We are working on a design-build team developing a project that will be leased to a government agency. The developer, then, is both owner and general contractor, creating confusion as to how the commissioning agent be contracted. Is the fact that GC owner as well trump the non-GC direct contracting? Or would be it preferable to contract the CxA through the architecture or engineering design firm, or even the government tenant, who developed the project requirements, if at all possible?
Thanks!
Scott Bowman
LEED FellowIntegrated Design + Energy Advisors, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
519 thumbs up
April 2, 2014 - 9:51 am
You do present a different wrinkle in this issue, that in this case the owner of the building is the developer. The owner has always been able to do the commissioning, or hire the commissioning, so my first reaction is that yes, if the developer hires the CxA, that could work. If the developer is hiring all the different members of the team, ie has separate contracts with AE and GC etc, then the CxA could even be a sub to the AE team if desired. If the developer is actually a contractor (there are many that do both), then I am not sure it matters, as they are going to owner the building a lease to the tenant.
However, this is my opinion, and I think a clear argument can be made for this position. Perhaps asking for a conference call first would be good just to make sure. They might recommend a CIR however, and that would be the final decider.