General Services Administration's Use of New Construction Concept for Federal Buildings Not Yet Successful

The General Services Administration (GSA) used the "innovative building systems concept" in constructing three Social Security Administration (SSA) program centers at a cost of about $115 million. This was the pilot for the new concept, which emphasizes performance specifications--setting down what a building should do regardless of the materials used--rather than the traditional specifications, such as how to build and what materials to use. Bidders had to prepare acceptable technical proposals before bidding competitively on the entire package of seven individual systems to be included in each of the three SSA centers.