Total Building Commissioning
Remake batch 26: rewritten from scratch under the authoring cheatsheet with datasheet constraints; neighbors re-pointed to the new scope boundaries; the electrical code is now the adopted-electrical-code project fact
Showing changes from Rev 3
to Rev 4
in Total Building Commissioning.
---
title: Total Building Commissioning
category: Mechanical / Controls & Testing
−toc_depth: 3
description: >
− When to use: Total building commissioning (TBCx) on new construction and major
− renovation of commercial, institutional, and multi-use buildings, covering the full
− Pre-Design, Design, Construction, and Occupancy commissioning lifecycle per ASHRAE
− Guideline 0 and ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202 - the Owner's Project Requirements (OPR) and
− Basis of Design (BOD), commissioning plan, installation and startup verification,
− functional performance testing, deferred and seasonal testing, and the final
− commissioning report. Applies to Fundamental, LEED Enhanced, and Total Building
− scope tiers, and is triggered by 2021 IECC C408, ASHRAE 90.1 Section 8.7, and LEED
− v4/v4.1 EAp1/EAc1.
− Not intended for: TAB field measurement (sync/testing-adjusting-and-balancing);
− BAS sequence programming and point-to-point checkout (sync/building-automation-system);
− VFD parameter setup and drive startup (sync/hvac-variable-frequency-drives);
− controls integration and sequence-of-operations development (sync/control-systems-integration);
− electrical acceptance testing such as relay coordination and hi-pot ([[sync/electrical-acceptance-testing]]);
− structured cabling certification (sync/structured-cabling); piping pressure and
− hydrostatic tests (sync/hvac-piping-valves, sync/plumbing-piping-valves); seismic
− restraint inspection (sync/hangers-and-supports); and surveillance camera
− acceptance (sync/video-surveillance-systems).
+ When to use: The commissioning process for the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, life-safety, enclosure, and specialty systems of a new building or a major renovation, run under ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202 and ASHRAE Guideline 0, with ASHRAE Guideline 1.1 for the HVAC&R systems and the commissioning requirements of the adopted energy code where they apply. Covers the commissioning authority, its qualifications, its engagement and its independence, the Owner's Project Requirements and the Basis of Design and their review, the commissioning plan, the design-phase reviews and the review of submittals for commissioned systems, the construction checklists, the format and conduct of functional performance tests, the integrated systems test and the integrated testing agent where NFPA 4 applies, the issues log, the seasonal and deferred tests, the verification of operator training, the systems manual, the progress and final commissioning reports and their formats, the warranty-period review, and monitoring-based commissioning where it is included. Carries the decision of which system families are commissioned, and admits building enclosure commissioning under ASTM E2813 as one of them.
+
+ Not intended for: What each system is required to do under test, which its equipment standard states; testing, adjusting, and balancing ([[sync/testing-adjusting-and-balancing]]); the field acceptance tests of electrical distribution equipment and the release of that equipment for energization ([[sync/electrical-acceptance-testing]]); the certification testing of the structured cabling plant ([[sync/structured-cabling]]); the programming, point-to-point verification, and trend configuration of the building automation system and the sequences of operation it executes ([[sync/building-automation-system]]); the loop checks and the factory and site acceptance tests of a plant control system ([[sync/control-systems-integration]]); the functional testing of lighting controls, which the adopted energy code assigns and [[sync/lighting-controls]] carries; the NFPA 92 acceptance test of a smoke control system ([[sync/smoke-control-systems]]) and the NFPA 110 integrated acceptance test of the emergency power system ([[sync/emergency-and-standby-power]]), both of which this standard schedules and witnesses rather than restates; the cleaning, flushing, and passivation of hydronic systems ([[sync/hydronic-cleaning-and-flushing]]); the whole-building air leakage test method, target, and testing agency ([[sync/air-barriers]]); the preparation, organization, and delivery of the operation and maintenance manuals ([[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]]); the delivery, duration, and recording of operator training ([[sync/closeout-procedures]]); the substantial completion inspection, the punch list, and final payment ([[sync/closeout-procedures]]); the Contractor's quality control program and the independent testing agency ([[sync/quality-requirements]]); the submittal register and review workflow ([[sync/submittal-and-quality-procedures]]); the form, execution, and claim procedure of warranties ([[sync/warranties-and-bonds]]); and the commissioning of existing buildings under ASHRAE Guideline 0.2, which no SynC standard owns.
---
# Scope {toc}
−## This Standard defines the commissioning process for the Work, including the roles, deliverables, verification activities, and acceptance criteria required to confirm that building systems are installed, started, and perform in accordance with the Owner's Project Requirements.
+## This standard governs the commissioning process: the party that runs it, the documents it is judged against, the plan that organizes it, the reviews, checklists, and tests that make up its verification, the log that tracks what the verification finds, the training and the systems manual that hand the building to its operators, the reports that record all of it, and the activities that continue through the first year of occupancy. {note}
−### Commissioning is a quality-focused process, not a single test event. It begins in pre-design with the Owner's Project Requirements and continues through design review, installation verification, functional performance testing, and post-occupancy operation. The commissioning authority is an advocate for the Owner's interests across all four phases, independent of the parties whose work is being verified. {note}
+## Every system on a project is started by its installer and tested under its own standard, and each of those tests proves one system in isolation on the day it is run. Commissioning is the process that proves the building as a whole does what the Owner asked for: that the sequences the design team wrote are the sequences the controls execute, that the interlocks between systems act when they are called on, that the building performs in the season it was not finished in, and that the people who will run it have been taught how. It is a process that runs from the first statement of the Owner's requirements to the end of the first year of operation, not a test event at the end of construction. {note}
−### The commissioning authority (CxA) shall execute and document the commissioning process defined in this Standard for all systems listed in the commissioning scope.
+## The equipment standards and this standard divide the work in one way throughout the corpus. The equipment standard for a boiler, a rooftop unit, a transfer switch, or a water heater states the startup and the field tests its equipment receives and the performance it demonstrates under them. This standard governs the process around those tests: the party that plans and witnesses them, the checklists that precede them, the functional performance test of the integrated operation that follows them, the log that records their deficiencies, and the report that compiles them. A test an equipment standard requires is performed under that standard and received here as an input; the functional performance test of the system's operation against its sequence of operation is performed under this standard. {note}
−### The Contractor and each subcontractor whose work is within the commissioning scope shall support the commissioning process, including completing pre-functional checklists, demonstrating system readiness, and participating in functional performance testing.
+## The following are governed elsewhere and are outside this standard: {note}
−### The terms "commissioning authority," "commissioning agent," and "commissioning provider" are used interchangeably across the referenced standards. This Standard uses "commissioning authority (CxA)" exclusively; any of these terms appearing in other Contract Documents shall be read to mean the CxA as defined here.
+- the startup, the field tests, and the performance each system demonstrates under them, under its equipment standard, including the commissioning activities each equipment standard names as the subject of this standard
+- testing, adjusting, and balancing, under [[sync/testing-adjusting-and-balancing]]; the balancing report is received here as an input
+- the field acceptance tests of electrical distribution equipment, the criteria they are judged against, and the release of each item for energization, under [[sync/electrical-acceptance-testing]]
+- the certification testing of the structured cabling plant, under [[sync/structured-cabling]]; the certification reports are received here as inputs
+- the programming of the building automation system, its point-to-point verification, its trend configuration, and the sequences of operation it executes, under [[sync/building-automation-system]]
+- the control narratives, the loop checks, and the factory and site acceptance tests of a plant control system, under [[sync/control-systems-integration]]
+- the functional testing of the lighting control system, which the adopted energy code assigns to a party and which [[sync/lighting-controls]] carries
+- the NFPA 92 acceptance test of a smoke control system, under [[sync/smoke-control-systems]], and the NFPA 110 integrated acceptance test of the emergency and standby power system, under [[sync/emergency-and-standby-power]]
+- the cleaning, flushing, and passivation of hydronic systems, under [[sync/hydronic-cleaning-and-flushing]], and the ongoing water treatment program, under [[sync/hvac-water-treatment]]
+- the whole-building air leakage test, its method, its target, and the agency that performs it, under [[sync/air-barriers]]
+- the preparation, organization, and delivery of the operation and maintenance manuals, under [[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]]
+- the delivery, duration, notice, and recording of operator training, under [[sync/closeout-procedures]]
+- the substantial completion inspection, the punch list, the certificate of occupancy, and final payment, under [[sync/closeout-procedures]]
+- the Contractor's quality control program and the independent testing and inspection agency, under [[sync/quality-requirements]]
+- the submittal register and the review workflow, under [[sync/submittal-and-quality-procedures]]
+- the form, execution, and claim procedure of warranties, under [[sync/warranties-and-bonds]]
+- the commissioning of an existing building and its systems under ASHRAE Guideline 0.2, which no SynC standard owns
−## Commissioning scope tier
+## The commissioning process under this standard shall apply to every system within a system family selected in the datasheet, on new construction and on the systems a renovation installs, replaces, or extends.
−### The commissioning scope tier establishes which systems are commissioned and to what depth. Fundamental commissioning is the energy-code minimum; LEED Enhanced and Total Building extend the scope to additional systems and add design-phase and post-occupancy obligations. Select the tier that satisfies the applicable code and certification requirements; when in doubt, the more comprehensive tier governs.
+## The terms commissioning agent, commissioning provider, and commissioning authority name the same party in the referenced standards and in the contract documents of different Owners. This standard uses commissioning authority, abbreviated CxA, throughout, and any of the other terms appearing in the contract documents names the CxA defined here. {note}
−```datasheet
−label: Commissioning scope tier
−type: radio
−options:
− - Fundamental (IECC C408 / ASHRAE 90.1 Section 8.7 minimum - HVAC&R and lighting controls)
− - LEED Enhanced (adds building enclosure, lighting, domestic hot water, renewable energy; 10-month review)
− - Total Building (all MEP, enclosure, fire/life-safety, specialty systems)
−default: LEED Enhanced (adds building enclosure, lighting, domestic hot water, renewable energy; 10-month review)
−```
−
−### Fundamental commissioning covers only the systems mandated by the energy code: mechanical HVAC&R systems above the code thresholds and the lighting controls that serve them. It does not include the building enclosure, normal-power electrical distribution, or specialty systems. {note}
−
−### LEED Enhanced commissioning extends Fundamental scope to the building enclosure, interior and exterior lighting and lighting controls, domestic hot water, and renewable energy systems, and adds CxA review of design documents, Contractor submittals, and operation and maintenance manuals, plus a post-occupancy review. {note}
−
−### Total Building commissioning includes all mechanical, electrical, plumbing, enclosure, fire and life-safety, information technology, audiovisual, and vertical-transportation systems, and is typical for healthcare, laboratory, data-center, and federal projects. {note}
−
−## Systems commissioned
−
−### The systems to be commissioned shall be those selected below, together with any system specifically identified as commissioned in its governing specification section.
−
−```datasheet
−label: Systems within commissioning scope
−type: checkbox
−options:
− - HVAC&R equipment and distribution
− - Building automation and control systems
− - Lighting and lighting controls
− - Domestic hot water and plumbing
− - Building enclosure (air barrier, fenestration, thermal)
− - Fire alarm and smoke control
− - Emergency and standby power
− - Renewable energy systems
− - Service water heating and heat recovery
− - Vertical transportation
−```
−
−## Excluded scope
−
−### Testing, adjusting, and balancing field measurement is performed under [[sync/testing-adjusting-and-balancing]]; the commissioning authority receives the TAB report as a verified input to functional performance testing but does not perform balancing. {note}
−
−### Building automation sequence-of-operations programming and point-to-point checkout are performed under [[sync/building-automation-system]] and [[sync/control-systems-integration]]; the CxA verifies that sequences are implemented correctly but does not write them. {note}
−
−### Variable-frequency-drive parameter configuration and drive-level startup are performed under [[sync/hvac-variable-frequency-drives]]; the CxA tests VFDs only as components within integrated system functional testing. {note}
−
−### Electrical acceptance testing - relay coordination, breaker trip-curve verification, and switchgear hi-pot - is performed under [[sync/electrical-acceptance-testing]]; structured cabling certification is performed under [[sync/structured-cabling]]. The CxA receives these reports as inputs but does not perform the tests. {note}
−
# Referenced Standards {toc}
−## Equipment, materials, and process activities shall comply with the latest adopted edition of each of the following unless a specific edition is cited.
+## The commissioning process shall comply with the latest adopted edition of each of the following unless a specific edition is cited.
−## Where referenced standards conflict, the more stringent requirement shall govern unless the Engineer of Record directs otherwise in writing.
+## Where the contract documents, [[parameter: adopted-energy-code]], a certification program the Owner has elected, or two referenced standards impose conflicting requirements on the commissioning process, the more stringent requirement shall govern unless the Engineer of Record directs otherwise in writing.
−### Where a referenced document is an ASHRAE Guideline (advisory) rather than a Standard, the corresponding enforceable acceptance criteria derive from the cited ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard listed in the table below. {note}
+## ASHRAE Guideline 0 and ASHRAE Guideline 1.1 are guidelines, and ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202 is the standard that states the same process in enforceable terms. Where this standard cites a guideline, it does so for the procedure and the document formats the guideline describes; the requirements a project is held to are those of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202 and of this standard. {note}
| Standard | Title |
|----------|-------|
−| ASHRAE Guideline 0-2019 | The Commissioning Process |
−| ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202-2024 | Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems |
−| ASHRAE Guideline 1.1-2025 | HVAC&R Technical Requirements for the Commissioning Process |
−| ASHRAE Guideline 0.2-2023 | Commissioning Process for Existing Buildings and Systems |
−| ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2022 | Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential (Section 8.7) |
−| IECC 2021 | International Energy Conservation Code, Commercial Provisions (Section C408) |
−| NEBB | Whole Building Technical Commissioning of New Construction |
−| USGBC LEED v4.1 BD+C | Fundamental and Enhanced Commissioning (EAp1 / EAc1) |
−| ANSI/SMACNA 014 | HVAC Systems - Testing, Adjusting and Balancing |
−| NFPA 72-2022 | National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code |
+| ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202 | Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems |
+| ASHRAE Guideline 0 | The Commissioning Process |
+| ASHRAE Guideline 1.1 | HVAC&R Technical Requirements for the Commissioning Process |
+| ASHRAE Guideline 1.3 | Building Operations and Maintenance Training for the HVAC&R Commissioning Process |
+| ASHRAE Guideline 1.4 | Procedures for Preparing Facility Systems Manuals |
+| ASHRAE Guideline 1.5 | The Commissioning Process for Smoke Control Systems |
+| ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1 | Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (Section 4.2.5) |
+| IECC | International Energy Conservation Code, Commercial Provisions (Section C408) |
+| ASTM E2813 | Standard Practice for Building Enclosure Commissioning |
+| ASTM E2947 | Standard Guide for Building Enclosure Commissioning |
+| NFPA 3 | Standard for Commissioning of Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems |
+| NFPA 4 | Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Testing |
+| NFPA 70 | National Electrical Code |
+| NFPA 72 | National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code |
+| NFPA 110 | Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems |
+| ANSI/ASHRAE 135 | BACnet, A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks |
# Submittals {toc}
−## Action Submittals
+## Action Submittals {toc}
−### The CxA shall submit the following for review and acceptance before the associated commissioning activity proceeds:
+### The CxA shall submit the following for review and return before the commissioning activity each one governs begins:
−- Owner's Project Requirements (OPR) document, or CxA review comments on the Owner-furnished OPR
−- Commissioning plan, with system list, roles matrix, and schedule
−- Design-phase commissioning review comments, including Basis of Design (BOD) review
−- Pre-functional checklist (PFC) templates for each system type
−- Functional performance test (FPT) scripts for each system type
−- Integrated systems test (IST) procedures and scenario list
−- Commissioning meeting agendas and minutes
+- the commissioning plan, at each issue the datasheet under Commissioning Plan requires
+- the Owner's Project Requirements, where the CxA prepares it, or the CxA's review comments on the Owner's Project Requirements where the Owner or the design team prepares it
+- the review comments on the Basis of Design at each design milestone the review is performed
+- the design review comments at each milestone the datasheet under Design-Phase Reviews requires, where enhanced commissioning is selected
+- a construction checklist template for each type of equipment and each system within the commissioning scope
+- a functional performance test procedure for each system within the commissioning scope, in the format this standard requires
+- the integrated systems test procedure, naming each scenario, the systems that take part, and the party that initiates each event
+- the seasonal and deferred test list, naming each test, the condition it waits for, and the window in which it is performed
+- the training verification plan, stating which sessions the CxA attends and which records it reviews
```datasheet
−label: CxA action submittals
+label: Action Submittals
type: checkbox
options:
− - Owner's Project Requirements (OPR) or review comments
− - Commissioning plan
− - Design-phase review comments (incl. BOD review)
− - Pre-functional checklist templates
− - Functional performance test scripts
− - Integrated systems test procedures
− - Meeting agendas and minutes
+ - "Commissioning plan at each required issue"
+ - "Owner's Project Requirements or review comments on it"
+ - "Basis of Design review comments"
+ - "Design review comments at each required milestone"
+ - "Construction checklist templates"
+ - "Functional performance test procedures"
+ - "Integrated systems test procedure"
+ - "Seasonal and deferred test list"
+ - "Training verification plan"
default:
− - Commissioning plan
− - Pre-functional checklist templates
− - Functional performance test scripts
+ - "Commissioning plan at each required issue"
+ - "Owner's Project Requirements or review comments on it"
+ - "Basis of Design review comments"
+ - "Construction checklist templates"
+ - "Functional performance test procedures"
+ - "Integrated systems test procedure"
+ - "Seasonal and deferred test list"
+ - "Training verification plan"
+constraint: all_of
```
−### The Contractor shall submit the following in support of commissioning before functional performance testing of the associated system begins:
+### No functional performance test shall be performed before the procedure covering it has been reviewed and returned.
−- Completed and signed pre-functional checklists for each system
−- Equipment startup reports from manufacturers' representatives
−- Testing, adjusting, and balancing (TAB) report, certified complete
−- Building automation system point-to-point checkout records
−- Manufacturer training plans and schedules
+### The Contractor shall submit the following in support of the commissioning process before functional performance testing of the system each one concerns begins:
+- the completed and signed construction checklist for each item of equipment and each system
+- the manufacturer's or installer's startup report for each item of equipment, as its equipment standard requires
+- the test reports each system's own standard requires, including the balancing report under [[sync/testing-adjusting-and-balancing]], the electrical acceptance test report and the energization release under [[sync/electrical-acceptance-testing]], the cabling certification reports under [[sync/structured-cabling]], and the cleaning, flushing, and passivation report under [[sync/hydronic-cleaning-and-flushing]]
+- the point-to-point verification record and the trend configuration of the building automation system under [[sync/building-automation-system]]
+- the reviewed sequences of operation and the controls operation and maintenance data the functional performance test depends on, approved under [[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]]
+- the training plan and schedule for each commissioned system, prepared under [[sync/closeout-procedures]]
+
```datasheet
−label: Contractor commissioning-support submittals
+label: Contractor Submittals Supporting Commissioning
type: checkbox
options:
− - Completed pre-functional checklists
− - Equipment startup reports
− - Certified TAB report
− - BAS point-to-point checkout records
− - Training plans and schedules
+ - "Completed and signed construction checklists"
+ - "Equipment startup reports"
+ - "Test reports required under each system's own standard"
+ - "Building automation point-to-point record and trend configuration"
+ - "Approved sequences of operation and controls O&M data"
+ - "Training plan and schedule for each commissioned system"
default:
− - Completed pre-functional checklists
− - Equipment startup reports
− - Certified TAB report
− - BAS point-to-point checkout records
+ - "Completed and signed construction checklists"
+ - "Equipment startup reports"
+ - "Test reports required under each system's own standard"
+ - "Building automation point-to-point record and trend configuration"
+ - "Approved sequences of operation and controls O&M data"
+ - "Training plan and schedule for each commissioned system"
+constraint: all_of
```
−## Closeout Submittals
+## Informational Submittals {toc}
−### The CxA shall submit the following at the conclusion of the commissioning process:
+### The CxA shall submit the following as the process proceeds:
−- Final commissioning report, including executive summary and system narratives
−- Completed functional performance test records, signed and dated
−- Open-items register (issues log) with resolution due dates and responsible parties
−- Deferred and seasonal test log with scheduled completion dates
−- Systems manual or summary of operation and maintenance information
−- Recommendations for ongoing commissioning and recommissioning
+- the CxA's qualification statement, giving the credential of the commissioning lead, the firm's commissioning experience on systems of each family within the scope, and its relationship to the Owner, the design team, and the Contractor
+- the qualification statement of the building enclosure commissioning provider, where the building enclosure is within the scope
+- the commissioning progress report at the interval the commissioning plan states
+- the issues log, current at each progress report and at each commissioning meeting
+- the agenda and the minutes of each commissioning meeting
```datasheet
−label: CxA closeout submittals
+label: Informational Submittals
type: checkbox
options:
− - Final commissioning report
− - Completed FPT records
− - Open-items register
− - Deferred and seasonal test log
− - Systems manual / O&M summary
− - Ongoing commissioning recommendations
+ - "CxA qualification statement"
+ - "Building enclosure commissioning provider qualification statement"
+ - "Commissioning progress reports"
+ - "Current issues log"
+ - "Commissioning meeting agendas and minutes"
default:
− - Final commissioning report
− - Completed FPT records
− - Open-items register
− - Deferred and seasonal test log
+ - "CxA qualification statement"
+ - "Commissioning progress reports"
+ - "Current issues log"
+ - "Commissioning meeting agendas and minutes"
+constraint: all_of
```
−## Informational Submittals
+## Closeout Submittals {toc}
−### The following shall be submitted for the Owner's information:
+### The CxA shall submit the following before the commissioning process is accepted, and the Contractor shall include them in the closeout package assembled under [[sync/closeout-procedures]]:
−- CxA qualifications, certifications, and project references
−- BECx subconsultant qualifications, where building enclosure commissioning is included
−- Commissioning progress reports at intervals defined in the commissioning plan
+- the final commissioning report described under Commissioning Reports
+- the completed functional performance test records and integrated systems test records, signed and dated
+- the issues log in its final state, with every item closed or carried with a responsible party and a date
+- the seasonal and deferred test list in its final state, with the window and the responsible party for each open test
+- the systems manual described under Systems Manual
+- the training verification record
+- the preliminary commissioning report where the adopted energy code or the Authority Having Jurisdiction requires one before the certificate of occupancy
```datasheet
−label: Informational submittals
+label: Closeout Submittals
type: checkbox
options:
− - CxA qualifications and references
− - BECx subconsultant qualifications
− - Commissioning progress reports
+ - "Final commissioning report"
+ - "Functional performance and integrated systems test records"
+ - "Final issues log"
+ - "Final seasonal and deferred test list"
+ - "Systems manual"
+ - "Training verification record"
+ - "Preliminary commissioning report for the certificate of occupancy"
default:
− - CxA qualifications and references
− - Commissioning progress reports
+ - "Final commissioning report"
+ - "Functional performance and integrated systems test records"
+ - "Final issues log"
+ - "Final seasonal and deferred test list"
+ - "Systems manual"
+ - "Training verification record"
+constraint: all_of
```
+### The commissioning records are the closeout deliverables most often lost between the CxA and the Owner's bound package, because each party assumes the other holds them. Naming them here as closeout submittals, and requiring the Contractor to carry them into the package under [[sync/closeout-procedures]], is what puts them where the Owner's operators look for them. {note}
+
# Quality Assurance {toc}
−## Commissioning authority qualifications
+## Commissioning Authority Engagement {toc}
−### The CxA's independence and credentials are the foundation of a credible commissioning process. An agent who reports to the party whose work is being verified cannot be a neutral advocate for the Owner. The required independence level scales with project size and certification scope. {note}
+### The CxA shall be engaged by the party indicated in the datasheet.
−### The CxA shall hold a current commissioning credential from a recognized certifying body. The specification shall list acceptable credentials rather than naming a single body, to preserve competitive bidding.
−
```datasheet
−label: Acceptable CxA credentials
−type: checkbox
+label: Commissioning Authority Engagement
+type: radio
options:
− - NEBB Building Systems Commissioning
− - ACG (AABC Commissioning Group) certification
− - BCxP (ASHRAE/AIA Building Commissioning Professional)
− - CxA (University of Wisconsin / AEE)
− - PE with documented commissioning experience
−default:
− - NEBB Building Systems Commissioning
− - ACG (AABC Commissioning Group) certification
− - BCxP (ASHRAE/AIA Building Commissioning Professional)
+ - "Engaged directly by the Owner, independent of the design team and the Contractor"
+ - "Member of the design team or its subconsultant"
+ - "Engaged by the Contractor"
```
−### CxA independence
+### A CxA engaged directly by the Owner answers to the party whose requirements the process verifies, has no stake in whether the design or the installation passes, and is the arrangement the energy codes and the certification programs require above their size thresholds; a CxA on the design team already holds the Basis of Design and the sequences, costs the Owner one fewer contract, and is accepted by the energy codes and the certification programs for buildings below their thresholds, on the condition that the individual did not design the systems being commissioned; a CxA engaged by the Contractor is paid by the party whose work it verifies, is the arrangement of a design-build or a construction-manager-at-risk delivery where the Owner holds one contract, and is accepted by the energy codes where the code states no independence requirement and by the certification programs where the Owner documents the independence of the individual. The energy codes and the certification programs set their thresholds in building floor area and in HVAC system capacity, and the threshold that applies follows from the project. {note}
+### Where [[parameter: adopted-energy-code]] or a certification program the Owner has elected requires the CxA to be independent of the design team or of the Contractor for the project's size, the CxA shall be independent of that party whatever engagement the datasheet selects.
+
+### An independent CxA shall be one that is not the Contractor, not a subcontractor or supplier on the project, not the designer of record of any commissioned system, and not an affiliate or subsidiary of any of them, and whose compensation does not depend on the outcome of any test.
+
+### Where the CxA is a member of the design team, the individual who leads the commissioning shall not have designed any system within the commissioning scope, and the firm shall name that individual in the qualification statement.
+
+### Where the CxA is engaged by the Contractor, the CxA shall report each issue and each test result to the Owner directly and at the same time as to the Contractor, and the Contractor shall not edit, withhold, or delay any commissioning document before it reaches the Owner.
+
+### The CxA shall be engaged before the design milestone indicated in the datasheet.
+
```datasheet
−label: CxA independence and engagement model
+label: Commissioning Authority Engagement Milestone
type: radio
options:
− - Independent third-party firm (no contractual tie to design or construction)
− - Design-team subconsultant (MEP engineer of record provides Cx services)
− - Owner's in-house facilities engineering staff
−default: Independent third-party firm (no contractual tie to design or construction)
+ - "Before schematic design"
+ - "Before design development"
+ - "Before construction documents"
+ - "Before construction begins"
```
−### For LEED Enhanced commissioning, and for projects with new HVAC systems in buildings exceeding 50,000 ft², the CxA shall be independent of the design and construction teams in accordance with ASHRAE 90.1 Section 8.7. {note}
+### A CxA engaged before schematic design writes or reviews the Owner's Project Requirements while they still shape the design, and that is the engagement the full process assumes; one engaged before design development reviews the Basis of Design against requirements written without it; one engaged before construction documents reviews drawings whose systems are already selected; one engaged before construction begins receives the design as a finished fact, cannot perform the design-phase reviews, and runs the construction-phase and occupancy-phase process alone. Enhanced commissioning and the certification programs that define it require the design-phase activities, and the engagement milestone follows from whether those activities are within the scope. {note}
−### The CxA shall have demonstrated experience commissioning systems of the type and complexity included in this project's scope.
+## Commissioning Authority Qualifications {toc}
−### Where building enclosure commissioning is included, the CxA shall demonstrate enclosure commissioning experience or engage a qualified BECx subconsultant. Not all commissioning firms have enclosure capability; this is a common scope gap.
+### The individual who leads the commissioning shall hold a current credential from the list indicated in the datasheet.
−## CxA engagement timing
+```datasheet
+label: Acceptable Commissioning Lead Credentials
+type: checkbox
+options:
+ - "ASHRAE Building Commissioning Professional (BCxP)"
+ - "AABC Commissioning Group Certified Commissioning Authority (CxA)"
+ - "Building Commissioning Association Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP)"
+ - "NEBB Building Systems Commissioning certified professional"
+ - "Association of Energy Engineers Certified Building Commissioning Professional (CBCP)"
+ - "Licensed professional engineer with documented commissioning experience"
+default:
+ - "ASHRAE Building Commissioning Professional (BCxP)"
+ - "AABC Commissioning Group Certified Commissioning Authority (CxA)"
+ - "Building Commissioning Association Certified Commissioning Professional (CCP)"
+ - "NEBB Building Systems Commissioning certified professional"
+ - "Association of Energy Engineers Certified Building Commissioning Professional (CBCP)"
+ - "Licensed professional engineer with documented commissioning experience"
+constraint: any_of
+```
−### The CxA shall be engaged no later than the schematic design phase so that the Owner's Project Requirements is established and design-phase commissioning deliverables are produced.
+### The credentials differ in the body that issues them and in whether the holder's firm is also audited: the ASHRAE, Building Commissioning Association, and Association of Energy Engineers credentials certify the individual on examination and documented experience; the AABC Commissioning Group and NEBB credentials certify the individual and accredit the firm, with an audit of its procedures and its instruments; a licensed professional engineer with documented commissioning experience carries no commissioning-specific credential and is accepted on the experience the qualification statement describes. Listing several keeps the field open to more than one firm; narrowing the list to one body narrows the firms that can respond. {note}
−### Engaging the CxA after schematic design is the most damaging schedule error in commissioning. If the CxA arrives during construction, the OPR is missing or incomplete, the BOD was never reviewed against it, and the design-phase value of commissioning is lost permanently. {note}
+### The CxA shall have led the commissioning of systems of each family within the commissioning scope on not fewer than three completed projects, and shall name them in the qualification statement with the size of each and the Owner's contact.
−## Commissioning meetings
+### Where the building enclosure is within the commissioning scope, the building enclosure commissioning shall be led by an individual holding a building enclosure commissioning credential or a licensed professional engineer or registered architect with documented building enclosure commissioning experience, who is named in the qualification statement and who is either on the CxA's staff or engaged by the CxA as a subconsultant.
−### The CxA shall conduct a commissioning kickoff meeting at the start of construction and periodic commissioning coordination meetings at intervals defined in the commissioning plan.
+### Enclosure commissioning is a separate discipline from systems commissioning, and a firm qualified for one is not by that fact qualified for the other. The gap is found when an air barrier transition is reviewed by someone who has never seen one fail, which is why the enclosure lead is named and qualified separately. {note}
−### The CxA shall conduct a commissioning issues review at each coordination meeting, with the open-items register as the standing agenda item.
+### Every individual who witnesses a functional performance test on behalf of the CxA shall work under the direction of the commissioning lead and shall be named in the commissioning plan with the systems each is assigned to.
−# Owner's Project Requirements and Basis of Design {toc}
+## Commissioning Team and Meetings {toc}
−## The OPR and BOD are the reference documents against which every later commissioning activity is judged. The OPR states what the Owner needs in measurable terms; the BOD states how the design team intends to meet it. If acceptance criteria are not traceable to these documents, functional testing has no objective basis. {note}
+### The commissioning team shall comprise the Owner's representative, the Owner's operating staff, the CxA, the Engineer of Record, the Contractor, and the subcontractor and the controls contractor for each system within the commissioning scope, and the commissioning plan shall name the individual representing each.
−## Owner's Project Requirements
+### The CxA shall conduct a commissioning kickoff meeting before the construction of the first commissioned system begins, and shall present the commissioning plan, the checklist and test procedure formats, the issues log, and the schedule of commissioning activities at it.
−### The OPR shall document the Owner's functional requirements and expectations for the project, including environmental conditions, occupancy needs, sustainability goals, energy and water targets, system performance criteria, and operation and maintenance expectations.
+### The CxA shall conduct commissioning meetings at the interval the commissioning plan states, not less often than once each month while any commissioned system is under construction, startup, or test, and the issues log shall be a standing agenda item at every meeting.
−### The OPR shall be reviewed and updated at each design milestone to reflect approved design changes, so that functional test criteria remain aligned with the installed systems.
+### The Contractor shall give the CxA not less than ten working days' written notice of each functional performance test and each integrated systems test, and shall confirm two working days before the test that the prerequisites under Prerequisites to Functional Performance Testing are met.
−### The OPR is a living document; an OPR written in pre-design and never updated produces acceptance criteria that no longer match the building. {note}
+### The Contractor shall furnish the CxA access to every commissioned system, the operation of the system by the installing trade and the controls contractor during every test, temporary instruments and load where the test procedure calls for them, and the removal and reinstatement of covers and access panels, at no cost to the CxA or the Owner.
−### OPR development responsibility
+### A test the Contractor calls the CxA to witness on a system that is not ready costs a mobilization and a day of the test window, and the cost falls to whoever did not check. The notice and the two-day confirmation put that check on the Contractor, who is the party that knows whether the system is ready. {note}
+# Commissioning Scope {toc}
+
+## Commissioning Scope Level {toc}
+
+### The commissioning scope level shall be as indicated in the datasheet.
+
```datasheet
−label: OPR development responsibility
+label: Commissioning Scope Level
type: radio
options:
− - CxA drafts the OPR through Owner interviews
− - Owner drafts the OPR; CxA reviews and comments
− - Design team drafts the OPR; CxA reviews and comments
−default: CxA drafts the OPR through Owner interviews
+ - "Fundamental, the process the energy code requires"
+ - "Enhanced, the full ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202 process"
+default: "Fundamental, the process the energy code requires"
```
−### OPR finalization milestone
+### Fundamental commissioning is the process [[parameter: adopted-energy-code]] requires: the commissioning plan, the construction checklists, the functional performance tests, the preliminary and final reports, the systems manual, and the training, run on the mechanical, service water heating, lighting control, and renewable energy systems the code names. Enhanced commissioning adds the design-phase activities (the review of the Owner's Project Requirements and the Basis of Design, the design reviews, and the review of submittals for commissioned systems), the seasonal tests, the warranty-period review, and the ongoing commissioning plan, and it is the scope the certification programs reward and the scope a complex or a critical building is commissioned under. The fundamental process costs less and ends at the final report; the enhanced process finds the design error before it is built and the seasonal failure before the warranty ends, at the cost of a CxA engaged from the start of design and through the first year of occupancy. Most buildings are commissioned to the scope the energy code requires and no more. {note}
+### Where enhanced commissioning is selected, the design-phase reviews, the submittal reviews, the seasonal tests, the warranty-period review, and the ongoing commissioning plan under this standard shall be performed in addition to every activity the fundamental scope includes.
+
+### Where fundamental commissioning is selected and [[parameter: adopted-energy-code]] requires an activity this standard assigns to the enhanced scope, that activity shall be performed.
+
+## Commissioned System Families {toc}
+
+### The system families within the commissioning scope shall be as indicated in the datasheet, and every system of a selected family on the project shall be commissioned.
+
```datasheet
−label: OPR finalization milestone
+label: Commissioned System Families
+type: checkbox
+options:
+ - "Heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration systems"
+ - "Building automation system"
+ - "Service water heating and domestic water systems"
+ - "Lighting control system"
+ - "Electrical distribution system"
+ - "Emergency and standby power system"
+ - "Fire alarm and smoke control systems"
+ - "Fire suppression systems"
+ - "Renewable energy and energy storage systems"
+ - "Building enclosure"
+ - "Vertical transportation"
+ - "Process and plant control systems"
+ - "Communications and security systems"
+default:
+ - "Heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration systems"
+ - "Building automation system"
+ - "Service water heating and domestic water systems"
+ - "Lighting control system"
+constraint: all_of
+```
+
+### The families are selected here so that the CxA can price and plan the whole process from one document, and so that a family left out is left out on purpose. The energy codes name the mechanical, service water heating, lighting control, and renewable energy systems, and those are the families nearly every program includes; the electrical distribution, emergency power, fire alarm, and fire suppression families bring the life-safety interlocks into the integrated systems test and are added where the building has an emergency power system or a smoke control system; the enclosure is added where the Owner wants the air barrier and the fenestration verified by a process rather than by the installer; vertical transportation, process control, and communications and security are added on the buildings whose function depends on them, and each brings its own installer's tests into the process as inputs. {note}
+
+### The items of equipment within each selected family shall be those shown on [[drawing: the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection equipment schedules]].
+
+### Where an equipment standard names its equipment as commissioned under this standard, that equipment shall be within the commissioning scope whether or not its family is selected in the datasheet.
+
+### The commissioning plan shall list every system of a family not selected, and shall record it as outside the commissioning scope.
+
+# Owner's Project Requirements and Basis of Design {toc}
+
+## Owner's Project Requirements {toc}
+
+### The Owner's Project Requirements are the document every later commissioning activity is judged against. They state, in terms that can be measured, what the Owner needs the building to do: the environmental conditions in each type of space, the hours and the manner of occupancy, the energy and water performance, the reliability and the redundancy of each system, the indoor environmental quality, the sustainability goals, the operating staff's capabilities, and the training and the documentation the Owner expects to receive. A functional performance test whose acceptance criterion cannot be traced to this document has no objective basis. {note}
+
+### The Owner's Project Requirements shall be prepared by the party indicated in the datasheet.
+
+```datasheet
+label: Owner's Project Requirements Prepared By
type: radio
options:
− - Pre-design (programming complete)
− - Schematic design (SD)
− - 80% schematic design
− - Design development (DD)
−default: 80% schematic design
+ - "Commissioning authority, through Owner workshops"
+ - "Owner"
+ - "Design team"
+default: "Commissioning authority, through Owner workshops"
```
−## Basis of Design
+### A CxA that prepares the document through workshops with the Owner's stakeholders writes requirements in the measurable form the tests need and is the arrangement ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202 describes; an Owner that prepares its own document has usually built before and holds a standard that its facilities staff maintain, which the CxA then reviews; a design team that prepares it writes requirements that match the design it intends to produce, which is the arrangement where the CxA is engaged after design begins and the document is reconstructed from the program and the Basis of Design. {note}
−### The design team shall prepare the BOD describing the systems, assumptions, codes, standards, narratives, and calculations used to satisfy the OPR.
+### Where the Owner or the design team prepares the Owner's Project Requirements, the CxA shall review the document and shall submit comments identifying each requirement that is not measurable, each system within the commissioning scope for which no requirement is stated, and each requirement that conflicts with another.
−### The CxA shall review the BOD against the OPR and submit review comments. The BOD response from the Engineer of Record shall be provided by the 50% design development milestone unless the commissioning plan establishes a different date.
+### The Owner's Project Requirements shall be issued before the Basis of Design is prepared, and shall be reissued at each design milestone at which the Owner approves a change that alters a stated requirement.
+### The Owner's Project Requirements shall be updated through construction to record each approved change that alters a requirement, so that the acceptance criteria of the functional performance tests match the building being built.
+
+## Basis of Design {toc}
+
+### The Engineer of Record shall prepare the Basis of Design, describing for each system within the commissioning scope the system selected, the design assumptions, the codes and standards applied, the design conditions, the sequences of operation in narrative form, and the way each system satisfies the Owner's Project Requirements that apply to it.
+
+### The CxA shall review the Basis of Design against the Owner's Project Requirements at each design milestone at which it is issued, and shall submit comments identifying each requirement the design does not address and each design decision that conflicts with a requirement.
+
+### The Engineer of Record shall respond in writing to each comment on the Basis of Design before the next design milestone, stating whether the design was changed, the requirement was changed, or the comment was not accepted and why.
+
+### The Basis of Design shall be updated at each design milestone and at the completion of construction documents, and the final Basis of Design shall be delivered to the CxA for the systems manual.
+
+### The Basis of Design is where the design team records why each system is what it is. Without it, the CxA reviewing a sequence of operation cannot tell a deliberate decision from an oversight, and the operator inheriting the building ten years later cannot tell which setpoints are load-bearing. {note}
+
# Commissioning Plan {toc}
−## The commissioning plan is the operating manual for the process: who does what, on which systems, in what sequence, and to what acceptance criteria. It is revised as the project develops because the system list, schedule, and responsibilities all sharpen between design and construction. {note}
+## The commissioning plan is the document that organizes the process: it names the team, lists the systems, assigns each activity to a party, sets the schedule, and fixes the formats every checklist, test, and report will use. It is revised as the project develops, because the system list, the schedule, and the responsibilities all sharpen between the first issue and the first test. {note}
−## The CxA shall develop and maintain the commissioning plan, including the system list, commissioning team roles and responsibilities, the commissioning process activities and schedule, and the acceptance criteria and documentation formats.
+## The CxA shall prepare and maintain the commissioning plan, and the plan shall include the commissioning scope level and the system families selected, the list of every system within the scope, the commissioning team with the individual representing each party, the responsibility of each party for each commissioning activity, the schedule of commissioning activities relative to the construction schedule, the formats of the construction checklists, the functional performance test procedures, the issues log, and the reports, the sampling basis for identical equipment, the seasonal and deferred test list, the integrated systems test scenarios, and the training verification plan.
−## Commissioning plan issue schedule
+## The commissioning plan shall be issued at the milestones indicated in the datasheet, and each issue shall record the changes from the previous one.
−### The commissioning plan shall be issued for Owner review at the milestones selected below and updated to reflect design and field changes at each subsequent issue.
+```datasheet
+label: Commissioning Plan Issue Milestones
+type: checkbox
+options:
+ - "Design development"
+ - "Construction documents"
+ - "Before the commissioning kickoff meeting"
+ - "Before the first functional performance test"
+ - "With the final commissioning report"
+default:
+ - "Construction documents"
+ - "Before the commissioning kickoff meeting"
+ - "Before the first functional performance test"
+ - "With the final commissioning report"
+constraint: all_of
+```
+## A plan issued with the construction documents is bid with them, so that the Contractor prices the checklists, the test support, and the meetings it will be held to; the issue before the kickoff meeting adds the names and the construction schedule; the issue before the first test adds the final procedures and the sampling basis; the issue with the final report records what was done. A design development issue is added under enhanced commissioning, where the plan also organizes the design-phase reviews. {note}
+
+## The commissioning plan shall name the party that coordinates the integrated systems test, and where a smoke control system or an emergency power system is within the commissioning scope and no party is named, the CxA shall coordinate it.
+
+## Where the Contractor's construction schedule and the commissioning plan disagree on the sequence or the duration of a commissioning activity, the Contractor shall revise the construction schedule to carry the commissioning activities, with their prerequisites and their durations, as scheduled activities.
+
+## A commissioning activity that is not on the construction schedule has no float and no predecessor, and it is performed in whatever time is left between mechanical completion and occupancy. Carrying each activity on the schedule with its prerequisite is what makes a late balancing report visible as a late functional test. {note}
+
+# Design-Phase Reviews {toc}
+
+## Design Reviews {toc}
+
+### Requirements in this article apply where enhanced commissioning is selected under Commissioning Scope Level, and where [[parameter: adopted-energy-code]] requires a design review of a commissioned system under the fundamental scope.
+
+### The CxA shall review the design documents for each system within the commissioning scope at the milestones indicated in the datasheet, and shall submit comments identifying each departure from the Owner's Project Requirements and the Basis of Design, each sequence of operation that cannot be tested as written, each item of equipment without the access, the instrumentation, or the isolation the functional performance test requires, and each coordination gap between systems that take part in the integrated systems test.
+
```datasheet
−label: Commissioning plan issue schedule
+label: Design Review Milestones
type: checkbox
options:
− - First issue at 50% construction documents
− - Update at 90% construction documents
− - Update at start of construction
− - Update at each major design revision
+ - "Schematic design"
+ - "Design development"
+ - "Construction documents at mid-point"
+ - "Construction documents at completion"
default:
− - First issue at 50% construction documents
− - Update at 90% construction documents
− - Update at start of construction
+ - "Design development"
+ - "Construction documents at mid-point"
+constraint: all_of
```
−## The commissioning plan shall identify the party responsible for coordinating integrated systems testing. Where fire alarm, smoke control, and emergency power interact, the CxA shall be designated the IST coordinator unless the plan assigns the role to a named party in writing.
+### A design development review catches a system selection that cannot meet a requirement while the selection is still open; a mid-point construction documents review catches the sequence of operation that was never written and the test port that was never drawn while the drawings can still change; a review at the completion of construction documents confirms the earlier comments were carried and is the last review before bid; a schematic design review is added where the Owner's Project Requirements were written late and the review is what reconciles them with the design. {note}
−# Documentation Platform {toc}
+### The Engineer of Record shall respond in writing to each design review comment before the next milestone, and the CxA shall record each comment and its response in the issues log.
−## Consistent documentation format determines whether the commissioning record is usable after turnover. A scattered set of spreadsheets and paper forms produces a final report that cannot be audited; a structured platform keeps the issues log, checklists, and test records linked. {note}
+### The design review is a check of the design against the Owner's requirements and of its testability, not a second design. The CxA states what does not meet a requirement or cannot be tested; the Engineer of Record decides what to change. {note}
−## Commissioning documentation platform
+## Submittal Reviews for Commissioned Systems {toc}
+### The submittal reviews in this article apply where enhanced commissioning is selected under Commissioning Scope Level.
+
+### The CxA shall review the product data, the shop drawings, the sequences of operation, the control drawings, and the startup and test plans submitted for each system within the commissioning scope, concurrently with the Engineer of Record's review under [[sync/submittal-and-quality-procedures]], and shall submit comments to the Engineer of Record identifying each departure from the Owner's Project Requirements and each item the functional performance test procedure depends on that the submittal does not state.
+
+### The CxA's review shall not replace or delay the Engineer of Record's review, and the Engineer of Record's action on a submittal shall govern.
+
+### The CxA shall review the operation and maintenance data for the building automation system and for each commissioned system under [[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]] before the functional performance test of that system is scheduled, and shall identify each sequence of operation, setpoint, and alarm limit the test depends on that the data does not state.
+
+# Construction Checklists {toc}
+
+## The construction checklist records that each item of equipment is delivered, installed, connected, and started as its standard requires, before any functional test is attempted on it. A functional test on a system with a sensor unconnected or a shipping stop still in a spring hanger wastes the witnessed test on a failure the checklist would have found at the cost of a walk-through. {note}
+
+## The CxA shall prepare a construction checklist for each type of equipment and each system within the commissioning scope, covering delivery and storage, installation, the electrical and control connections, the removal of shipping braces, temporary restraints, and spring hanger stops, the identification, the access and the clearances, the startup, and the prerequisite tests the equipment standard requires.
+
+## The Contractor shall complete, sign, and date the construction checklist for each item of equipment and each system as the work is performed, with the installing trade, the controls contractor, and the electrical trade each completing and signing the part of the checklist that covers its work.
+
+## Every item of equipment within the commissioning scope shall have a completed and signed construction checklist before functional performance testing of the system it serves begins, and the checklist stage shall not be sampled.
+
+## The CxA shall review every completed construction checklist and shall verify in the field the share of the checklist items indicated in the datasheet, selected by the CxA across every type of equipment and every trade.
+
```datasheet
−label: Commissioning documentation platform
−type: radio
+label: Construction Checklist Items Field-Verified by the CxA
+type: range
+unit: '%'
options:
− - Cloud commissioning management platform
− - Construction management platform commissioning module
− - Structured spreadsheet workbook with issues log
− - Owner-specified platform
−default: Cloud commissioning management platform
+ min: 5
+ max: 100
+ setpoints: [5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100]
+default: 10
+constraint: min
```
−## All commissioning documentation shall be delivered to the Owner in an editable, non-proprietary format in addition to any platform-native format, so that the record remains accessible after the platform subscription ends.
+## The field verification is a check on the checklist, not a second checklist. A sample across every trade and every type of equipment finds the trade whose checklists are signed without being performed, and a sample that finds one is expanded under the next clause; a larger share costs the CxA's time on items the Contractor has already signed for, and is specified where the Owner has reason to doubt the checklists or where the systems are critical. {note}
−# Installation Verification {toc}
+## Where the CxA's field verification finds a checklist item signed as complete that is not, the CxA shall verify every item on that checklist and shall double the share verified on the other checklists of the same trade, and the cost of the expanded verification shall be borne by the Contractor.
−## Installation verification - the pre-functional checklist - confirms that equipment is installed, connected, and ready before any functional test is attempted. Skipping it wastes functional-test labor on systems that were never going to pass; an unconnected sensor or a missing belt is found at the checklist stage, not during a witnessed test. {note}
+## Startup of each item of equipment shall be performed by the party its equipment standard names, and the startup report shall be delivered to the CxA before the functional performance test of that equipment is scheduled.
−## Pre-functional checklists
+# Prerequisites to Functional Performance Testing {toc}
−### The Contractor shall complete and sign a pre-functional checklist for each commissioned system, verifying installation completeness, correct connection, cleanliness, labeling, and startup readiness.
+## The functional performance test proves the operation of a system that is complete, clean, balanced, and under control. Each of those conditions is proved under another standard, and the test under this standard begins when their reports are in hand. Running the test before them produces a result that the balancing or the controls checkout then changes, and the test is run twice. {note}
−### One hundred percent of commissioned systems shall have completed and signed pre-functional checklists before functional performance testing of that system begins. No sampling is permitted at the pre-functional stage.
+## Functional performance testing of a system shall begin only after the following have been delivered to the CxA for that system, and the CxA shall record the date each was received:
−### The CxA shall review and sign the pre-functional checklists and shall verify a representative sample of checklist items in the field.
+- the completed and signed construction checklist and the startup report for each item of equipment the system comprises
+- the cleaning, flushing, and passivation report under [[sync/hydronic-cleaning-and-flushing]], where the system is a hydronic system
+- the balancing report under [[sync/testing-adjusting-and-balancing]], where the system is an air or a hydronic distribution system
+- the acceptance test report and the written energization release under [[sync/electrical-acceptance-testing]], for each item of electrical distribution equipment the system depends on
+- the field performance test record under [[sync/common-work-results-process]], where the system is process equipment
+- the certification test reports under [[sync/structured-cabling]], where the system depends on the structured cabling plant
+- the point-to-point verification record and the trend configuration under [[sync/building-automation-system]], where the system is controlled by the building automation system
+- the sequences of operation and the controls operation and maintenance data, approved under [[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]]
+- the system's own acceptance test under its equipment standard, where that standard requires one before commissioning
−## Startup verification
+## The reports received under this article are inputs to the functional performance test, and the CxA shall not repeat the tests they record, shall not withhold the acceptance of the work they record on the basis of the commissioning review, and shall report a discrepancy between a received report and an observed condition in the issues log to the party that issued the report.
−### The Contractor shall complete manufacturer-directed startup for each system and submit the startup report before functional performance testing begins.
+## Where the datasheet of [[sync/electrical-acceptance-testing]] names the CxA as the energization release authority, the CxA shall issue the release for each item of equipment under that standard's conditions before functional performance testing of any system that item supplies.
−### TAB completion is a prerequisite input to HVAC functional testing, not a substitute for it. A specification stating that TAB constitutes commissioning is non-compliant and will fail energy-code review. The certified TAB report shall be received and accepted before HVAC functional testing begins.
+## Where a prerequisite report has not been delivered and the Owner directs that testing proceed, the CxA shall record the direction, shall mark each affected test as provisional, and shall repeat the affected tests after the report is delivered at the cost of the party whose report was late.
−### Building automation point-to-point checkout by the controls contractor is a precondition for functional testing, not the commissioning test itself. The CxA shall verify the controls checkout is complete before functional testing of automated systems begins.
+# Functional Performance Testing {toc}
−# Testing {toc}
+## Test Procedures {toc}
−## Functional performance testing demonstrates that each system performs as intended across its full range of operation, including normal operation, part-load operation, failure and safety modes, and recovery. It is the heart of commissioning and the basis on which systems are accepted. {note}
+### The functional performance test proves that each system performs across its range of operation as the sequences of operation and the Owner's Project Requirements require: in normal operation, at part load, through each operating mode and schedule, in response to each setpoint and reset, through each safety, alarm, and failure, and through the recovery from each. It is the activity the whole process exists to perform, and it is the basis on which the Owner accepts the operation of each system. {note}
−## Functional performance testing
+### The CxA shall prepare a written functional performance test procedure for each system within the commissioning scope, and each procedure shall state the system and the equipment tested, the Owner's Project Requirements and the sequences of operation the test verifies, the prerequisites and the instruments, the party that performs each step and the party that witnesses it, each step with the action taken, the expected response, and the acceptance criterion, the data recorded at each step, and the space for the result, the signature, and the date of each step.
−### The CxA shall direct functional performance testing of each commissioned system in accordance with the accepted FPT scripts. The Contractor shall operate the systems and demonstrate performance; the CxA shall witness, verify, and record the results.
+### Each procedure shall exercise every mode of operation the sequence of operation states, every setpoint and reset the sequence states, the response to the loss and the restoration of each utility and each communication path the system depends on, every safety and every alarm, and the manual overrides and the return from them.
−### Each functional test shall exercise normal operation, all relevant operating modes, setpoint and reset response, safety and alarm functions, and failure and recovery sequences across the system's operating range.
+### Where a function cannot be exercised by operating the system in the condition that exists on the day of the test, the procedure shall state the method by which the function is simulated, the sensor or the signal overridden to simulate it, and the restoration of that override at the end of the step, and every override shall be recorded and cleared before the test is signed.
−### FPT witness level
+### A simulated condition tests the logic and not the physics. An override that commands the outside air temperature to 95 °F proves the economizer locks out on the command; it does not prove the economizer dampers close or that the mixed air reaches the setpoint. The procedure states which it is proving, and the seasonal test under this standard is where the physics is proved. {note}
+### The procedure for a system controlled by the building automation system shall verify each sequence as the controls contractor programmed it under [[sync/building-automation-system]], and shall record each setpoint, time delay, and limit at its as-left value.
+
+### The procedure for a system whose equipment standard states a test it receives under this standard shall carry that test as a step, with the equipment standard's acceptance criterion.
+
+## Conduct and Witnessing {toc}
+
+### The Contractor's installing trade and the controls contractor shall operate each system through its procedure, and the CxA shall direct the test, witness each step, verify each response, and record each result on the procedure.
+
+### The CxA shall witness every step of the functional performance test of every system and every item of equipment that is not one of a group of identical units, and shall witness the sampled share of identical units under Sampling of Identical Equipment.
+
+### Where the Contractor's test technician records a result the CxA did not witness, the result shall be marked as unwitnessed on the procedure and shall not count toward the acceptance of the system.
+
+### Every instrument the CxA uses to produce a recorded value shall be calibrated within the twelve months before the test, and the instrument and its calibration date shall be recorded on the procedure.
+
+### Where the CxA and the Contractor disagree whether a response meets its acceptance criterion, the Engineer of Record shall make the initial determination, and the step shall be recorded as open until the determination is made.
+
+### The CxA shall sign each completed procedure, and the Contractor's representative shall countersign it, and a procedure with any step open shall be signed as incomplete with each open step listed in the issues log.
+
+## Sampling of Identical Equipment {toc}
+
+### Where a system comprises identical units of terminal equipment, including air terminal units, fan-coil units, unit heaters, heat pumps, exhaust fans, lighting control zones, and other equipment the commissioning plan identifies as identical, the first unit of each type shall be tested in full, and the share of the remaining units indicated in the datasheet, selected by the CxA, shall be tested.
+
```datasheet
−label: Functional performance test witness level
−type: radio
+label: Share of Identical Units Functionally Tested
+type: range
+unit: '%'
options:
− - CxA directly witnesses or directs 100% of FPT (LEED Enhanced)
− - CxA witnesses sampled FPT; Contractor self-documents balance with CxA spot-check
−default: CxA directly witnesses or directs 100% of FPT (LEED Enhanced)
+ min: 10
+ max: 100
+ setpoints: [10, 20, 25, 33, 50, 100]
+constraint: min
```
−### For LEED Enhanced commissioning, the CxA shall directly witness or direct one hundred percent of functional performance testing.
+### Testing every one of several hundred identical terminal units costs a test season and finds the same faults the sample finds; a sample tests the installation and the programming the units share and relies on the next clause to expand where the sample finds a fault. A smaller share is specified where the units are simple and the count is large; every unit is specified where the units serve critical spaces, where the certification program the Owner has elected requires it, or where the count is small enough that the sample saves nothing. ASHRAE Guideline 1.1 describes the sampling and the expansion this article follows. {note}
−## Sampling strategy
+### Where a sampled unit fails its test, the CxA shall test a second sample of the same size from the same type, and where any unit of the second sample fails, every remaining unit of that type shall be tested, with the cost of the expanded testing borne by the Contractor.
−### Sampling lets repetitive equipment be tested efficiently without testing every identical unit, while non-repetitive and critical equipment is tested completely. Writing "100% of all equipment" onto a project with hundreds of identical units creates a budget impasse; omitting sampling language entirely leaves the scope undefined. State the rate per equipment category explicitly. {note}
+### Equipment that is not identical, equipment that serves a critical function the Owner's Project Requirements identify, and each central plant and air handling system shall be tested in full and shall not be sampled.
−### Functional test sampling strategy
+## Retesting {toc}
+### Where a system fails a step of its procedure because of a deficiency in the installation, the programming, or the balancing, the Contractor shall correct the deficiency, and the CxA shall repeat the failed steps and every step whose result the correction could change.
+
+### The CxA shall witness the first retest of each failed test at no additional cost to the Owner, and the cost of the CxA's time for each further retest of the same test, and of each mobilization for a retest the system is found not ready for, shall be borne by the Contractor.
+
+### Where a system fails a step because of a design deficiency, the Engineer of Record shall direct the correction, and the cost of the retest shall be borne as the contract documents direct for a design change.
+
+### Where the CxA, the Contractor, and the Engineer of Record disagree whether a deficiency arose from the installation, the programming, the balancing, or the design, the Engineer of Record shall make the initial determination.
+
+### The unassigned cost in a commissioning program is the retest. A test fails, the Contractor fixes the fault, and the CxA comes back; the second visit is in no one's price unless the standard says whose it is. One retest in the CxA's fee and every further one on the Contractor is the division most Owners' contracts settle on, and naming it here is what keeps it from being argued at the third visit. {note}
+
+# Integrated Systems Testing {toc}
+
+## Integrated Test Scenarios {toc}
+
+### Integrated systems testing verifies the behavior no single system exhibits alone: the smoke control response to a fire alarm, the transfer of the building to emergency power and back, the shutdown of air handling on a duct smoke detector, the recall of elevators, the release of door hardware, and the demand response of the building automation system. These tests fail more often for organizational reasons than technical ones, because each contractor assumes another party is running the scenario. {note}
+
+### The CxA shall coordinate and direct the integrated systems test of the scenarios indicated in the datasheet, with the installing trade of every system that takes part present and operating its system.
+
```datasheet
−label: Functional test sampling strategy for repetitive equipment
+label: Integrated Systems Test Scenarios
+type: checkbox
+options:
+ - "Fire alarm initiation through the smoke control sequence"
+ - "Fire alarm initiation through air handling shutdown and damper closure"
+ - "Fire alarm initiation through elevator recall and door hardware release"
+ - "Loss of normal power through emergency power transfer and retransfer"
+ - "Loss of normal power through the restart of mechanical systems"
+ - "Loss of the building automation network and recovery"
+ - "Loss of chilled water or heating water and recovery"
+ - "Demand response and load shed through the building automation system"
+ - "Stairwell pressurization with doors opened and closed"
+ - "Refrigerant leak detection through ventilation and equipment shutdown"
+constraint: all_of
+```
+
+### The scenarios are selected from the interlocks the building has. A building with a smoke control system, an emergency generator, and elevators has the first four scenarios whether or not they are selected, because the codes require those tests before occupancy; the network loss, utility loss, and demand response scenarios are commissioning tests, selected where the Owner wants the building's recovery from a failure proved rather than assumed; the refrigerant scenario applies where a machinery room has leak detection. Each scenario is written as a procedure under Test Procedures, with the event that initiates it, the response each system makes, and the order the responses occur in. {note}
+
+### Each integrated systems test shall begin only after the functional performance test of every system that takes part in it has been completed and signed.
+
+### Where an equipment standard requires that the CxA witness an integrated test of its equipment, including the integrated test under [[sync/battery-energy-storage-systems]], the CxA shall witness it and shall record it as a step of the integrated systems test.
+
+### The NFPA 92 acceptance test of the smoke control system under [[sync/smoke-control-systems]], the NFPA 110 integrated acceptance test of the emergency power system under [[sync/emergency-and-standby-power]], and the emergency lighting transfer test under [[sync/emergency-and-egress-lighting]] shall be scheduled so that they are performed as steps of the integrated systems test, witnessed by the CxA, and recorded once.
+
+### Each of the life-safety systems carries its own acceptance test under its own standard, and each of those tests exercises the same interlocks the integrated systems test exercises. Running them as steps of one test, with every trade present, performs each test once instead of three times and proves the chain from the initiating event to the last response as one system. {note}
+
+## Integrated Testing Under NFPA 4 {toc}
+
+### Where [[parameter: adopted-building-code]] requires integrated testing of fire protection and life safety systems in accordance with NFPA 4, the integrated testing agent shall be the party indicated in the datasheet.
+
+```datasheet
+label: NFPA 4 Integrated Testing Agent
type: radio
options:
− - 100% of all units (no sampling)
− - First unit of each type plus 10% of remaining identical units, minimum one additional
− - First unit of each type plus 20% of remaining identical units, minimum one additional
−default: First unit of each type plus 10% of remaining identical units, minimum one additional
+ - "Commissioning authority"
+ - "Fire protection engineer engaged by the Owner"
+ - "Agent engaged by the Contractor"
```
−### Where a sampled unit fails functional testing, the sample shall be expanded for that equipment category. The CxA shall define the expansion in the FPT script - for example, doubling the sample, and testing one hundred percent if the expanded sample also fails.
+### NFPA 4 requires an integrated testing agent with the qualifications it states, and the standard does not decide who that is. A CxA that serves as the agent runs the life-safety scenarios as part of the integrated systems test it already directs, with one plan, one log, and one report, on the condition that the CxA's staff hold the fire protection qualifications NFPA 4 requires; a fire protection engineer engaged by the Owner brings those qualifications where the CxA's staff do not hold them, and is the arrangement of a high-rise or an assembly building whose fire protection systems are complex; an agent engaged by the Contractor is accepted where the adopted code and the Authority Having Jurisdiction accept it, and is the arrangement where the fire alarm contractor's engineer has performed the role on the Owner's other buildings. {note}
−### Non-repetitive equipment, equipment serving critical functions, and all equipment under LEED Enhanced commissioning shall be tested at one hundred percent. {note}
+### The integrated test plan NFPA 4 requires shall be a part of the commissioning plan, and the integrated systems test scenarios that exercise fire protection and life safety systems shall be performed under that plan whatever party serves as the integrated testing agent.
−## Re-test responsibility
+### Where the integrated testing agent is not the CxA, the CxA shall witness the integrated test, shall receive the integrated test report as an input, and shall carry each deficiency the test finds in the issues log.
−### Where a system fails its first functional test because of a Contractor deficiency, the Contractor shall bear the cost of the CxA's labor to witness the re-test. Failing to assign re-test cost is a common source of dispute; assign it explicitly.
+### The integrated testing agent shall deliver the integrated test report NFPA 4 requires to the Authority Having Jurisdiction and to the CxA before the certificate of occupancy is requested, and the Contractor shall include it in the closeout package under [[sync/closeout-procedures]].
−## Integrated systems testing
+# Building Enclosure Commissioning {toc}
−### Integrated systems testing verifies behavior that no single system exhibits alone - the smoke-control response to a fire alarm, the load transfer from normal to emergency power, the demand-response shed across the building automation system. These tests fail most often not technically but organizationally, because each contractor assumes another party is running the scenario. {note}
+## Requirements in this article apply where the building enclosure is selected as a commissioned system family under Commissioned System Families.
−### The CxA shall coordinate and direct integrated systems testing for the scenarios within the commissioning scope, with each participating trade present and operating its system.
+## Building enclosure commissioning verifies that the air barrier is continuous, that the water-resistive barrier and the fenestration keep water out, and that the thermal envelope performs as designed, by a process that runs from the design review through the field tests, rather than by the installer's own inspection alone. ASTM E2813 defines the process at two levels, and this article follows it. {note}
−### Integrated test scenarios
+## The building enclosure commissioning process shall be performed at the ASTM E2813 level indicated in the datasheet.
```datasheet
−label: Integrated systems test scenarios
−type: checkbox
+label: Building Enclosure Commissioning Level
+type: radio
options:
− - Fire alarm to smoke-control sequence
− - Emergency generator and automatic transfer switch sequence
− - Loss-of-normal-power critical load ride-through
− - BAS demand-response / load-shed scenario
− - Smoke purge and stairwell pressurization
− - Elevator recall on alarm
−default:
− - Fire alarm to smoke-control sequence
− - Emergency generator and automatic transfer switch sequence
+ - "Fundamental, per ASTM E2813"
+ - "Enhanced, per ASTM E2813"
```
−## Deferred and seasonal testing
+## The fundamental level under ASTM E2813 reviews the enclosure design and the submittals, prepares the enclosure construction checklists, observes the enclosure construction, and witnesses the field tests the enclosure standards require; the enhanced level adds the review of the Owner's Project Requirements for the enclosure, the design reviews at each milestone, the mockup review, the field testing beyond what the enclosure standards require, and the warranty-period review of the enclosure. The fundamental level is the level the certification programs accept for the enclosure; the enhanced level is specified where the enclosure is complex, the climate is severe, or the building's use does not tolerate a leak. {note}
−### Some functional tests cannot run at substantial completion because the required ambient condition does not exist - heating-mode testing of a building completed in summer, or full cooling load testing of a building completed in winter. These tests are deferred to the appropriate season, and they are the most commonly forgotten obligation in the entire process. {note}
+## The building enclosure commissioning provider shall review the enclosure design documents and the enclosure submittals at the milestones the Design Reviews article requires, and shall identify each transition between enclosure assemblies for which no detail shows the continuity of the air barrier, the water-resistive barrier, and the thermal insulation.
−### The CxA shall identify functional tests that require a specific season or operating condition and shall list them as deferred tests in the commissioning plan and the final report.
+## The building enclosure commissioning provider shall prepare a construction checklist for each enclosure assembly, shall observe the installation of each assembly at the stage its checklist requires and before it is covered, and shall record each observation in the issues log.
−### Deferred and seasonal test window
+## The building enclosure commissioning provider shall witness the field tests each enclosure standard requires, including the whole-building air leakage test under [[sync/air-barriers]] and the field water penetration tests under [[sync/glazed-curtain-walls]], [[sync/aluminum-entrances-and-storefronts]], and [[sync/windows]], and shall receive each test report as an input.
+## The methods, the targets, the testing agencies, and the acceptance of the enclosure field tests are governed by the enclosure standards, and this standard neither restates them nor adds a test to them; the enhanced level under ASTM E2813 adds tests through the enclosure standards' own datasheets. {note}
+
+## The building enclosure commissioning provider shall deliver an enclosure commissioning report as a part of the final commissioning report, recording each review, each observation, each test witnessed, and each issue and its resolution.
+
+# Issues Log {toc}
+
+## The issues log is the one record of everything the process found and what became of it. A commissioning report delivered without it is accepted by the Owner and by the Authority Having Jurisdiction, after which the open items are never tracked, and that is the failure this standard exists to prevent. {note}
+
+## The CxA shall maintain an issues log from the first design review through the end of the warranty-period review, and shall enter in it every deficiency, every departure from the Owner's Project Requirements, every unresolved review comment, and every open test step the process finds.
+
+## Each entry in the issues log shall record the date found, the system and the equipment, the description of the issue, the document or the test that found it, the party responsible for its resolution, the resolution proposed, the date resolution is due, the resolution made, the date the CxA verified the resolution, and the status.
+
+## The party responsible for an issue shall respond in writing within ten working days of the entry, stating the resolution proposed and the date it will be complete, unless the commissioning plan states a different period.
+
+## The CxA shall verify the resolution of each issue before closing it, by retest where the issue was found by a test and by observation where it was found by review or by inspection, and no issue shall be closed on the responsible party's statement alone.
+
+## Where the responsible party disputes an issue, the Engineer of Record shall make the initial determination, and the issue shall remain open until the determination is made.
+
+## The CxA shall issue the current issues log with each progress report, at each commissioning meeting, and with the preliminary and final commissioning reports, and shall deliver the log in an editable format the Owner can continue to maintain after the process ends.
+
+## An issue that is closed on the Contractor's word is an issue that is found again by the operator. Verification by the CxA, by retest where the issue came from a test, is the cost of a log the Owner can rely on. {note}
+
+# Seasonal and Deferred Testing {toc}
+
+## Some functions cannot be tested when the building is finished, because the condition they respond to does not exist: the heating sequence of a building completed in summer, the full cooling load of a building completed in winter, the economizer changeover in either, and the response to an occupancy the building does not yet have. These tests are deferred to the condition they need, and they are the obligation most often forgotten in the whole process. {note}
+
+## Seasonal testing shall be performed on the basis indicated in the datasheet.
+
```datasheet
−label: Deferred / seasonal test completion window after substantial completion
+label: Seasonal Testing
type: radio
options:
− - Within the next applicable season
− - Within 6 months
− - Within 12 months
− - Within the warranty period
−default: Within the next applicable season
+ - "Not included"
+ - "Deferred tests in the season not available at substantial completion"
+ - "Tests in both the heating and the cooling design seasons"
```
−### Open deferred test items shall be listed in the final commissioning report with a scheduled completion date and a responsible party, and shall be tracked to closure on a posted deferred-test log. {note}
+## Deferred testing in the one season not available at completion proves the functions the functional performance test simulated, and is the basis the certification programs and most enhanced commissioning programs follow; testing in both design seasons proves the building at its peak heating and its peak cooling whatever season it was finished in, at the cost of a second mobilization, and is specified where the functional performance test was performed in a mild season or where the Owner's Project Requirements state a performance at the design condition; no seasonal testing leaves the simulated results as the final results, and is the basis of the fundamental scope where the energy code requires none. {note}
−### Where the Authority Having Jurisdiction does not require closure before occupancy, the certificate of occupancy may be issued with deferred tests open as a condition of occupancy; the Contractor's obligation to complete them shall survive substantial completion.
+## Where seasonal testing is included, the CxA shall identify every functional performance test step whose function was simulated rather than exercised, and shall list it on the seasonal and deferred test list with the condition the retest waits for.
−# Building Enclosure Commissioning {toc}
+## The deferred test of each function shall be performed within the first occurrence of its condition after substantial completion, and in every case within twelve months of substantial completion, with the Contractor's installing trade and the controls contractor present as for the original test.
−## Building enclosure commissioning (BECx) verifies that the air barrier is continuous, that fenestration resists water infiltration, and that the assembly performs thermally. It is a distinct sub-discipline included with Enhanced and Total Building scope, and it triggers whole-building air-leakage testing under the energy code. {note}
+## The Contractor's obligation to support each deferred test, and to correct each deficiency it finds, shall survive substantial completion and final payment until the test is performed and its issues are closed.
−## BECx inclusion
+## Where the Authority Having Jurisdiction issues the certificate of occupancy with deferred tests open, the preliminary commissioning report shall list each open test, its condition, its window, and the responsible party, and the final commissioning report shall record each test's result.
+## The CxA shall record each deferred test on the same procedure as the original test, marked as the seasonal test, and shall enter each deficiency it finds in the issues log.
+
+# Training Verification {toc}
+
+## The delivery of operator training, its duration, the notice before each session, and its recording are governed by [[sync/closeout-procedures]], and the training agenda and the sign-off sheets are retained in the operation and maintenance package under [[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]]. This standard governs what is verified: that the training the Owner's Project Requirements call for was planned, delivered, and understood. {note}
+
+## Training shall be required for every system within the commissioning scope, delivered under [[sync/closeout-procedures]] by the parties that standard names.
+
+## The CxA shall review the training plan for each commissioned system against the Owner's Project Requirements and the systems manual before the first session, and shall identify each system, sequence, and operating mode the plan does not cover.
+
+## The CxA shall verify the delivery of training by the activities indicated in the datasheet, and shall record the verification in the training verification record.
+
```datasheet
−label: Building enclosure commissioning scope
−type: radio
+label: Training Verification Activities
+type: checkbox
options:
− - Not included (Fundamental scope)
− - Air barrier continuity verification and review only
− - Full BECx (air barrier, fenestration water testing, thermal imaging)
−default: Not included (Fundamental scope)
+ - "Review of the training plan against the Owner's Project Requirements"
+ - "Attendance at the sessions the training verification plan names"
+ - "Review of the attendance records and sign-off sheets"
+ - "Review of the training recordings"
+ - "Operator demonstration of each commissioned system after training"
+default:
+ - "Review of the training plan against the Owner's Project Requirements"
+ - "Attendance at the sessions the training verification plan names"
+ - "Review of the attendance records and sign-off sheets"
+constraint: all_of
```
−## Where BECx is included, the CxA or BECx subconsultant shall verify air barrier continuity, witness fenestration and curtain-wall water-infiltration testing, and perform thermal imaging of the completed enclosure.
+## The training verification plan shall name the sessions the CxA attends, and the CxA shall attend the sessions on the building automation system and on each central plant whatever sessions the plan adds.
−## Whole-building air leakage
+## Where an operator demonstration is selected, the Owner's operating staff shall operate each commissioned system through its normal startup, its scheduled modes, its manual override, and its alarm response, with the CxA witnessing, and each function the staff cannot perform shall be entered in the issues log for a further session at the Contractor's cost.
−### Whole-building air leakage target
+## A training session that is delivered is not a training session that taught anyone. Attendance by the CxA, and the demonstration where it is selected, are the only verification that distinguishes the two; the sign-off sheet proves attendance and nothing more. {note}
+# Systems Manual {toc}
+
+## The systems manual is the one document that tells the operator how the building was meant to work: the requirements it was built to, the design that met them, the sequences and setpoints it was commissioned at, and the tests that proved it. The operation and maintenance manuals tell the operator how to run each product; the systems manual tells the operator how the products were made into a building, and it is the document ASHRAE Guideline 1.4 describes. {note}
+
+## The CxA shall compile the systems manual, and it shall include the contents indicated in the datasheet.
+
```datasheet
−label: Whole-building air leakage target at 75 Pa
−type: range
−unit: cfm/ft²
−min: 0.15
−max: 0.50
−step: 0.05
−setpoints:
− - 0.15
− - 0.25
− - 0.4
− - 0.5
−default: 0.40
+label: Systems Manual Contents
+type: checkbox
+options:
+ - "Final Owner's Project Requirements"
+ - "Final Basis of Design"
+ - "System descriptions and single-line schematics for each commissioned system"
+ - "Record sequences of operation with as-left setpoints, schedules, and limits"
+ - "Operating procedures for normal, seasonal, emergency, and manual operation"
+ - "Reference to the operation and maintenance manuals by system"
+ - "Final commissioning report"
+ - "Training materials and the training verification record"
+ - "Ongoing commissioning plan with the trends and the review interval"
+default:
+ - "Final Owner's Project Requirements"
+ - "Final Basis of Design"
+ - "System descriptions and single-line schematics for each commissioned system"
+ - "Record sequences of operation with as-left setpoints, schedules, and limits"
+ - "Operating procedures for normal, seasonal, emergency, and manual operation"
+ - "Reference to the operation and maintenance manuals by system"
+ - "Final commissioning report"
+ - "Training materials and the training verification record"
+constraint: all_of
```
−### The whole-building air leakage rate shall not exceed 0.40 cfm/ft² at 75 Pa for commercial buildings per the energy code. Healthcare and laboratory projects commonly specify a tighter limit of 0.25 cfm/ft²; the more stringent project-specific target governs where one is set.
+## The systems manual shall reference the operation and maintenance manuals delivered under [[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]] by system and by location in the package, and shall not reproduce them.
−# Occupancy and Operations {toc}
+## The record sequences of operation in the systems manual shall be the sequences as programmed and as left at the end of functional performance testing, and where the CxA's review finds a difference between the programmed sequence and the sequence in the operation and maintenance data, the CxA shall report the difference to the Engineer of Record and to the Contractor for correction of the data under [[sync/operation-and-maintenance-data]].
−## Commissioning does not end at substantial completion. The occupancy phase confirms that the building actually operates as intended once it is in use, that operators have been trained, and that deferred and seasonal tests are closed. For Enhanced commissioning this phase includes a formal post-occupancy review. {note}
+## The Engineer of Record shall furnish the final Basis of Design, and the Contractor shall furnish the record sequences, the as-left setpoints, and the system schematics, to the CxA for the systems manual within thirty days after the last functional performance test.
−## Operator training
+## The systems manual shall be delivered with the final commissioning report, and where seasonal tests or a warranty-period review are within the scope, it shall be reissued with their results.
−### The Contractor shall provide manufacturer and systems training to the Owner's operating staff for each commissioned system, and the CxA shall verify that training is delivered in accordance with the accepted training plan.
+# Commissioning Reports {toc}
−## Post-occupancy review
+## Progress Reports {toc}
−### Post-occupancy review period
+### The CxA shall issue a commissioning progress report at the interval the commissioning plan states, not less often than once each month while any commissioned system is under construction, startup, or test, recording the activities performed, the tests completed and their results, the issues opened and closed, the deferred tests, and the activities scheduled for the next period.
+## Preliminary and Final Reports {toc}
+
+### Where [[parameter: adopted-energy-code]] or the Authority Having Jurisdiction requires a commissioning report before the certificate of occupancy, the CxA shall issue a preliminary commissioning report before the certificate is requested, recording each test completed, each test deferred with its window, and each open issue with its responsible party and its due date.
+
+### The CxA shall issue the final commissioning report after the last functional performance test and the last integrated systems test, and the report shall include a summary of the process and its results, the commissioning plan as finally issued, the Owner's Project Requirements and the Basis of Design as finally issued, the completed construction checklists, the completed functional performance and integrated systems test procedures with their results, the issues log with the disposition of every item, the seasonal and deferred test list with the status of every test, the training verification record, the enclosure commissioning report where the enclosure was commissioned, and the recommendations for the operation of each system.
+
+### The final commissioning report shall state for each system within the commissioning scope whether it meets the Owner's Project Requirements, and for each system that does not, shall name the requirement, the shortfall, and the open issue that records it.
+
+### The final commissioning report shall be delivered within the number of days after the last functional performance test indicated in the datasheet.
+
```datasheet
−label: Post-occupancy review period (LEED Enhanced)
−type: radio
+label: Final Report Delivery After the Last Functional Performance Test
+type: range
+unit: days
options:
− - Not included (Fundamental scope)
− - 10 months after substantial completion
− - 12 months after substantial completion
−default: 10 months after substantial completion
+ min: 14
+ max: 90
+ setpoints: [14, 30, 45, 60, 90]
+constraint: max
```
−### For LEED Enhanced commissioning, the CxA shall conduct a post-occupancy review no later than ten months after substantial completion, review trended operating data, conduct a review meeting with the Owner, and issue a resolution letter documenting outstanding items.
+### A short delivery period gets the report to the Owner while the Contractor is still on site to close the issues it lists, at the cost of a report compiled under pressure; a longer period lets the CxA compile a large program's records and wait for the last retest, and leaves the Owner operating on the progress reports and the issues log for that period. The report is reissued after the seasonal tests and the warranty-period review where those are within the scope, so the first issue need not wait for them. {note}
−## Ongoing commissioning
+### Where seasonal testing or a warranty-period review is within the scope, the CxA shall reissue the final commissioning report after the last of them, recording their results and the final state of the issues log.
−### Ongoing commissioning (OCx) provisions
+## Report Formats {toc}
+### Every commissioning document, including the plan, the checklists, the procedures, the issues log, the systems manual, and the reports, shall be delivered in the formats indicated in the datasheet.
+
```datasheet
−label: Ongoing commissioning provisions
−type: radio
+label: Commissioning Deliverable Formats
+type: checkbox
options:
− - Not included
− - Trending and monitoring verification through the warranty period
− - Continuous monitoring-based commissioning program
−default: Not included
+ - "Searchable electronic PDF"
+ - "Native editable files of the issues log, the checklists, and the procedures"
+ - "Export from the commissioning management software in an open format"
+ - "Bound hard copies"
+default:
+ - "Searchable electronic PDF"
+ - "Native editable files of the issues log, the checklists, and the procedures"
+constraint: all_of
```
−### Where ongoing commissioning is contracted, the CxA shall establish trends and monitoring points, review the trended data at defined intervals, and report deviations from the Owner's Project Requirements.
+### Where the CxA manages the process in commissioning management software, every record held in it shall be delivered in a format the Owner can open without a license to that software, so that the record remains accessible after the CxA's subscription ends.
−# Final Commissioning Report {toc}
+### The commissioning record outlives the firm that produced it and the software it was produced in. A record delivered in a proprietary format is lost the day the subscription ends, and a record delivered as a PDF alone cannot be continued; the editable issues log is the one the Owner's operators keep maintaining. {note}
−## The final commissioning report is the auditable record of the entire process. A report delivered without an open-items register is accepted by the Owner and the Authority Having Jurisdiction, after which the unresolved items are never tracked - the failure mode this Standard exists to prevent. {note}
+# Warranty-Period Review and Ongoing Commissioning {toc}
−## The CxA shall prepare and submit the final commissioning report documenting the commissioning process, the results of all completed tests, the disposition of all issues, and the status of deferred and seasonal tests.
+## Warranty-Period Review {toc}
−## The final commissioning report shall include an open-items register listing each unresolved item, its resolution due date, and the responsible party.
+### The warranty-period review in this article applies where enhanced commissioning is selected under Commissioning Scope Level.
−## Report delivery window
+### The CxA shall conduct a warranty-period review of each commissioned system no later than the number of months after substantial completion indicated in the datasheet, and before the end of the correction period under [[sync/warranties-and-bonds]].
```datasheet
−label: Final commissioning report delivery after substantial completion
−type: radio
+label: Warranty-Period Review Timing After Substantial Completion
+type: range
+unit: months
options:
− - Within 30 days
− - Within 60 days
− - Within 90 days
−default: Within 60 days
+ min: 3
+ max: 12
+ step: 1
+default: 10
+constraint: max
```
−## The final commissioning report shall be delivered within sixty days of substantial completion unless the commissioning plan establishes a shorter period; thirty days is preferred and ninety days is the outer industry limit.
+### The review is held late enough that the building has operated through most of a year and early enough that what it finds is corrected before the correction period ends; ten months is the timing the certification programs require and the one nearly every enhanced program is held to, and an earlier review is held where the correction period is shorter or where the Owner wants the findings before a seasonal test. {note}
−# Existing-Building Commissioning {toc}
+### The warranty-period review shall include the review of the trend data the building automation system has recorded over not less than the four weeks before the review, a meeting with the Owner's operating staff on the operation of each commissioned system, a walk-through of each central plant and each mechanical room, and the review of every issue the operating staff have logged since occupancy.
−## On renovation of occupied buildings, the commissioning variant is retro-commissioning rather than new-construction commissioning. There is no OPR or BOD to develop; a systems investigation replaces the pre-functional checklists, establishing how the existing systems actually operate before improvements are tested. {note}
+### The CxA shall record each deficiency the warranty-period review finds in the issues log, shall deliver the log to the Owner and to the Contractor, and the Contractor shall correct each deficiency that is a defect in its work under the correction period and the warranties administered under [[sync/warranties-and-bonds]].
−## Where the project scope includes retro-commissioning of existing systems, the CxA shall develop current facility requirements in lieu of an OPR, conduct a systems investigation in lieu of pre-functional checklists, and functionally test the affected systems before and after corrective work in accordance with ASHRAE Guideline 0.2.
+### The CxA shall deliver a warranty-period review report recording the findings, the issues, and the recommendations for the continued operation of each system, and shall reissue the final commissioning report and the systems manual with it.
−# Phased and Turnover Commissioning {toc}
+## Monitoring-Based Commissioning {toc}
−## On large or multi-phase projects, completed zones are occupied while commissioning of remaining zones continues. The commissioning plan defines the boundary of each phase so that partial occupancy of a finished zone does not depend on testing that is still open elsewhere. {note}
+### Monitoring-based commissioning shall be provided on the basis indicated in the datasheet.
−## Where the project is occupied in phases, the commissioning plan shall define each commissioning phase, its system boundary, and the acceptance criteria for partial occupancy, so that a completed zone may be accepted independently of zones still under commissioning.
+```datasheet
+label: Monitoring-Based Commissioning
+type: radio
+options:
+ - "Not included"
+ - "Included through the end of the correction period"
+default: "Not included"
+```
−# Warranty {toc}
+### Where monitoring-based commissioning is included, the CxA shall define, with the Contractor's controls contractor, the points the building automation system trends under [[sync/building-automation-system]] for the analysis, shall review the trend data at intervals of not more than one month through the end of the correction period, and shall report each departure from the Owner's Project Requirements and each deficiency it finds in the issues log.
−## The CxA's commissioning services and the Contractor's obligation to complete deferred and seasonal functional tests shall survive substantial completion until those obligations are discharged in accordance with this Standard.
+### Where monitoring-based commissioning is included, the systems manual shall include an ongoing commissioning plan stating the points trended, the analyses performed, the review interval, and the party that performs the review after the correction period ends.
−## Defects identified during deferred, seasonal, or post-occupancy commissioning activities within the warranty period shall be corrected under the applicable system warranty at no additional cost to the Owner.
+### Monitoring-based commissioning finds the fault that develops after the tests, the economizer that drifted, the schedule that was overridden and never restored, and the simultaneous heating and cooling that the functional test never saw, at the cost of the CxA's review time through the first year and the trend capacity the building automation system has to carry. It is included where the Owner has the staff to act on what it finds; where the Owner does not, the ongoing commissioning plan in the systems manual records what to trend for the day it does. {note}
+
+# Commissioning Services Warranty {toc}
+
+## The CxA shall warrant that each test was performed in accordance with its procedure and this standard, that every recorded value is the value observed, and that the instruments the CxA used were calibrated as this standard requires on the dates recorded.
+
+## Where a test performed under this standard is later shown to have been performed with an uncalibrated instrument, against a criterion other than the one the procedure states, or with an override left in place, the CxA shall repeat the test at no cost to the Owner at the next opportunity the Owner makes available.
+
+## Commissioning shall not extend, reduce, or alter the warranty on any system or item of equipment, and a defect commissioning finds shall be corrected under the installation or equipment warranty that covers it and under the correction period administered under [[sync/warranties-and-bonds]].
+
+## The Contractor's obligation to support deferred and seasonal tests, to correct the deficiencies they find, and to resolve each issue the issues log assigns to it shall survive substantial completion, final completion, and final payment until each is discharged under this standard.