36C24918R0149-001.docx

Department of Veterans Affairs TVHS, Nashville Campus Requirements for A/E Services Project 626-18-101 Corrections for Life Safety Compliance Nashville Campus

I. GENERAL SCOPE OF WORK:

The consultant shall provide all necessary architectural and engineering services as required to prepare complete contract drawings, specifications, technical reports, and cost estimates, including services throughout construction to perform "Corrections for Life Safety Compliance Nashville Campus” at the Nashville Campus of the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, 1310 24th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37212. This project will perform life safety corrections at the Nashville Campus. Design includes but is not limited to life safety, architectural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and Industrial Hygiene.

II. STATEMENT OF PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

It is the intent of the Department of Veterans Affairs to have the A/E fully survey, investigate, and document the existing spaces and utility systems, affected by renovations, to gain the knowledge and insight necessary to prepare quality, accurate construction bid documents to address life safety issues throughout the TVHS, Nashville Campus.

Description:

The work in this project is part of an on-going effort to eliminate Joint Commission Survey Environment of Care and Life Safety deficiencies and make corrections as outlined in the Statement of Conditions (SOC) and the Facility Condition Assessment (FCA). Cited corrections include, but are not limited to, doors, frames and hardware, partitions, railings, sprinkler system, and fire alarm system. Architect/Engineer (AE) design work will begin with an evaluation of both the FCA and SOC for the facility to develop a Hierarchy of Work (HoW) to be performed. Hierarchy criteria will begin with life safety criticality, and include patient occupancy, space use and cost effectiveness. AE shall maintain an accurate SoC report by updating and recertifying the SOC report after surveying, after design completion and after construction.

Justification:

The purpose of this project is to make life safety corrections at the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System Nashville Campus as cited in the Facility Condition Assessment (FCA), by VA directive, and a commissioned update (2017) of the Statement of Conditions (SOC) the Joint Commission documents for compliance with applicable Life Safety codes in a healthcare environment.

III. STATEMENT OF A/E TASKS:

A. The A/E shall furnish all services for a complete design development including construction documents, and construction period services as specified in the subject contract.

1. Necessary site survey work and evaluation such as verifying existing conditions, verifying record drawings and reports of corrections to date, and verifying and analyzing utility systems shall be accomplished in conjunction with preparation of Design Development documents. A/E shall furnish documentation and drawings of these findings, and address deficiencies in the design process.

2. The complete site survey work shall include a thorough investigation of existing conditions, affected by renovations, to accurately document and convey space dimensions for measured drawings, all utilities for affected areas, and utilities that traverse through affected areas, typical construction type and variations, and finishes. Survey work will also include a physical review and assessment of corrections to date and updating the SOC. This information provides the necessary base drawings for the Schematic Development phase of Design Development.

C. The A/E shall provide cost estimation, project scheduling & phasing, bid period and construction period services as further described in the contract.

D. The A/E shall provide bid document preparation in quantities as specified in the contract.

J. A/E shall develop and execute a Quality Assurance (QA) plan that demonstrates the team approach and methodology for design review and improvements, including well documented comments / issues and resulting corrections. The QA plan shall be submitted to the VA along with the project schedule and shall describe each QA task that will be taken during the development of the various design submission packages. The design QA effort shall be led by a senior AE designer and the QA team shall include (at a minimum) an architect and a senior engineer that is not performing actual design work on the project. Completion of each QA task shall be initialed and dated by the responsible QA team member. A 100% completed QA review along with redline markups shall be submitted with each corrected AE design submission. If QA comments have not been addressed and the appropriate corrections made to the submission package (drawings and specifications), the VA will reject the AE submission in its entirety.

K. A/E shall refer to Program Guide, PG 18-15, Volume C when preparing information to be included in each submittal. https://www.cfm.va.gov/til/aeDesSubReq.asp

L. A/E shall update facility life safety drawings and the fire alarm monitoring software.

M. Maintain an accurate SOC report. AE shall update the SOC to insure conditions are accurately reported. AE shall update and recertify the SOC report after surveying, after design completion and after construction.

IV. BASIS FOR DESIGN:

A. Department of Veterans Affairs standards may be obtained from the Internet at http://www.cfm.va.gov/TIL/ and referencing VA Office of Construction & Facilities Management Design Guides and Design Safety Alerts B. Comply with VA TIL, PG-18-3, Design and Construction Procedures C. Comply with VA TIL, PG-18-15, AE Design Submissions and Review. http://www.cfm.va.gov/til/aeDesSubReq.asp D. Any deviation from project requirements, standards or specifications shall be requested in writing and approved by VA. The deviation request shall include item for which deviation is requested and the reason or justification for deviation.

E. Insure proper life safety and VA accessibility requirements. Code Analysis will be clearly defined on the Index Sheet of the Construction Documents. There shall be a stamped life safety sheet(s). Reviewed by a 3rd party as part of another VA contract.

F. The awardee shall design within the construction budget provided at the time of contract award. The A/E design and estimate shall identify 20 percent of the total construction budget as viable deductive construction alternates by areas of work and/or phases. This will require individual estimates by clearly defined easily deductible areas or work. The construction rough order of magnitude for this project is $650,000 to $850,000.

G. Comply with the Physical Security design manuals for VA Facilities. Nashville is a Mission Critical facility.

L. Comply with current federal, international, and national building codes and applicable state, local, & building codes, as well as codes from other recognized authoritative bodies; including but not limited to Associated Air Balance Council (AABC), American Concrete Institute (ACI), Acoustical and Insulating Materials Association (AIMA), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), The Building Officials and Code Administrators International (BOCA), Gypsum Association (GA), International Building Code (IBC), NEC, NFPA, National Environmental Balancing Bureau (NEBB), National Standard Plumbing Code (NSPC), OSHA, Standard Building Code (SBC), Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), The Uniform Building Code (UBC), and Uniform Federal Accessibility Standard (UFAS), & Architectural Barriers Act Accessibility Standard (ABAAS), and other applicable codes.

V. DETAILED SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Program Guide PG-18-15, establishes the guidelines for the A/E submissions. Design shall be performed and submitted in accordance with VA AE Submission Instructions for Minor and NRM Construction Program. Refer to (http://www.cfm.va.gov/til/aeDesSubReq.asp). These guidelines indicate a minimum level for submission compliance, which may not be adequate for certain, types of design. In some instances, in which critical decisions need to be made, sufficient and relevant information must be provided timely for the design to progress to meet certain milestone dates. The level of applicability of the program guide depends upon the scope of work and the exclusions, which are herein specified. Questions in regards to the applicability of specific requirements shall be resolved with the medical center staff prior to any submission deadline. Where “days” are stated, this refers to “calendar” not “work” days.

A. At each submission, all drawings and support material shall be dated and appropriately labeled above the title block (the number of submission shall be adjusted according to the project size and scope):

Design Kick-off Meeting

1 Day

Government Review

5 Days

Government Review

5 Days

Government Review

5 Days

Government Review

3 Days

Government Review

3 Days

Total Design Time

120 days

B. VA submission review comments may be verbal, noted directly on review sets, or written list. The AE shall be responsible for compiling & addressing review comments. AE shall produce & distribute meeting notes or minutes for VA review immediately after each submission review meeting. The AE is responsible for running the meetings in person at the VA Campus where work is being performed, reproduction of all meeting materials for review and producing the agenda, attendance and full meeting minutes.

C. A/E shall furnish drawings with stamped Life Safety sheets. Sheets must be submitted to VA for 3rd party for review as part of a VA national contract. Anticipate 30 days for the 3rd party review. AE must address comments from 3rd Party review and make required corrections to the construction documents.

D. For each submission, furnish electronic files in the latest version of Microsoft Office and AutoCAD 2016. Also, submit 2 full size hardcopies and one half-size set of all drawing submissions.

E. The 100% construction documents submission will include a full set of construction documents including all disciplines/packages and will be sealed and signed by the Architects /Engineers of Record.

F. The final construction documents submission package will incorporate all VA supplied comments from the earlier submission package reviews. AE shall track comments and resolutions. Mark-ups shall be submitted with the corrected package.

G. If submission packages are not complete, they shall be rejected in their entirety. After corrections and completion, the A/E must resubmit the package in its entirety.

H. Construction Specifications - Project specifications shall include specifications for all products, materials, equipment, methods and systems shown on the construction drawings in accordance with standard professional practice and the resulting contract. The specification submitted for review shall include: The name of the manufacturer, the product name, model number, or other identification as appropriate to clearly identify the product that will be used in the construction.

I. Final bid documents shall be reproduced as part of the contract. To 2 full sets and 2 half set of the Construction Bid Documents are to be delivered to the COR. Electronic files of the Construction Bid Documents will be provided to the COR and Contracting Officer in PDFs and Word 2016 (specifications) and AutoCAD 2016 (drawings).

J. The required stamp of the licensed architect and/or engineer on each sheet will be considered as certification of compliance with the contract requirements.

K. Total time to accomplish Schematics, DDs, and CDs through final reproduced bid documents shall be 120 calendar days from the issuance of the Notice to Proceed. Each submission will require maximum 5 calendar days for VA review.

VII. CONSTRUCTION PERIOD SERVICE REQUIREMENTS:

A. Review of Submittals: A/E shall review all material submittals, shop drawings, test reports (as applicable), etc. Reviews shall be completed and submittals returned to the VA Project Engineer within 7 days of the A/E's receipt of the submittal.

B. Review Analysis of Requests for Information, Change Orders, and Costs: A/E shall provide prompt response when contacted by the Contracting Officer, or COR, to review and provide analysis of construction contractor requests for information; change orders; and resulting cost adjustments due to omissions, errors, ambiguities, etc.

C. The A/E, when requested, shall assist the Contracting Officer and COR to interpret the construction documents and shall recommend any action(s) deemed suitable for the satisfactory prosecution of the construction work; prepare any supplemental drawings, specifications or other documents that may be required to clarify or supplement the construction documents; and assess and prepare Construction Contract Modifications initiated by or through VA to be executed in accordance with the Construction Documents.

D. Site Visits: A/E shall provide 30 site visits (1 person for 3 hours) during the construction period, in addition to pre-bid conferences and final inspection. A site visit “unit” is defined as a visit to the site by one individual for any part of a day when requested by the Contracting Officer or an authorized representative. On this job, a site visit should last 3 hours and may require the use of multiple “units” when more than one individual or an extended period is needed to inspect an area of work. Only registered architects and engineers familiar with the project may make these site visits. The Contracting Officer Representative has the prerogative to determine the professional discipline(s) required for each site visit. The A/E shall notify the COR of their presence on site, before any work is performed, to document the number of individuals who are making the site visit. The A/E shall observe the construction, advise the COR of any deviations or deficiencies, and recommend appropriate corrective actions.

E. "Record Drawings" Requirement: A/E shall revise the solicitation documents if necessary and provide a complete set of all drawings showing actual, completed construction and reflecting any changes incorporated in the work on hard copy and on electronic media. Electronic media drawings shall be in PDF, AutoCAD 2016 and always electronically stamped. Compatibility means that data can be accessed directly by target system without translation or processing of data files. Final electronic media specifications shall be in Microsoft Word 2016 Format and PDF format.

VIII. MATERIALS TO BE FURNISHED TO THE A/E BY VA:

The following items will be furnished to the selected A/E :

A. Prints and available electronic media of the station utility drawings, site plans, and building floor plans). Station does not have electronic versions of utilities (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, etc). The accuracy of drawings is not guaranteed and shall be used for general information only. Actual conditions shall be field verified by the A/E.

B. Prints are made available to A/E at Nashville TVHS Projects Section. A/E is to view drawings needed and may remove (same business day) to make copies at an offsite location.

C. Life Safety 2016 Statement of Conditions

IX. Geographical Limitations:

A. A/E shall be able to respond to the Nashville VAMC Campus, Nashville, TN within four (4) hours should it be requested due to an emergency or some other important matter.