The Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS) contracts for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance for approximately 3 million GSF of owned and 1 million GSF of leased building space. The portfolio of 240± state-owned buildings across Vermont includes standard office space, client-service buildings, police barracks, courthouses, laboratories, mental health care facilities, and correctional facilities. BGS needs Design Standards that are enforceable across this diverse building space and infrastructure, comprehensively compliant and robust, and characterized as having high utility and ease of use for consultant architects and designers. BGS currently employs ‘Design Guidelines’ developed in-house and utilized by consultants in the preparation of project designs. However, lack of internal resource capacity to complete and maintain the guidelines renders this effort as non-sustainable. In addition, there is a desire to expand as required and to incorporate current BGS CAD requirements, Floor and Space Standards, and Space Standards into comprehensive BGS Design Standards. The planned approach and execution of document development is critical for success. This includes but is not limited to: benchmarking with other state and federal facilities management departments and agencies; conducting research to ensure exhaustive compliance with current state, federal, and industry regulations, codes, and standards; effectively communicating with and soliciting feedback from stakeholders and subject matter experts both internal and external to BGS; presenting a conceptual plan for Design Standards development and maintenance; providing recommendations for format and curation of final document deliverables; and providing guidance and support for an initial maintenance cycle. Links to reference documents are provided in Section 8. These links are provided as reference only to sample design standards amenable to document organization and characteristics desired by the State, and not as an indication of a specific desired finished product.
