Design Strategies That Work for Forest Service LEED Buildings (continued)
Design Contracts
Requests for proposal and contract language should be a little different when hiring a design firm to produce a cost-effective LEED design. The language should require the design firm to:
- Include LEED-accredited professionals (LEED AP) on staff.
- Demonstrate successful completion of LEED-certified projects of similar size and scope.
- Use an integrated design process.
These factors should also be among the evaluation criteria used to determine the firm that should be awarded the design contract. It is particularly important that the architect and mechanical engineer are experienced LEED APs. Most designers need a few tries to learn the least costly and most effective methods of achieving LEED for each climate region.
Example contract language can be used to develop design contract templates that will work for each region. The Pacific Northwest Region uses language for LEED design contracts (figure 8) that includes requirements that the design firm complete LEED documentation and the certification application after construction is completed. They do not make final payment to the design firm until the certification process is complete. The region's standard contract language will be available to Forest Service and BLM employees by spring 2009 at http://fsweb.wo.fs.fed.us/eng/programs/facilities/leedspec/.
Figure 8—The Sisters Ranger District office in Sisters,
OR
(Deschutes National
Forest, Pacific Northwest Region),
is located at the eastern portal to the
Cascade Mountains
and the McKenzie Pass-Santiam Pass Scenic Byway. It was
designed
to achieve LEED Silver certification, but construction
has been delayed pending
funding.
What Contracting Officers Need To Know
For LEED projects, the design prospectus and contract should include:
- A requirement that the design will achieve
LEED Silver certification if constructed as designed.
- A list of required,
preferred, and impractical LEED points, if such a list was developed for
the project prospectus.
- A statement indicating whether the design
firm will be responsible for LEED documentation just during design or during
design and construction.
- A statement indicating whether or not the design firm's responsibilities include completing the LEED certification process after construction is completed.
Some design contracts include performance-based requirements for accomplishing LEED certification and withhold a defined percentage of the design fee until certification is accomplished. The "Whole Building Design Guide" includes the "Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers." The Section 00 10 00 (00100) Solicitation (http://www.wbdg.org/design/greenspec_msl.php?s=001000) contains language that can be used or modified for specific design requests for proposals and contracts. It suggests using incentives to assure that sustainable design goals are achieved and includes suggested wording for submittal requirements, environmental impacts, short and long-term economic impacts, and social impacts.
Integrated design for LEED buildings can be accomplished effectively using a single contract, called a design-build contract, for both the building's design and construction. Design-build contracts based on conceptual designs created by Forest Service staff have been used successfully in the Southern and Southwest regions. Forest Service engineers and architects can get copies of contract documents for this process from the regional facilities engineers of the Southern Region (currently Randy Warbington) or Southwestern Region (currently Benerito Martinez). Using design-build contracts, funds for both design and construction are obligated together, an advantage when funds must be obligated quickly. Sometimes design-build contracts can be more cost effective than separate contracts for design and construction, while in other situations separate contracts are more cost effective.
