Commissioning Process Planning and Pre-Design
Pre-design is where the CxA earns leverage. The core deliverable is the Commissioning Plan: a living document defining scope, systems to be commissioned, roles and responsibilities, deliverables, schedule milestones, budget, communication protocols, and acceptance criteria. Before the plan, the CxA helps the owner develop the OPR, capturing measurable goals for indoor environmental quality, energy performance, reliability, maintainability, and training.
Understand the OPR's characteristics: quantifiable, prioritized, and owned by the owner. Vague aspirations ("comfortable and efficient") are a trap; questions reward converting them into measurable criteria the FPT can test. Another trap is assuming the CxA writes the OPR alone; the CxA facilitates, but the owner must approve and own it. Also know the Cx scope should be set early so budgets and contracts include it, and that the Cx Plan is updated as the project evolves, not frozen at kickoff.
Rule of thumb: if a goal cannot be measured or witnessed, it is not yet an OPR requirement. Worked example: an owner says it wants "good air quality and low energy." The CxA facilitates: outdoor-air ventilation rates per the design, CO2 setpoints for demand control, and an energy target expressed as a percentage better than code baseline. These become testable acceptance criteria written into the Cx Plan, so later FPT procedures and documentation have a clear benchmark.