HB1874: Value engineering; separate study/report not required for certain projects.
HOUSE BILL NO. 1874
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 2.2-1133 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 2.2-1133. Use of value engineering.
A. The Division shall ensure that value engineering is
employed for any capital project costing more than five $5 million
dollars. Value engineering may also be used for any project
costing five $5
million dollars or less. For purposes
of this section, "value engineering" means a systematic process of
review and analysis of a capital project by a team of persons not originally
involved in the project. Such team, which shall include appropriate
professionals licensed in accordance with Chapter 4 (§ 54.1-400 et seq.) of
Title 54.1, may offer suggestions that would improve project quality and reduce
total project cost by combining or eliminating inefficient or expensive parts
or steps in the original proposal or by totally redesigning the project using
different technologies, materials, or methods.
B. The review developed pursuant to subsection A shall be
compiled in a value engineering report and submitted to the Division. Each item
included in the value engineering report shall have a status designation of
accepted, declined, or accepted as modified. The Division, within 45 days, must
approve the value engineering report before the project may move to the next
phase of design. For
C. A separate
value engineering study and report shall not be required for projects that (i) are designed utilizing either the
design-build or construction manager at risk construction delivery method, and (ii) have the value engineering process as an integral
component, and (iii) have been
granted an appropriate waiver by the Director of the Department of General
Services, a representative designated by the Director shall participate in all
cost savings decisions before modifications to the design may be finalized of those delivery methods. In such
cases, a summary of the cost savings that have been incorporated into the
design shall be provided to the Division prior to
the award of the construction contract.
C. D. The
Director of the Department may waive the requirements of this section for any
proposed capital project for compelling reasons. Any waiver shall be in
writing, state the reasons for the waiver, and apply only to a single capital
project. On or before September 15 of each year, the Director of the Department
shall report to the Governor and the General Assembly on the (i) number and
value of the capital projects where value engineering was employed and (ii)
identity of the capital projects for which a waiver of the requirements of this
section was granted, including a statement of the compelling reasons for
granting the waiver. The report shall cover projects completed or for which a
waiver was granted within the previous fiscal year.
D. E. Notwithstanding any law to
the contrary, the provisions of this section shall apply to public institutions
of higher education in Virginia.