Why hire a Commissioning Provider?
A well-qualified Commissioning Provider brings to a project a depth of troubleshooting and problem solving experience gained from years of work on other, similar projects. Even if the building has an expert in-house building staff, an outside expert can provide a new perspective and help introduce new ideas because he or she has a low investment in doing things the "old way." Commissioning Providers also bring the diagnostic monitoring, testing and analysis expertise needed to uncover hidden problems and select the most cost-effective solutions.

Important questions
When looking for quality Commissioning Providers one should ask the following questions:

• Is commissioning the firm's core business or a primary business component?
• Are final reports and other commissioning documents available for review?
• Does the firm have a list of references for recent commissioning projects?
• Does the skill set of the Commissioning Provider or firm match the objectives and scope of the project?

The selection process
Selecting a Commissioning Provider for a project depends on the needs, complexity, and size of the project. If the project is fairly simple or small, the organization may select the most appropriate consultant for the project without going through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. However if necessary, an RFP process may be used.

As part of the selection process, the organization should provide a list of expected products or deliverables resulting from the project. The number of deliverables depends on the scope of the project.

Possible deliverables in a new construction commissioning project include:

• Progress reports and meeting minutes
• Commissioning plan, including a commissioning schedule
• Updates to the owner's project requirements, basis of design and design
• narrative documents
• Design review issues log and related memoranda
• Commissioning specifications for inclusion in the bid documents
• Reports of submittal reviews
• Construction observation issues log and related memoranda
• Blank construction checklists and functional test forms
• Construction phase (testing) issues log and related memoranda
• Completed construction checklists
• Completed functional test forms, including the results of diagnostic monitoring and trending
• Report of training completion
• Report of O&M manual review
• Systems/recommissioning manual (if applicable)
• An "as operated" sequence of operations (developed either by the commissioning provider or the controls contractor)
• Finalized issues log. The issues log usually lists findings from the entire testing process and their resolution.
• Summary report from seasonal testing
• Warranty review of each system
• Final Report (including an Executive Summary combined with most of the above deliverables)

Possible deliverables in an existing building commissioning project include most of the above, plus:

• Master list of findings and potential improvements (decision making tool)
• Results of diagnostic monitoring and trending
• List of recommended capital improvements for further consideration
• Final energy saving estimates and calculations
• Service contract review recommendations
• Recommissioning schedule
• Updated/revised building documentation

If the project is large or complicated, a pre-bid meeting including a site visit may be necessary. This allows the Commissioning Providers who choose to bid on the project a chance to see the facility and ask critical questions about the project. It also tends to "level the playing field" so that each party has the same information when developing their bids.

Download this page in Acrobat PDF format.