The overlap activities between CxA and CM Consultant

I do not have direct experience with your kind of delivery, but if the scope was written correctly, and the Construction Consultant was not in any way involved in the construction of the project and had prior experience doing commissioning, then they could be considered a CxA that has other more extensive responsibilities. If the consultant has any involvement in the actual construction or directing construction, then there could be an issue.

We have a similar situation in Vietnam.
We have a mixed use building of 81 stories and are having some problems convincing our client to hire a CxA.

The Project Manager is on site, coordinating and facilitating for the design team, coordinating selection of contractors and general management of the contractors on-site, but they are not a contractor.

Our client says there is an overlap of the PM's role and Commissioning works and that they are the ones who should do the Commissioning. They seem reluctant to hire another party to do the works. According to the PM, Commissioning is not in their scope, but they are also pushing the client to get a commissioning agent regardless of LEED.

We are advising the client to get an independent specialist anyway. If not, at least engage personnel from the Project Management firm who were previously not involved with the project. But technically, do you think the PM are "independent of the project’s design and construction management" as LEED requires?

First of all, I do not feel that a PM is "independent of project's design and construction management". Also, I have a hard time understanding how the owner feels there is overlap, and am guessing they are not fully understanding the difference and go back to more overall thoughts that the PM is "supposed to make sure all things are right", or the old "didn't I buy a commissioned system?" argument we have been fighting forever.

Commissioning is a quality assurance process that overlays the construction process and is not represented in any of the current roles that traditional members of the design and construction team perform. The relatively modest investment in commissioning will be returned almost immediately in reduced energy use.

Thanks Scott. That is a great and helpful answer. We will try and argue this with the client too. Another problem is, here in Vietnam they commonly have a contractor's check of the installed equipment which they call "commissioning" as well, so there is a gap of understanding.

We have been telling our client that the PM is not "independent" of the project's design and construction management. But the LEED Reference guide in table 2 for EAp1 does say that a "construction manager not holding constructor contracts" qualifies for Fundamental and Enhanced Commissioning.

I suppose that if there is a true Project Manager that does not self perform any of the work AND only manages contracts that are between the owner and various constructors, they could be seen as outside the conflicted interests that typical PMs and GCs might have in a project. That kind of PM is rare in my experience. The absolute best situation is when the CxA works directly for the Owner - my preference every time. The closer you can get to that kind of relationship, the better.