A project can be initiated when a client contacts the Facilities Work Request Center by phone, email, or by submitting a Work Request Form via the Work Request Center Web page. Some projects are initiated by direct client contact with Facilities Division management. Requests for work may also originate via the LBNL Corrective Action Tracking System (CATS). The CATS database is an online tool that enables LBNL employees to identify, track, and resolve issues and their associated corrective actions. The database includes a feature to route corrective actions for the Facilities Division through the Maximo Work Order system. Facilities reviews certain Work Orders generated via CATS and vets them internally within Facilities and through the Institutional CATS Committee to determine the appropriate funding source and prioritization.
A project can also be initiated when funding is appropriated by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) management for General Plant Projects/Institutional General Plant Projects (GPP/IGPP), or by the Department of Energy (DOE) for Line Item Projects (LIP). Facilities assesses the extent and complexity of the project, and then assigns the project to the appropriate Project Manager. The Project Manager contacts the client to acknowledge receipt of the project request, and begins communications with the client to determine the scope of the project. This scope will evolve into an Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) document utilized within the Commissioning Process.
A major source of construction projects is the LBNL Unified Facilities Infrastructure Project Call (UniCall). The UniCall provides programmatic and infrastructure organizations with the opportunity to examine their operational needs and submit prioritized candidate proposals of the following categories:
2.8.1 General Plant Projects (GPPs)/Institutional General Plant Projects (IGPPs)
- GPPs/IGPPs are miscellaneous minor new construction projects of a general nature, the total estimated costs of which may not exceed the congressionally established limit (currently $10 million). GPP funds come directly from DOE. IGPP funds are derived from the conversion of Laboratory operating funds to capital funds under certain strict provisions.
- GPPs/IGPPs require approval of the DOE Berkeley Site Office (BSO) using a Construction Directive Authorization (CDA) form. The Facilities Business Manager facilitates this process.
- GPPs/IGPPs provide for design or construction (or both), additions and improvements to land, buildings, and utility systems, and they may include the construction of small new buildings, replacements or additions to roads, and general area improvements.
- GPP/IGPP funds are not intended to be used in incremental segments to construct larger facilities. Care should be exercised to ensure that each specific project is a discrete, stand-alone entity. Each project is to result in the delivery of a complete and usable facility, including the initial complement of equipment required for the facility to meet its intended purpose.
- The U.S. Comptroller General has established as federal policy that, in general, the federal government may not make permanent improvements to land or buildings not federally owned. Therefore, GPP funds cannot be used for projects involving off-site leased and University of California campus facilities.
- GPPs/IGPPs are capitalized and result in betterments to land or facilities.
2.8.2 Non-Capital Alterations (NCAs)
Alterations are adjustments to interior arrangements or other physical characteristics of an existing facility so that it may be more effectively adapted to or used for its designated purpose. Alterations do not result in betterments. Examples of alterations are as follows:
- Removal or installation of interior walls for purposes of rearranging the layout of an office building, and incidental heating and ventilation ducting system modifications that do not significantly extend the capacity of the system;
- Construction of a door or passage through an interior structural wall;
- Installation of new lighting fixtures that do not significantly increase the lumens emitted but may result in energy or maintenance savings.
- NCA or operating funds may be used for "improvements to the property of others" such as projects in off-site-leased and University of California Campus facilities.
- NCAs are not capitalized.
2.8.3 General Purpose Equipment (GPE)
GPE funds are designated for institutional project support. Research-oriented equipment, which is normally funded with programmatic funds, may not be purchased with GPE funds. The following limits apply to GPE purchases:
- Equipment must not be permanently affixed to the real estate and must be removable without seriously damaging or diminishing the functional value of either the real estate or the items themselves, for example:
- Heavy equipment, including vehicles, processing or manufacturing machinery, and shop machinery;
- Automated data-processing equipment, including computers, printers, operating system software, and interface peripherals.
- Equipment must exceed a minimum cost threshold and useful life. Consult with the Facilities Business Manager for current criteria.
- Equipment installation costs should not exceed $2 million or 20% of the total equipment cost (construction funds should be used to pay for installation costs exceeding those amounts).
- GPEs are capitalized.
The Facilities Division analyzes and estimates candidate projects. This process is described further in Appendix C, UniCall Scoping and Estimating. Laboratory Leadership makes funding decisions and advises Division Directors of the approved projects.
2.8.3 Other
DCM also manages larger maintenance projects that fall into these categories:
- Maintenance Investment Index (MII) projects are institutionally-approved projects for plant and equipment items, other than those items on the deferred maintenance list.
- Deferred Maintenance Reduction (DMR) projects are institutionally-approved projects for plant and equipment items listed on the deferred maintenance list.
