Who should hire the Commissioning Authority?
Ideally, the Commissioning Authority is an independent and objective owner’s representative who ensures the project is fully functional from design, installation and end use viewpoints. For this reason, we believe the Commissioning Authority should be hired by and report to the facility owner. Some owners have chosen instead to have the Commissioning Authority work for the general contractor or project architect. While we believe this is less than ideal, this approach can be successfully implemented through the use of detailed specification sections, which outline responsibilities among the various project team members. In no case should the Commissioning Authority be hired by any subcontractor or have any conflict of interest that may diminish the objectivity of the process.
