Federal Government Projects Require a Registered Fire Protection Engineer

When working on Federal Government projects, you are required to have a registered Fire Protection Engineer on your team.

Federal Government agencies have specific required roles for FPEs:

• U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Facility Standards for the Public Buildings Service (PBS-P100) Section 7.1.3 states that the design team fire protection engineer is required to be a full participant in each phase of the project, including design, construction and occupancy. Each of the 11 GSA regions employs regional fire protection engineers that are responsible for issuing certificates of occupancy. The GSA regional fire protection will look to the design team fire protection engineer to fill these required roles and illustrate compliance.

• Veterans Affairs (VA) Directive 2005-07 Section 5.1 states that the Architect/Engineer is required to retain the services of a fire protection engineer on major and minor construction projects, and all non-reoccurring maintenance projects where 50% of the scope of work involves fire protection. The fire protection engineer is required to be directly involved with the design of fire protection systems, review of all building systems related to coordination with the fire protection systems, and field verification of proper installation and operation. In addition, the VA Fire Protection Design Manual 10NS, 5th Edition applies to all VA projects and requires a third party with knowledge of the applicable fire protection criteria, such as a fire protection engineer, to be included on the project to verify the design meets the applicable criteria.

• Military agencies, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Naval Facilities Engineer Command (NAVFAC), follow UFC-3-600-01, Fire Protection Engineering for Facilities. Section 1-5 of this document states that major projects or projects involving fire protection systems are required to have the services of a qualified fire protection engineer. The qualified FPE is required to be an integral part of the design team that is directly involved in building code analysis, life safety code analysis, fire protection system design, and multi discipline reviews of the entire project. Section 1-6 requires an FPE be involved during construction that is responsible for the inspection and testing of both active and passive fire protection systems.

Unlike your traditional municipality, government agencies rely heavily on the required FPE to illustrate compliance to their Authorities Having Jurisdiction. Don’t put your certificate of occupancy at risk by neglecting to meet these requirements.

For immediate help and an RJA Qualifications Package, contact Jack Brady at (301) 490-3901 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).