Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
DEVELOPMENT OF BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR NEW CONSTRUCTION AND MAJOR RENOVATION PROJECTS AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH John Pavlides National Institutes of Health Department of Health and Human Services Before a budget request for design and construction of new facilities or major renovation projects is submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, Public Health Service (PHS) policy requires the completion and approval of a Program of Requirements (POR). This document justifies the project and helps assure there is adequate consideration of programmatic, architectural, and engineering requirements. A project with a well defined scope is essential to the preparation of a cost estimate. The approach used by individual PHS programs to develop the budget cost estimate, based on the POR, varies. However, the procedures of the National Institutes of Health are fairly representative of the procedures of most PHS programs (including the Indian Health Service and the Food and Drug Administration). The Facilities Engineering Branch of the Division of Engineering Services of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is responsible for preparing budget estimates for major new construction and renovation projects for NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. The Division also has responsibility for new construction and for repair and improvement projects at NIH facilities in Montana, Florida, and North Carolina. Programs of requirements, if available, for major new construction and renovation projects are first reviewed with respect to similarity to previous construction or renovation projects. Consequently, if there is great similarity, actual cost experience is the first comparison parameter. The Historical Cost Index in the Building Construction Cost Data Manual published by the R.S. Means Company (Kingston, Massachusetts) is 27
extrapolated to project the cost to the planned bid opening date. The City Cost Index in the same manual is used to adjust the construction cost estimate for geographic location. Other R.S. Means Company manuals (e.g. Site Work Cost Data and Square Foot Costs) are used to check estimates and as a source of additional cost data. Consideration is also given to cost trends in the Building Cost Index of the Engineering News Record- the Smith Hinchman & Grylls Building Cost Index- and Richardson Engineering Services' General Construction Estimating Standards. Finally, the cumulative professional experience and judgment of the consultants in the Facilities Engineering Branch focuses on the estimate. The Branch forwards its estimate of this project cost to NIH top level management. 28
