BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - February 2, 2009) - The U.S. Food & Drug Administration selected VFA, Inc., a leading provider of end-to-end solutions for facilities capital planning and asset management, to assess the condition of its buildings and identify opportunities for greening existing facilities. VFA is working with the FDA to integrate sustainability objectives into its criteria for evaluating capital projects, and to implement a process for generating capital budgets that incorporates green priorities.
The assessment program combines VFA Facility Condition Assessments with Green Building Assessments. VFA will provide the FDA with an evaluation of the physical condition of approximately 46 buildings that the agency owns, which were previously assessed by VFA in 2005. In addition, VFA will provide an analysis of greening opportunities in key areas such as energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality and water conservation.
"Federal agencies are increasingly focused on reducing their carbon footprint and promoting sustainable building operations, as outlined in Executive Order 13423. However, they must consider greening initiatives in the context of many other priorities," said Jerry Kokos, president and CEO of VFA, Inc. "The FDA recognizes the importance of integrating sustainability programs into its long-term capital plan to reduce total cost of ownership and promote sustainable operations."
The FDA is utilizing VFA's Capital Budget Development solution to support the incorporation of greening priorities into the agency's capital planning process. The FDA, which uses VFA.facility® software for capital asset management and planning, is employing the software's Budgets module to generate capital budgets based on a variety of organizational priorities, including the greening of existing building operations.
FDA buildings in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Maryland and Puerto Rico are included in the current assessment. The facilities include laboratories, office buildings, storage facilities and maintenance shops.
The approach used to evaluate greening requirements in FDA facilities combines VFA's best-practice Green Building Assessment Services with the methodology developed by the Department of Health and Human Services' Sustainability Working Group, which incorporates the guiding principles of Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings.
About VFA
Headquartered in Boston, VFA, Inc. is the leading provider of end-to-end solutions for facilities capital planning and asset management. VFA solutions uniquely combine facility assessment services, Web-based software and business consulting services to enable customers to manage every stage of the capital asset lifecycle -- from requirements gathering and long-term planning to capital budget creation and spend management. More than 400 organizations in corporate, education, government and healthcare markets have relied on VFA solutions to strategically manage their capital assets. VFA's flagship software product, VFA.facility®, is currently used to manage more than 2 billion square feet of real estate. For more information, please call 800-693-3132 or visit http://www.vfa.com.
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