Guidance and Tools

Guidance

• The High Performance and Sustainable Buildings Guidance approved by the Office of Management and Budget describes the Guiding Principles for new construction and major renovations, existing buildings, and leases.
• Reclamation's Sustainable Building Team developed the Interpretation of the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings -- Existing Buildings to provide Reclamation interpretation of the minimum requirements for achieving the Guiding Principles within existing building assets.  The guidance also provides information on sustainable building concepts, issues, strategies, and resources for achieving the Guiding Principles as well as Reclamation-specific initiatives.
  • Memorandum from the Director, Policy and Administration
  • Interpretation of the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings -- Existing Buildings

Tools

In accordance with the U.S. Department of the Interior requirements, Reclamation has developed the ReclamationGuiding Principles Checklist for New Construction (RGPC - NC) and the Reclamation Guiding Principles Checklist for Existing Buildings (RGPC - EB) as tools for assessing and documenting compliance with each of the Guiding Principle requirements.  The checklists document completion of sustainable building assessments and the associated level of compliance with the Guiding Principles.

Reclamation Building Principles Checklist for New Construction (RGPC - NC)

Reclamation Guiding Principles Checklist for Existing Buildings (RGPC - EB)

In addition to the Guiding Principles, Federal laws such as the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) stipulate energy use, water use, metering, commissioning and leasing requirements, among others, for new and renovated Federal facilities.  These legal requirements either compliment, or are in addition to, the Guiding Principles and are required based on facility attributes.  The following “decision guides” can help managers, and project and design determine the sustainability requirements of a particular building or structure.

Sustainable Design Decision Guide - Buildings

Sustainable Design Decision Guide - Structures

Additional Resources

Reclamation has an internal SharePoint site with additional tools and resources for Reclamation employees.