Background: The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland is comprised of 3 new buildings within an existing campus setting. The new buildings consist of Building A, the Ambulatory Care Pavilion, Building B, the Inpatient Addition, and the new Structured Patient Parking Garage. The Owner of the project has selected a design-build project delivery. The Owner\'s direct representative, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), has contracted with a Design Build Joint Venture (DBJV) to deliver this project. The DBJV will hold the only contract with the Owner and will hire the design team, consultants, as well as the subcontractors. Goetting & Associates (G&A) has been selected as the project Commissioning Agent and will be contracted directly to the DBJV as a first tier independent contractor / consultant. In order to qualify for the Enhanced Commissioning Credit EAc3, the Commissioning Agent must be an independent third party. Although G&A is contracted directly to the DBJV, there are provisions in the project specifications to ensure the commissioning agent acts as an unbiased and independent third party. The following points summarize the Owner\'s requirements as they pertain to the commissioning agent: 1. Goetting & Associates Consulting Engineers is a registered Texas Corporation and does not have business connections with any other party on the project. 2. G&A is a disinterested party and does not have any other roles or responsibilities whether implied or contracted outside of the specification sections 01 04 00 & 17 10 00 pertaining to commissioning. 3. The language in the specifications clearly directs G&A to have unfettered access to the Owner through the Contracting Officer by specifying communication and reporting protocols. The specific language includes the verbiage "The CA will report directly to the Contracting Officer". A precedent credit interpretation ruling dated 10/9/2006 states that a "disinterested subcontractor is acceptable as Commissioning Agent for EAc3. \'Disinterested\' means that this entity has no additional role in the project and is allowed unfettered communication with the project owner." Goetting and Associates clearly fits this definition, and therefore should be allowed to fulfill the credit requirement of designating an independent commissioning agent. Request: Please consider allowing Goetting & Associates to act as the project\'s independent Commissioning Agent for the purposes of achieving EA Credit 3 - Enhanced Commissioning.