Distinguishing the Commissioning Process from Installation and Startup
Should NETA certification be a requirement in federal commissioning projects?
Within the built world, and certainly the commissioning process (Cx) industry, there is a growing concern with owners and clients mistaking the commissioning process with installation and startup. Although this concern is primarily limited to one owner, that just happens to be the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) with a purported 2022 military construction budget of roughly $6.7 billion1, the effect on the private sector adopting government policies is historically proven.
The commissioning process industry certainly didn’t invent the word “commissioning,” nor would it be beneficial attempting to gate keep a term spanning multiple industries. After all, commissioning defined as installation and startup can be an important step toward achieving client goals. The intent of this article is to distinguish the process for documenting owner goals throughout the course of total building commissioning, from a process for placing equipment into service for federal criteria. Possibly adding to the confusion is the use of the term commissioning by various trades within the construction industry. And, then, in turn, requirements for those installer and start-up trades having been incorrectly adopted as criteria for the commissioning process. This is evident with the Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS), which are the military services documents for specifying construction. More precisely, 01 91 00.15 Total Building Commissioning provides criteria for mechanical and electrical technical commissioning specialists.