Solutions Contracting
SOLUTIONS
Energy Services Contracting
Tampa Bay Trane’s Energy Services vary widely and depend greatly on the HVAC system that the customer currently has in place, the number of years he has in his business time-horizon and the availability of funds.
Some projects involve a complete building analysis while others simply focus on a key part of the facility such as the chiller plant or the buildings current control system.
Samples of work that has evolved on past jobs include:
Building Re-commissioning
Chiller Plant Control System upgrades
Pumping System Analysis
Control System Analysis
Remote or Virtual System Monitoring
Equipment Replacements
Our approach to Energy Services is most often modular in design, but it can also encompass a complete package of projects scheduled over an extended time period. Our goal is to work with each customer and the budget to systematically reduce and control energy and maintenance costs. Typically we start by addressing the customer’s biggest and most challenging issue…..be it occupant comfort, high utility costs, or system reliability. We work to try to bring prompt resolution to this “Big Issue” and then move forward working with the customer to institute a series of improvements that will reduce the building’s operating costs over a 2-5 year time period.
Turnkey, Fixed-Price Contracting
If the scope of your project requires a fixed and hard price then Turnkey Fixed Price Contracting is a good fit. It’s straight forward and clean and places the full responsibility with Tampa Bay Trane to deliver a specific completed project at a firm price. Turnkey Fixed Price Contracts do not include a guarantee of energy savings though frequently energy savings is one of the main objectives and a key result of the project. With Turnkey, Fixed Price Contracts the owner does not require nor receive a guarantee of energy savings nor is he faced with the administrative burden nor the substantial costs which are associated with such guarantees. Turnkey, Fixed-Price Contracting projects that we have completed include: Complete University Campus Chilled Water System, Replacement Centrifugal Chillers, Replacement of Air Handlers, Pumping System upgrade, and an all new Controls System.
Cost, Plus-a-Fee Contracting
Our Cost-Plus-A-Fee Contracting delivers the same upgrades as Turnkey, Fixed-Price Contracting but the customer assumes more risk because our billing for the project is based on our actual cost plus a fee, not on an estimate of cost as with the Turnkey approach where Tampa Bay Trane assumes the risk that the work can be done for the estimated price or less. The Cost-Plus-a-Fee is recommended if the customer does not need a hard fix price for the project or if there are significant unknowns associated with the project or because of the customer’s uncertainty of the final scope.
With Cost-Plus-a-fee Contracting, Tampa Bay Trane provides a full accounting of all time and all material used on the project and shares all vendor invoices.
Performance Contracting
Performance Contracting is an option for owners of existing buildings who wish to upgrade their HVAC systems but who may lack the capital budget and on-staff management skills necessary to complete the work. Performance Contracting transactions takes the money that was formerly spent on large utility bills and uses those monies to “buy” the capital dollars (make the principal and interest payments) required to actually bring about these savings. Thus the customer can upgrade its facility with no out-of-pocket expenditure of funds and no risk that the solution that has been selected will generate the energy savings projected.
In simple terms building energy upgrades are implemented.....this frees up funds that formerly went to pay large utility bills.....these energy savings dollars are then used instead to make payments to a third party financing company who provides the needed upfront capital for the needed capital improvements in the form of a long term (10-20 year) lease.
The performance contractor (Trane/Tampa Bay Trane) insures the success of the project by working with the customer to determine what energy changes make financial and operation sense, assembling the right materials and human resources to execute the project, supervising the project installation, provides on going maintenance to insure on going savings and then guaranteeing the actual energy savings that are projected. If the savings come in below the amount guaranteed, the performance contractor writes the owner a check for the difference. If the savings exceed the guaranteed amount, the owner keeps all of the excess savings.
Sound too good to be true. It's not. Customers such as the City of St. Petersburg, the Tampa Bay Rays, Polk County Government, Hernando County Schools and Hillsborough County Government are just a few of the organizations that have selected performance contracting as their preferred method to upgrade their aging buildings.
Laws passed by the Florida Legislature authorize Florida school systems and most state and local government institutions to utilize performance contracting for upgrading their facilities. Many privately owned businesses also see Performance Contracting as a no-risk business proposition.
Trane offers performance contracting through its PACT (Performance Agreement for Comfort from Trane) Agreement. A PACT agreement is a Trane product and is a contract between Trane and the customer. Trane provides the complete written guarantee. Tampa Bay Trane acts as Trane's agent and takes on the full local responsibility for the execution of the contract. While it is Tampa Bay Trane who works with the customer to develop and execute this business, the actual contract (with the required deep pockets guarantee) is between Trane and our customer.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification. The LEED program has greatly increased the focus on building designs that minimize energy use and interact comfortably with the surrounding environment. Tampa Bay Trane has been actively supporting LEED activities in the Tampa Bay Area and is a strong supporter of the local USGBC (US Green Building Council) Chapter which is responsible for developing this program. A member of Tampa Bay Trane’s Staff has taught the LEED AP (Accredited Professional) course to over 250 local professionals. Six members of Tampa Bay Trane’s staff have earned their LEED AP designations and thus we are now positioned to support our customers’ efforts to earn LEED Building Certification.
