|
|
NS-CCCB MEETING MINUTES BALTIMORE - NOVEMBER 6-7, 1996 CHAIRMAN'S OPENING REMARKS The meeting started at 8:30am on Wednesday, November 6th. Pete Allen the current chairperson opened the meting with greetings and thank you's to all the attendees. Kenny Hudson was thanked for hosting the meeting and arranging the fine accommodations. WELCOME FROM HOST Kenny Hudson gave a brief statement and welcomed all the attendees to Baltimore. All
those present introduced themselves and gave the location of their respective centers. PREVIOUS ACTION ITEMS Carl Smildsin gave a brief run through on previous action items. ACTION: The lead center was to update the Mastertext to the new CSI MASTERFORMAT ACTION: Each NASA center was to use one of the sections previously assigned and complete a tailoring evaluation. ACTION: Using the same list of assigned sections the NASA centers were to review them for possible submittal reductions and updates or elimination of the references. ACTION: The lead center is to provide information to the board members on how they can get their local sections added to the CCCB disc. ACTION: The board members were to try out the new SPECSINTACT homepage and provide input to the lead center. ACTION: The lead center was tasked to review and update the references in the Mastertext for most current dates and correctness. ACTION: The lead center was to continue work on the Executive Orders as one of their primary tasks. MASTERFORMAT CHANGES Carl Smildsin gave a report from the lead center on the work that was completed in response to the CSI - MASTERFORMAT changes. A table was distributed to the board members showing the number, title and division changes that have been implemented. A discussion about section #01090 "Sources For Reference Publications" and the choice of a new number. It was decided that for now the NASA will keep using 01090 and with the Army will petition the SI-CCCB to use 01425. This number it is felt more in line with the CSI numbering system than the 01420 that the Navy has chosen. It is important that there is some agreement on this section because it is hard coded into the system so that reports can be properly run. The Navy has chosen 01420 which is simply "References" and it is felt that this does not properly identify the content or intent of the section. It was also decided that the centers be made aware that the new numbers are going on the CCB disc starting with #38 and that they should start new jobs with disc #38 and continue to use earlier releases for work that has already been started. ACTION: The lead center will put the change notice of sections, titles and divisions for the new CSI MASTERFORMAT on the Internet for user information. ACTION: Kenny Hudson will work up a recommendation about starting new jobs with #38 and completing current jobs with older versions, this will be given to users. The target date for completion is 12/15/96. ACTION: The NS-CCCB will work with the Army to present the case on the desired section number and will bring that as an issue for resolution at the next SI-CCCB. REFERENCE UPDATE Carl Smildsin gave a report from the lead center on the update status of the references in the Mastertext. This action was one of the major efforts completed by the lead center since the last NS-CCCB meeting at JPL in March of this year. Art Morey from Goddard gave a brief presentation on the effort that has been under way at Goddard to update the local reference library. Art explained that they are using the Mastertext references that are specified and checking their issue dates with the agencies and are also trying to have all documents that are specified in the NASA specs added to their local library. After a lengthy discussion the board decided that it would be in the best interest of NASA to drop the date from the references and include in the specifications a statement indicating that the references that should be followed are the references that are current and valid at the time the bid is released. This will take approval from all three agencies. ACTION: Kenny Hudson will work on the statement and location and will
coordinate the proposal with the board for presentation at the next SI-CCCB. This
statement will state that the references used in the specifications will be the latest
issue as of the bid release date. The target date for completion is 1/15/97. NIBS PRESENTATION Earl Kennett from the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) gave a very informative presentation. In January of 1997 the CCCB subscription will be lowered to $250 per year. The industry is also in the process of standardizing the format of the discs. At some point in the future this will mean that new disc readers will have to be bought to read the new format. Mr. Kennett gave a good presentation on what the action group from NIBS is doing with regards to the pre-approval program for building products and why some think that this will save time and money during the design and construction process. This committee was attended once by Tom Hinshaw and was for a period of time put on hold, anyone who would like to participate in some of the reviews can do so and the cost of travel to and from DC will be covered by NIBS. If interested, contact Earl Kennett at NIBS. ACTION: If anyone is interested in participating in this working committee they need to contact Earl Kennett. Expenses will be paid by NIBS. Phone 202-289-2800 FAX 202-289-1092. ACTION: Any center that would like to add their locals to the CCCB disc can do so by requesting in writing to Earl Kennett at NIBS. ACTION: The board members are to analyze the concept of the pre-approved
product program and make recommendations to Al Lew as to whether this is something that
they believe the NASA design/construction community would find advantageous and would
support. Al Lew will compile the input from the board members and distribute back to the
board. SUBMITTAL REDUCTION Frank Der gave a brief presentation with slides to refresh the board on the past discussions that set the ground work for reducing some of the submittals from the Mastertext. After a roundtable discussion by the board it was decided that the 'certificates of compliance' are not required by most of the centers. This is one SD that can be removed from most sections. The board will continue to review their respective assigned sections to look for more SD's to remove in the future. ACTION: The board will continue with their task of looking for and recommending submittals that can be removed from the Mastertext using their assigned sections. ACTION: The lead center will review the Mastertext and submit to the board for approval those sections that are determined to have submittals that can be removed. TAILORING OPTIONS After a lengthy discussion it was decided that the tailoring option is not something that the NASA board wants to spend any time or money on at this time. Since the Navy is going ahead with their effort on tailoring it was felt that a 'wait and see' policy for NASA is what will be followed. ACTION: NASA will wait and see how the Navy tailoring works before making any decision on whether to proceed with this effort. ENGINEERING OVERVIEW Carl Smildsin presented an overview of what has been accomplished by the engineering group since the last NS-CCCB. A copy of the NASA centers usage charts was distributed to the board members for their use and information. There were 189 sections with reference updates, 4 sections had metric revisions, 82 sections had reference referral updates, 14 - 1620 changes were completed, 146 sections were changed in accordance with the new CSI/MASTERFORMAT and the work on the executive orders remained a top priority. ACTION: The lead center will in the future start using the homepage as a media to report the status of the engineering 1620's. TRI-AGENCY REPORT Pete Allen and Pat Robinson shared with the board the activities of the tri-agency meeting two weeks earlier. A general comment was that the board was very pleased with the improvements that have been made on the SGML editor. This new and improved version is out on the latest disc and the agencies are encouraging their users to make this their first choice when using SPECSINTACT. The budget from the agencies is stable for the coming year, but with all the effort that is continually going into reducing federal spending, it will be even more important for each agency to find creative ways to justify the money used for SPECSINTACT. GIS UPDATE AND AGENCY DOWNSIZING Al Lew from NASA HQ gave a brief GIS update and then gave the board some insight as to what is happening with the NASA downsizing effort. After the first of the year there is expected to be a reduction in headquarters staff in all codes. It seems as if the reductions throughout the agency will be continuing. This presentation led into the next agenda item..the budget and concerns of where the money will be coming from in the future. Going to full cost accounting will mean that all costs will be accounted for against specific programs including the specifications. These details are being worked out at the centers. BUDGET DISCUSSION Al Lew explained what the new agency policies will be concerning cost accounting and the budgets. It would seem that in the near future with the 'strategic management plan' and 'full cost accounting' going into effect that the budget for projects will be the responsibility of the individual NASA centers and will be charged against specific projects/programs. In other words the centers will have to recognize where the funds for such things as SPECSINTACT would come from and the centers will have to share in financial responsibility if they want to keep the program working. Al asked for help in justifying some of the costs and reasons why it is desirable to keep SPECSINTACT alive and well. NIBS is looking at getting all the references on the CCB. Currently about 50% of the references available are on the CCB. The remainder would have to bee paid for by subscription. The goal would be to have all references on the CCB that are necessary to do a project. ACTION: The NASA SPECSINTACT managers are to review the list of reference standards that they use and identify the yearly cost to maintain these references and forward this information to Al Lew by 12/20/96. The information will be used to compile a master list of references everyone needs and to assess if all of them can be put in one location at a lesser cost. REVIEW OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS Odean Serrano from NASA HQ, Code JE and Diana Hawkins from EG&G gave an in depth presentation on the various executive orders that are currently being worked by the lead center. Executive order #12856 which involves the use of recycled materials in building products was discussed and the highlights of the order were outlined by Odean. There was quite a bit of discussion concerning all of the orders, but this one in particular received a great deal of input from the board members. Specifically the reporting requirements from each center concerning quantities of recycled materials used in the course of the year. Odean was very sympathetic to the concerns voiced by the SPECSINTACT managers and asked that these concerns be forwarded to her so that she can use them when assisting in the policy formulation with the EPA and governing federal agencies. As she stated at the meeting, it is not the desire of her organization to place undo hardships or add justified tasks on the center construction management. Now that we have gotten all the players in the same room, we can together come up with a system that will satisfy the executive order reporting and compliance needs and also keep the center effort within reason. Communication between the centers and Odean will be the key to this end. Diana Hawkins presented a very thorough overview of what is required of the executive order #12873 which deals with the elimination and/or replacement of hazardous materials in the design and construction process. Although many products have been identified as hazardous, it was decided that in the final composition and as used in the construction arena these products are not currently hazardous. An example of this is PVC. As used in construction, the final product, PVC pipe, is not a danger, but during manufacturing the elements contained therein are potentially hazardous. The global concern is to try and eventually replace these products when substitutes with equal or better quality and performance if standards are available. For the current tasking response to the executive order the lead center will identify the products that are within the scope of the executive order and make every effort to remove or replace them as necessary. This involves for the most part certain gases and liquids used for cleaning or others functions during the construction process. Carl Smildsin gave an overview of what has been going on with the energy reduction order #12902. Cindy Castilow the EG&G engineer that left EG&G earlier this year was working with Rich Wickman at NASA HQ and was updating the Mastertext as changes came through from Rich. At the current time the federal government is looking at all energy using products and equipment and rating them in accordance with their energy usage. After all products in a specific area are analyzed the top 25% rating is identified as the desired standard for use in government work. As these ratings are passed along to the lead center, the specifications are updated to reflect these standards. ACTION: Odean Serrano will keep the SPECSINTACT managers on her distribution list as she does mailouts that may involve areas of concern at their centers. ACTION: The SPECSINTACT managers should forward to Carsten Goff at NASA HQ any points of concern on the environmental issues regarding the use of recycled materials and the documentation requirements. Carsten Goff-Code JE, NASA HQ, Washington , D.C. / E-Mail - cgoff@mail.hq.nasa.gov Phone 202-358-0007 FAX 202-358-3090 ACTION: NASA centers are to use the Internet locations to review lists of materials and environmental requirements. See the handouts from Diana Hawkins at the meeting for Internet addresses. ACTION: Diana Hawkins will continue to work the executive orders and will review the Mastertext to identify divisions and sections as they relate to the "CPG" list and submit findings to the board for review. ACTION: The lead center will refine the current list of hazardous materials using sound engineering judgment. A determination will be made as to whether the materials are hazardous in their current state as used or whether the hazard is during the manufacturing or fabrication process. This refined list will be sent to the NASA centers for review and possible input from the local level for elimination or replacement of the identified materials. ACTION: The SPECSINTACT managers are to have the Division 15/16 sections that were prepared by Diana Hawkins for the executive order, reviewed and responses sent back to the lead center by December 1st, 1996. RELIABILITY CENTERED MAINTENANCE (RCM) Kenny Hudson brought in a guest speaker from Goddard to give the board a presentation on RCM and what is currently being done at Goddard. This was a very informative technical presentation on how equipment is being balanced during installation and how important that can be to increasing the life cycle. RCM is a program that is being endorsed from the highest levels in NASA and each center has programs at one stage or another in operation. ACTION: Frank Der is going to check on the status of the KSC effort to incorporate RCM concerns into the Mastertext and will relate this information back to the board members. CENTER CONCERNS The question was asked by Pete Allen "where do you see SPECSINTACT going in the future?" The board responded with the following items: 1-Overall happy with SGML editor and look forward to further improvements in performance 2-Would like to see the system and text available on the Internet 3-Include the bid documents on the Net 4-Link of SPECSINTACT and CAD 5-Diversify the customer base for SPECSINTACT, enlarge!! Obtain other financial relief as federal budgets become tighter. HOME PAGE PRESENTATION Pat Robinson gave a brief presentation on the current home page and an overview of what is planned for the future development. ACTION: The lead center will add the E-mail addresses of the SPECSINTACT managers to the home page. Target date for completion is 12/15/96. SOFTWARE UPDATE AND PRESENTATION Pat Robinson with the help of Tom Hinshaw gave a demonstration of the new and improved SGML editor. Pat explained what has been worked on over the past 6 months and what the SI board saw at their meeting two weeks earlier. The presentation was very informative and the board was encouraged to have their centers start using the new editor as new jobs are started. A demonstration of the Word Spec system that Mike Dyer at the lead center has been developing was also given. This is a system that allows the user to take a SPECSINTACT document and place it in a 'WORD' environment, work the document and translate it back to SPECSINTACT. This system is currently on the CCB disc #38 in a BETA environment, but an updated version is available through the lead center (also BETA). This new ability to go between SPECSINTACT and a Word environment was met with great enthusiasm. SUMMARY AND PLANNING The next meeting is tentatively planned for the first week in May and will be hosted by Ed Gobert of Stennis. The meeting closed on Thursday at 5:00pm
|
|
|
SpecsIntact
and WordSpec are software products of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA), and are developed and maintained under
the Joint Base Operations and Support Contract (J-BOSC) at the Kennedy
Space Center. All other products mentioned are registered trademarks
or trademarks of their respective companies.
|