CIR ruling dated 10/26/01 indicates "the intent of the credit is that \'The Additional Commissioning Credit ensures peer review through independent, third party verification. There are some provisionary requirements that must be executed by a non-design firm.\'" CIR dated 12/11/2001 asks, "Is the intent of the credit met if the Commissioning Authority is an independent consultant hired by the architect/designer?" CIR ruling dated 12/11/2001 answers "Yes" to this question. CIR dated 2/7/2005 indicates "If the LEED consultant firm is hired by the owner independently of the design team and not responsible for project design or construction management or supervision, it would not be considered part of the design team. It therefore could act as an independent third-party Commissioning Agent." Is the intent of the credit met if additional commissioning is performed by the LEED consultant firm and that firm is hired by the architect/designer? In this case, the LEED consultant provides miscellaneous LEED calculations such as determining the quantity of bike storage required, determining water use reduction based on fixtures specified by the plumbing designer, creating an energy model per drawings and specifications created by the architect and engineers. The LEED consultant is a separate firm, is not signing and sealing any documents and is not producing any drawings or specifications (except for commissioning specification 01810). The architect and engineers are ultimately responsible for making design decisions, i.e. if they don\'t want to incorporate the LEED required quantity of bike racks or water efficient plumbing fixtures, they will not. Does this qualify the LEED consultant as a non-design firm per the 10/26/01 CIR ruling? Whether the LEED consultant is hired by the owner or architect, their scope would be the same, so why does it matter if they are hired by the owner per the 2/7/2005 CIR ruling or hired by the architect, which the 12/11/2005 ruling already allows for the additional commissioning agent? Please also note we believe we have as much impact on the design as a commissioning agent than as a LEED consultant. Assisting the owner to create their project requirements and reviewing and commenting on the engineer\'s basis of design and drawings as required by the USGBC ultimately can change the design significantly. For example, a commissioning comment on maintainability could cause a piece of equipment to be moved to a different location, a commissioning agent comment on commissioning facilitation could cause valves, PT ports, etc. to be added into a design. This guides the design as much as any input from a LEED consultant perspective.