Signatory

You are correct, the person needs to be the owner and the LO computers are smart enough to know that the engineer signed the form instead of the owner. Sit down with the owner and walk them through the whole process. Bring donuts.

On this topic of Owner signatory, what do you suggest when the Owner does not ever log into LEED Online? We are agents for most if not all of our Owners and many of them never go online at all. Our Owners aren't interested in being walked through this process, donuts or no donuts. They pay us to handle the online process for them.

We are seeing a raft of reviewer comments about the Owner not being assigned to the credit and us signing off for them, despite our executed Agent agreement form. I can only assume this is because we cannot actually assign the Owner contact to the credit when they don't go online. As far as I know, it can't be done.

We have an uploaded executed Agent form that says we are able to sign off on their behalf. If we can't assign them to the credit, how are we supposed to address this to the USGBCs satisfaction?

I literally sit them down and force them to log in and sign them. It is the only thing I find that works with the owner. Invite them to LEED Online, call them when you know they have gotten the invitation, walk them through the sign up process and then make the appointment. I show up, get them logged on (often doing it for them which is why I am on the phone when they sign up), and roll them through the credits they need to sign. It is a 20 minute process and a pain for both of us. You have to find some way to make it a fun process and easy on them. But the intent of these signatures is for the owner to engage in the process and not outsource to consultants. If the person you interact with is a 'construction' person for the owner and they pass it off to a 'facility' person, then that person may be more interested and will sign things for you. You may need to find someone else at the owner to sign the forms.

Ladies,
I appreciate the responses, and the fact that your approach to handling your Owner clients is to make them do it (in the nicest possible way of course). We are LEED consultants, and our approach is to take the burden and brain damage of dealing with the online platform off their shoulders. That's part of the value we offer.

It is actually not accurate to say that a project cannot get certified if the Owner doesn't put their initials in the box. The fact is there is a mechanism for the Owner not to have to spend their very expensive time to perform these online signoffs themselves. It's called an Agent Authorization form and is a fully executed legal document. As I understand it, the entire purpose of this Agent form is to allow a representative to execute the online issues for them.

If the position truly is that an Owner has to go online and initial things themselves or no certification is possible, why have the Agent form and this process in place?

FYI, I have just been advised by my review team that the Owner does not have to go online or be assigned to the credit. The Agent form, however, needs to be fully executed by the USGBC prior to submittal, i.e., we now need to send the signed Agent form ourselves to Legal at USGBC for their signature prior to uploading it.

Glad you got good resolution on this issue.

Be sure, that who ever you assign as the "agent" is listed as Agent. In alot of my cases, I create an architect/agent role for my project managers. They dont mind us being the agent, but you have to designate that person on the project administration tab as "agent", so when you sign the form, it states that you are acting the "agent" or " ______/agent".

Hi Kris,
You and Susan are obviously taking the time and using a good approach to explain the Owner's responsibilities to them through the signatory issues. Since we have a lot of repeat owners and developers, we find that it's more about high dollar people fussing with the computer platform and the forms and the navigation to get them to sign off than their understanding of the issues. We take that brain damage off their hands.

It's also easier for me as PM to close things out when the documentation is done rather than waiting for this sign off. I prefer not to spend my fee to chase the Owner for a formality, and they seem to appreciate our focus on getting things done.

Please note there are indications that signatories are going away in v4, though I don't know if that applies to all of them.

The agent form is available on the Registration Details tab of any project if you click from Owner to Project Team Member. You can download it and read it. Basically the liability remains on the Owner, all we are doing as Agent is executing the online functions. The Owner is still responsible for the data and claims made.

Always a pleasure to deal with a gentleman.