IRS_ECC_Cooling_Tower_SOW_03.22.2016.pdf

Internal Revenue Service - Enterprise Computing Center (ECC) Cooling Tower Replacement Project

Kearneysville, WV

Scope of Work:

The General Services Administration (GSA) has a requirement to replace the cooling tower systems at the IRS Enterprise Computer Center with new high-quality systems. The replacement cooling tower systems must conform with the design alternative selected by GSA and IRS after considering life cycle costs, initial construction costs, service life, water usage, and ease of access, operation, and maintenance, to the maximum extent possible. Replacement of the cooling towers system must not interfere with “mission-critical” operations performed by the IRS at this facility. The IRS facility is a secure site with limited access.

The Enterprise Computing Center (ECC) is a single-tenant campus composed of two (2) single-tenant buildings, the ECC Main Building and the ECC Annex, adjacent to WV Route 9 approximately five (5) miles east of Martinsburg, WV. Both buildings are occupied solely by the Internal Revenue Service. Sections of both buildings of the Enterprise Computing Center (ECC) are “mission critical” to the Internal Revenue Service and operate continuously on a 24/7/365 basis. This includes spaces that house Automated Data Processing (ADP) operations and the MEP systems that support them. As planned and built, the ECC Main Building is a 400,000 sf facility consisting of three distinct, inter-connected buildings: a 3-story Office building with attached auditorium, a 2-story Automatic Data Processing (or “ADP”) building containing complex computer equipment, and a Warehouse. Construction of the ECC was substantially completed in April, 1999. Construction of a new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) plant addition adjacent to the Warehouse building, including the replacement of a majority of the MEP plant equipment serving the facility, reached substantial completion in May, 2013.

The facility’s chilled water plant equipment is considered to be “mission critical” by the IRS. The plant must reliably operate year round without interruption to provide cooling to the 24/7/365 computer room spaces in the facility. Computer loads represent over half of the total cooling load for the facility. As such, the chilled water plant equipment has been designed and constructed with redundancy built in, to avoid single points of failure and allow any piece of equipment to be replaced with an alternate unit in the event of any equipment problems. Most of the chilled water plant equipment, including the chillers and their associated pumps, were replaced in 2012 under the MEP Addition Project and installed in the main mechanical room in lower level of the new addition to the building. However, the cooling towers are original to the building and are quickly approaching the end of their useful life. Failure of the cooling tower systems represents an unacceptable risk to IRS operations at this facility.

In addition to normal deterioration, the cooling towers have experienced numerous problems with excessive scale build-up during their service life, which has shortened their service life and has resulted in the need to blow down the cooling towers more frequently than normal. This in turn has led to excessive water usage, a condition that is inconsistent with the Government’s policy of conserving water at its facilities. In the past full year, the cooling towers required 3.6 million gallons of make-up water from a local utility between evaporation, drift, and blow-down cycles.

The replacement cooling towers and associated options have been fully designed by Greenman- Pedersen, Inc. to meet or exceed GSA P-100 standards. The prospective firm shall have relevant recent experience in this type of construction. Replacement of cooling towers is not typically considered a complex construction activity however this project has a number of complicating factors that move it into a higher realm of complexity. This project will occur in a fully occupied building therefore the work must be both phased and conducted in a manner that does not disrupt the tenant and on-going business operations. All mechanical shutdowns must be closely coordinated with the client and GSA. In addition to these complicating factors, the project includes a number of options to include redundant systems. Furthermore, the project includes installation of a pre-fabricated building to be used as an electrical sub-station and various types of site work.