When it comes to building assessments, bundling = efficiency Published Oct. 18, 2012 By Amy Ausley AFCEC Public Affairs TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Data makes the world of Air Force real property inventory go round. To effectively manage assets across that inventory, data needs to be accurate, consistent and appropriate. But gathering it can mean multiple assessments and inventories of the same building. To facilitate the process, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center'd Energy DIrectorate at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., combined efforts into what is called Sustainable Infrastructure Assessments, or SIAs. "The SIA process consolidates assessments and decreases redundant efforts and contradictions on overlapping results," said Clayton Deel, contracting officer representative. "By evaluating an entire building in a single walk-through, we minimize the disruption at each base." SIAs consist of six product lines which combine real property inventories and facility assessments for energy and asset management. The data is used to support decision making, financial management and future reporting requirements for capital investments and audits. Recently, the contract to perform SIAs, including all six product lines, at 63 installations for fiscal 2012. The final push will come in fiscal 2013 and will include the remaining major installations. The bases are divided into seven regions; five in the United States and two for bases in Europe. Companies were selected to perform the SIAs in each region. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, will work closely with AFCEC to centrally coordinate management of the program including overall program funding, schedule and scope. With so many different companies and agencies involved in the process, AFCEC stood up a program management office to serve as a central clearinghouse for all information collected during the SIAs. The PMO will validate and organize the data then create management processes and controls to enable consistent SIA program roll-out across the civil engineer community. They will also develop tools and processes to track program costs, schedules, risks and other performance indicators. Finally, the PMOs will apply lessons learned to establish best practices and standard methodologies in all SIA project management areas. There is a 14-day site visit window for all bases, with some larger bases requiring an extended visit. The team meets on Sunday evenings to review contract requirements and submitted materials and the site survey begins on Monday mornings. "The teams for each product line work together to prevent delays, duplication of effort and omissions in the surveys. Everyone regroups each evening to review the day's work and the next day's schedule," said Mike Giniger, with AFCEC's Energy Directorate. "This makes the whole process run smoothly and assures the best results." Each base receives briefings for the SIA which outline the expectations and accomplishments for one or more of the following product lines: Real Property Inventory Verification of the physical existence of facilities indicated on either the HAF 7115 Report, Real Property Inventory Detail Report or the base map. Any facility which can't be physically located is reported as disposed. The 7115, completed disposed inventory forms, base map and DD forms 1354 are all updated with any new information. Real Property Installed Equipment Inventory of key mechanical components, including heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and electrical systems. The data is stored for use in the new NexGen software so the shops know what needs to be maintained. Barcode labels are placed on each piece of equipment so maintenance workers can use a scanner and immediately pull up service records. Space Utilization Collection of space data at each facility and estimated square-footage. AutoCAD floor plans and geo-references are created for each facility surveyed. A space utilization assessment determines who is sitting where and how much time they are occupying the space. This helps determine if spaces can be consolidated enough to possibly dispose of another building. Energy Audit Energy and water conservation level one and two audits. Utility data is collected and baseline numbers developed from no less than one year's worth of utility data (electric, gas, steam, and water). Energy use is broken down and evaluated. Bases receive recommendations for energy and water conservation opportunities including estimates of implementation costs, savings and savings-to-investment ratio. High Performance Sustainable Building Checklist/Assessment Completion of a checklist and development of a baseline energy model for facilities. The baseline is compared to actual energy and water usage. This assessment measures how sustainable a building is and whether it is, or can be made, LEED compliant. Real Property Condition Assessment Condition assessments on six components of a facility in accordance with Sustainment Management Software "Direct Rating" method. Components include exterior enclosure, roofing, interior construction, plumbing, HVAC and electrical components. A basic scope and estimates for repair or replacement are developed for work in excess of $20,000. Deficient items are noted. The data is then placed into an SMS program created by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory called "Builder." SIAs will begin with two test bases, MacDill AFB, Fla., and Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, to work out process glitches. Then AFCEC and USACE will apply lessons learned to the program. All other bases can expect to begin the process in January 2013. The SIAs are expected to continue for a period of two years until all major installations have been surveyed.