Typically, in the private sector, commissioning is contracted directly to the owner. However, in federal and military applications, it is usually procured directly to the contractor, creating a conflict of interest. This is mitigated through government acceptance engineers and oversight of the commissioning process by the government. But in the case of the China Lake Earthquake Recovery Program, Jacobs and P2S had to help the government overcome significant challenges regarding staffing and learned some valuable lessons along the way. In this presentation, I will discuss the merits and downfalls of contractor direct commissioning, the government acceptance process, the China Lake Recovery Program itself and lessons learned from 2 years of “commissioning the commissioning”. All of this will better help the audience understand how to effectively work with the government to deliver high performance buildings.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the difference in procurement methods between the private and federal public sector for commissioning services.
2. Detail the need for commissioning process oversight by the government.
3. Describe the $2.3B China Lake Earthquake Recovery Program.
4. Identify the role of Government Acceptance Engineers and how to best work with them as a CxP.