Current through Reg. 50, No. 187; September 24, 2024
(1) No construction work, including
demolition, shall be started until prior written approval has been provided by
the Agency's Office of Plans and Construction. This includes all construction
of new facilities and all additions, modifications, alterations, renovations,
and refurbishing to the site, facility, equipment or systems of all existing
facilities.
(2) Approval to start
construction only for demolition, site work, foundation, and building
structural frame may be obtained prior to construction document approval when
the following is submitted for review and has been approved by the Agency's
Office of Plans and Construction:
(a)
Preliminary Stage II approval letter from the Agency's Office of Plans and
Construction;
(b) Construction
documents and specifications for all work to be undertaken;
(c) A letter from the licensee holding the
Agency harmless for any changes that may occur to the project as a result of
the final construction document review; and,
(d) A life safety plan indicating temporary
egress and detailed phasing plans indicating how the area(s) to be demolished
or constructed is to be separated from all occupied areas must be submitted for
review and approval when demolition or construction in and around occupied
buildings is planned.
(3)
Projects that have been submitted for the Agency's Office of Plans and
Construction review will be considered abandoned if:
(a) Construction has not begun within one
year after written approval of the construction documents from the Agency's
Office of Plans and Construction;
(b) No further plans have been submitted for
Agency review within one year after a project has been initiated with the
Office of Plans and Construction, or
(c) Construction has been halted for more
than one year. After this termination, resubmission as a new project will be
required.
(4) When
construction is planned, either for new buildings, additions, alterations or
renovations to existing buildings, the plans and specifications must be
prepared and submitted to the Agency's Office of Plans and Construction for
approval by a Florida registered architect and a Florida registered
professional engineer. An architecture or engineering firm, not practicing as a
sole proprietor, must provide proof of registration as an architecture or
engineering firm with the Florida Department of Business and Professional
Regulation.
(5) The initial
submission of plans to the Agency's Office of Plans and Construction for any
new project must include a completed Application for Plan Review, AHCA Form
3500-0011, June 2014, incorporated by reference and obtainable at
http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-05456
or from the Agency for Health Care Administration, 2727 Mahan Drive, Mail Stop
24, Tallahassee, Florida 32308, or from the Agency's website at
http://ahca.myflorida.com/plansandconstruction, and a valid certificate of
need, if required pursuant to Chapter 408, F.S. This information must accompany
the initial submission. Approval will not be granted for any project without a
Certificate of Need as required by Rule
59C-1.004, F.A.C.
(6) Plans and specifications submitted for
review shall be subject to a plan review fee pursuant to Section
400.967(5),
F.S. A non-refundable initial fee of $2, 000 will be charged for all projects.
The Agency will also collect a fee, not to exceed one percent of the estimated
construction cost or the actual cost of review, whichever is less, for the
portion of the review which encompasses initial review through the initial
revised construction document review. Additionally, the Agency will collect its
actual costs on all subsequent portions of the review and construction
inspections. All fees must be paid to the Agency for Health Care
Administration, with notation of the Office of Plans and Construction facility
log number, and identified that it is for the Agency's Health Care Trust Fund.
Plan review fees must be included with the application.
(7) Plans and specifications shall be
submitted in three stages of development described in this rule. Approval of a
Stage III submission is required to begin construction (except as permitted by
subsection 59A-26.017(2),
F.A.C.). These stages are as follows:
(a)
Stage I, schematic plans.
(b) Stage
II, preliminary plans or design development drawings.
(c) Stage III, construction documents,
including specifications, addenda and change orders.
(8) For each stage of submission a functional
program or project narrative must be submitted. It must consist of a detailed
word description of all contemplated work and any required phasing to be
provided in the proposed construction.
(9) For projects involving only equipment
changes or system renovations, construction documents must be submitted. These
documents must include the following:
(a)
Life safety plans showing the fire/smoke compartments in the area of
renovation;
(b) Detailed phasing
plans indicating how the new work will be separated from all occupied areas;
and,
(c) Engineering plans and
specifications for all of the required work.
(10) Stage I, schematic plans must include:
(a) Single-line drawings of each floor
showing the relationship of the various activities or services to each other
and the room arrangement in each, which shall include:
1. The function of each room or space must be
noted in or near the room or space;
2. The proposed roads and walkways, service
and entrance courts, parking, and orientation must be shown on either a small
plot plan or on the first floor plan;
3. A simple cross-section diagram showing the
anticipated construction;
4. A
schematic life safety plan showing smoke and fire compartments, exits, exit
passageways, and gross areas of smoke and fire compartments; and,
5. Information as to which areas are
sprinklered, both new and existing.
(b) The facility and general arrangement of
other buildings, if the proposed construction is an addition or is otherwise
related to existing buildings on the site.
(c) A schedule showing the total number of
beds, types of bedrooms and types of ancillary spaces.
(11) Stage II preliminary plans will be
approved by the Agency upon successful demonstration that the construction will
comply with applicable life safety code requirements, flood requirements and
that the layout will accommodate all required functional space as evidenced by
a thorough examination of documents submitted as required by this subsection.
Stage II, preliminary plans must include:
(a)
A vicinity map. For new facility construction a vicinity map shall include the
major local highway intersections.
(b) Site development plans that include:
1. Existing grades and proposed improvements
as required by the schematic submission;
2. Building locating dimensions;
3. Site elevations for both the 100-year
flood elevations and hurricane Category 3 surge inundation elevations if the
project involves the construction of a new facility or is a new addition of a
wing or floor to a facility; and,
4. The location of the fire protection
services water source to the building.
(c) Architectural plans that include:
1. Floor plans, 1/8-inch scale minimum,
showing door swings, windows, casework and millwork, fixed equipment and
plumbing fixtures. Floor plans shall indicate the function of each
space;
2. A large-scale plan of
typical new bedrooms with a tabulation of gross and net square footage of each
bedroom including a tabulation of the size of the bedroom window
glass;
3. Typical large-scale
interior and exterior wall sections to include typical rated fire and
fire/smoke partitions and a typical corridor partition;
4. All exterior building
elevations;
5. Equipment which is
not included in the construction contract that requires mechanical or
electrical service connections or construction modifications shall be
identified to ensure coordination with the architectural, mechanical and
electrical phases of construction; and,
6. Preliminary phasing plans indicating how
the project is to be separated from all occupied areas must be provided if the
project is located in an occupied facility.
(d) Life safety plans that include:
1. Single-sheet floor plans showing fire and
smoke compartmentation, all means of egress and all exit signs. Additionally,
depict and provide the longest path of travel in each smoke compartment to the
door(s) to the adjoining compartment, calculate the total area of the smoke
compartment in square feet, and tabulate exit inches;
2. All sprinklered areas, fire extinguishers,
fire alarm devices and pull station locations;
3. Fully developed life safety plans if the
project is an addition to or the conversion of an existing building;
4. Life safety plans of the floor being
renovated and the required exit egress floor(s) if the project is a renovation
in an existing building; and,
5. A
life safety plan indicating temporary egress and detailed phasing plans
indicating how the area(s) to be demolished or constructed are to be separated
from all occupied areas when demolition or construction in and around occupied
buildings is to be undertaken.
(e) Mechanical engineering plans that
include:
1. Single-sheet floor plans with a
one-line diagram of the ventilating system with relative pressures of each
space;
2. A written description and
drawings of the anticipated smoke control system, passive or active, and a
sequence of operation correlated with the life safety plans;
3. The general location of all fire and smoke
dampers, all duct smoke detectors and firestats;
4. If the building is equipped with fire
sprinklers, the location of the sprinkler system risers and the point of
connection for the fire sprinkler system. State the method of design for the
existing and new fire sprinkler systems;
5. Locations of all plumbing fixtures and
other items of equipment requiring plumbing services and/or gas
services;
6. Locations of all
medical gas outlets, piping distribution risers, terminals, alarm panel(s), low
pressure emergency oxygen connection, isolation/zone valve(s), and gas source
location(s);
7. Locations and
relative sizes of major items of mechanical equipment such as chillers, air
handling units, fire pumps, medical gas storage, boilers, vacuum pumps, air
compressors, and fuel storage vessels;
8. Locations of hazardous areas and the
volume of products to be contained therein; and,
9. Location of fire pump, stand pipes, and
sprinkler riser(s).
(f)
Electrical engineering drawings that include:
1. A one-line diagram of normal and essential
electrical power systems showing service transformers and entrances,
switchboards, transfer switches, distribution feeders and over-current devices,
panel boards and step-down transformers. The diagram must include a preliminary
listing and description of new and existing, normal and emergency loads,
preliminary estimates of available short-circuit current at all new equipment
and existing equipment serving any new equipment, short-circuit and withstand
ratings of existing equipment serving new loads and any new or revised
grounding requirements; and,
2.
Fire alarm zones correlated with the life safety plan.
(g) Outline specifications that include a
general description of the construction, including construction classification
and ratings of components, interior finishes, general types and locations of
acoustical material, floor coverings, electrical equipment, ventilating
equipment and plumbing fixtures, fire protection equipment, and medical gas
equipment.
(h) The general layout
of spaces of the existing structure with the preliminary plans for the proposed
facility whenever an existing structure is to be converted to an ICF/DD
facility.
(i) The general layout of
spaces of the facility whenever additions, modifications, alterations,
renovations, and refurbishing to a facility are proposed.
(12) Stage III, construction documents. Stage
III construction documents will be approved by the Agency upon successful
demonstration that the construction will comply with all applicable codes and
standards as evidenced by a thorough examination of documents submitted as
required by this subsection.
(a) The Stage
III, construction documents must be an extension of the Stage II, preliminary
plan submission and must provide a complete description of the contemplated
construction. Construction documents must be signed, sealed, dated and
submitted for written approval to the Agency's Office of Plans and Construction
by a Florida-registered architect and Florida-registered professional engineer.
These documents must consist of work related to civil, structural, mechanical,
and electrical engineering, fire protection, lightning protection, landscape
architecture and all architectural work. In addition to the requirements for
Stage II submission, the following must be incorporated into the construction
documents:
1. Site and civil engineering plans
that indicate building and site elevations, site utilities, paving plans,
grading and drainage plans and details, locations of the two fire hydrants
utilized to perform the water supply flow test, and landscaping
plans;
2. Life safety plans for the
entire project;
3. Architectural
plans that include:
a. Typical large-scale
details of all typical interior and exterior walls and smoke walls, horizontal
exits and exit passageways;
b.
Comprehensive ceiling plans that show all utilities, lighting fixtures, smoke
detectors, ventilation devices, sprinkler head locations and fire-rated ceiling
suspension member locations where applicable;
c. Floor/ceiling and roof/ceiling assembly
descriptions for all conditions; and,
d. Details and other instructions to the
contractor on the construction documents describing the techniques to be used
to seal floor construction penetrations to the extent necessary to prevent
smoke migration from floor to floor during a fire.
4. Structural engineering plans, schedules
and details;
5. Mechanical
engineering plans to include fire and smoke control plans that include:
a. All items of owner furnished equipment
requiring mechanical services;
b. A
clear and concise narrative control sequence of operations for each item of
mechanical equipment, air conditioning, heating, ventilation, medical gas,
plumbing, and fire protection and any interconnection of the equipment of the
systems;
c. Mechanical engineering
drawings that depict completely the systems to be utilized, whether new or
existing, from the point of system origination to its termination;
d. A tabular schedule giving the required air
flow (as computed from the information contained on the ventilation rate table)
in cubic feet per minute (cfm) for supply, return, exhaust, outdoor, and
ventilation air for each space listed or referenced by note on the ventilation
rate table as shown on the architectural documents. The schedule must also
contain the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system design air
flow rates and the resulting space relative pressures; and,
e. The schedule or portion of the schedule,
as applicable, which must be placed in the specifications or in the drawing set
containing the spaces depicted.
6. Fire protection plans, where applicable,
that must include the existing system as necessary to define the new
work;
7. Electrical engineering
plans that must describe complete power, lighting, alarm, communications and
lightning protection systems and power system study;
8. A power study that must include a fault
study complete with calculations to demonstrate that over-current devices,
transfer switches, switchboards, panel boards, motor controls, transformers and
feeders are adequately sized to safely withstand available phase-to-phase and
phase-to-ground faults. The study must also include an analysis of generator
performance under fault conditions and a coordination study resulting in the
tabulation of settings for all over-current device adjustable trips, time
delays, relays and ground fault coordination. This must be provided for all new
equipment and existing equipment serving any new equipment. Power studies for
renovations of existing distribution systems must include only new equipment
and existing equipment upstream to the normal and emergency sources of the new
equipment. Renovations involving only branch circuit panel boards without
modifications to the feeder must not require a full power study; instead, the
power study must be limited to the calculation of new and existing loads of the
branch circuit panel; and,
9. A
complete set of specifications for all work to be undertaken.
a. All project required contractor supplied
testing and/or certification reports shall be submitted in writing reviewed,
and accepted by the engineer of record prior to presenting to the Agency for
Health Care Administration for review.
b. The specifications shall require a
performance verification test and balance air quantity values report with the
specified air filters installed for each air handling unit system operating in
the minimum pressure drop condition (clean filter state) and at the maximum
pressure drop condition (dirty filter state). The air quantities reported are
acceptable if they are within 10 percent of the design value and the space
relative pressures are maintained. This requirement must apply to any
air-handling unit affected by the construction to be
performed.
(b)
All construction documents must be coordinated to provide consistency of design
intent throughout the documents. It is specifically required that in the case
of additions to facilities, the mechanical and electrical, especially existing
essential electrical systems and all other pertinent conditions, must be a part
of this submission.
(c) Signed,
sealed and dated subsequent addenda, change orders, field orders and other
documents altering the above must be submitted for review to the Agency's
Office of Plans and Construction. The Agency will either approve or disapprove
the submission based on compliance with all applicable codes and standards and
shall provide a listing of deficiencies in writing.
(13) The initial submission will be acted
upon by the Agency's Office of Plans and Construction within 60 days of the
receipt of the initial payment of the plan review fee. The Agency will either
approve or disapprove the submission and shall provide a listing of
deficiencies in writing. Each subsequent resubmission of documents for review
on the project will initiate another 60-day response period. All deficiencies
noted by the Agency must be satisfactorily corrected before final approval may
be obtained for the project.
(14)
Additions that increase the scope of the project by greater than fifty percent
or revisions that change greater than fifty percent of the original scope of a
project will be required to be submitted as a new project.
Rulemaking Authority 400.967 FS. Law Implemented
400.967(2), (5) FS.
New 1-25-17.
