

Crockett said working with government contractors now is “like second nature.” However, when dealing with the federal procurement process, cash flow, and invoicing, “things seem to flow better if you know what you’re doing.” Large mechanical systems in federal buildings tend not to be in very good shape, he said - and there may be tens of thousands of pumps, VAV boxes, fan coils, etc.

“Since the ’70s, there’s been a movement in the federal government to bid out the maintenance services,” he said. “Most buildings I know of are run by private contracts.”

When a request for bid comes in, Crockett said, “We typically respond in a technical proposal/price proposal fashion. This spells out in detail what the client receives for their money in two ways, for the convenience of different decision makers. The contractor has “full facility contracts with some of the largest buildings in D.C.,” he continued, including a very recent contract with the State Department.

“We think it’s important to have discriminators for our company, so we don’t get lumped in with other HVAC contractors,” Crockett said. The company is an MSCA Star contractor, one of just eight in the region. CFSI has 175 employees in seven states (soon to be eight).

“Our business is people,” Crockett said. “Our clients require employee drug testing, background investigation, and U.S. citizenship (or resident alien status). In addition, we do a preliminary background investigation.”

For more information, visit www.crockett-facilities.com.

Publication date: 07/25/2011