59A-4.134. Plans Submission and Fee Requirements

(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 approval:

(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 life safety plan indicating temporary egress and detailed phasing plans indicating how the areas to be demolished or constructed are to be separated from all occupied areas when demolition or construction is in and around occupied buildings.

(3) Projects that have been submitted to the Agency for review will be considered abandoned and will be terminated after any of the following has occurred:

(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 Agency’s Office of Plans and Construction;

(c) Construction has been halted for more than one year. After 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 available at http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-06024, and from the Agency for Health Care Administration, 2727 Mahan Drive, MS #24, Tallahassee, Florida 32308 or at the web address at http://ahca.myflorida.com/plansandconstruction, and a valid Certificate of Need or exemption as required by Sections 408.031 through 408.045, 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 subjected to plan review fees pursuant to Section 400.232, 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 1 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 may 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-4.134(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 program or scope of work must be submitted.

(9) For projects involving only equipment changes or system renovations, construction documents need to 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.

(c) Engineering plans and specifications for all of the required work.

(10) Stage I, Schematic Plans – The following must be incorporated into the schematic plans:

(a) Single-line drawings of each floor that must show the relationship of the various activities or services to each other and each room arrangement. The function of each room or space must be noted in or near the room or space. 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. Provide a simple cross-section diagram showing the anticipated construction. Provide a schematic life safety plan showing smoke and fire compartments, exits, exit passageways and gross area of smoke and fire compartments. Provide information as to which areas have sprinklers, both new and existing.

(b) If the proposed construction is an addition or is otherwise related to existing buildings on the site, the schematic plans must show the facility and general arrangement of those other buildings.

(c) A schedule showing the total number of beds, types of bedrooms and types of ancillary spaces.

(11) Stage II, Preliminary Plans – 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 the documents submitted as required by this subsection. Stage II preliminary plans must include:

(a) A vicinity map showing the major local highway intersections for new nursing home construction.

(b) Site development plans that:

1. Show existing grades and proposed improvement as required by the schematic submission.

2. Provide building locating dimensions.

3. Provide 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 an existing facility.

4. Provide the location of the fire protection services water source to the building.

(c) Architectural plan that include:

1. Floor plans, 1/8-inch scale minimum, showing door swings, windows, casework and millwork, fixed equipment and plumbing fixtures. Indicate the function of each space.

2. A large-scale plan of typical new bedrooms with tabulation of gross and net square footage of each bedroom. Tabulate 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 that is not included in the construction contract but that requires mechanical or electrical service connections or construction modifications must be identified to assure its coordination with the architectural, mechanical and electrical phases of construction.

6. If the project is located in an occupied facility, preliminary phasing plans indicating how the project is to be separated from all occupied areas.

(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 dimension for 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 or conversion of an existing building.

4. Life safety plans of the floor being renovated and required exit egress floor(s) if the project is a renovation in an existing building.

5. When demolition or construction is to be undertaken in and around occupied buildings, a life safety plan indicating temporary egress and detailed phasing plans indicating how the areas to be demolished or constructed are to be separated from all occupied areas.

(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. Provide 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.

2. The general location of all fire and smoke dampers, all duct smoke detectors and fire stats.

3. 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.

4. The locations of all plumbing fixtures and other items of equipment requiring plumbing services and/or gas service.

5. The locations of any fume, radiological or chemical hoods.

6. The locations of all medical gas outlets, piping distribution risers, terminals, alarm panels, low pressure emergency oxygen connection, isolation/zone valves, and gas source locations.

7. The locations and relative size 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. The locations of hazardous areas and the volume of products to be contained therein.

9. The location of fire pump, stand pipes, and sprinkler risers.

(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.

2. Fire alarm zones and correlate with the life safety plan.

(g) Outline specifications are to 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) Whenever an existing building is to be converted to a health care facility, the general layout of spaces of the existing structure must be submitted with the preliminary plans for the proposed facility.

(i) Whenever additions, modifications, alterations, renovations, and refurbishing to an existing building are proposed, the general layout of spaces of the existing facility must be submitted with the preliminary plans.

(12) Stage III, Construction Documents – The Stage III construction documents shall be an extension of the Stage II preliminary plan submission and shall provide a complete description of the contemplated construction. 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 the documents submitted as required by this subsection. Construction documents shall be signed, sealed, dated and submitted for written approval to the Agency’s Office of Plans and Construction submitted by a Florida registered architect and 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. The 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:

(a) 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.

(b) Life safety plans for the entire project.

(c) Architectural plans.

1. Typical large-scale details of all typical interior and exterior walls and smoke walls, horizontal exist and exit passageways.

2. 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.

3. Floor/ceiling and roof/ceiling assembly descriptions for all conditions.

4. Details and other instructions to the contract 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.

(d) Structural engineering plans, schedules and details.

(e) Mechanical engineering plans to include fire and smoke control plans. Show all items of owner furnished equipment requiring mechanical services. Provide a clear and concise narrative control sequence of operations for each item of mechanical equipment including: air conditioning, heating, ventilation, medical gas, plumbing, and fire protection and any interconnection of the equipment of the systems. Mechanical engineering drawings must depict completely the systems to be utilized, whether new or existing, from the point of system origination to its termination. Provide a tubular 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. The schedule or portion of the schedule, as applicable, must be placed in the specifications or in the drawing set containing the spaces depicted.

(f) Fire protection plans, where applicable, that must include the existing system as necessary to define the new work.

(g) Electrical engineering plans that must describe complete power, lighting, alarm, communications and lightning protection systems and power system study.

(h) 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 will not require a full power study; instead, the power study will be limited to the calculation of new and existing loads of the branch circuit panel.

(i) A complete set of specifications of all work to be undertaken.

1. All project required contractor supplied testing and/or certification reports must be submitted in type written format, on standard forms, reviewed and accepted by the Engineer of Record prior to presenting to the Agency for review.

2. The specifications must require a performance verification test and balance air quality value report for two operating conditions for each air handling unit system. One operating condition must be with the specified air filters installed in the minimum pressure drop or clean state. The second operating condition must be at the maximum pressure drop and/or dirty state. The air quantities reported are acceptable if they are within ten percent of the design value and the space relative pressures are maintained. This requirement applies to any air-handling unit affected by the construction to be performed.

(j) Well-coordinated construction documents. In the case of additions to existing institutions, the mechanical and electrical, especially existing essential electrical systems and all other pertinent conditions must be a part of this submission.

(k) 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 will provide a listing of deficiencies in writing.

(13) Initial submissions will be acted upon by the Agency 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 will 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 construction approval can be obtained for the project from the Agency.

(14) Additions that increase the scope of the project by greater than fifty percent or revisions that change greater than fifity percent of the original scope of a project will be required to be submitted as a new project.

(15) Within 60 days after final approval of the project has been obtained from the Agency, the licensee and the Agency’s Office of Plans and Construction must be provided with a complete set of record drawings electronically submitted as Portable Document Format (.pdf) files showing all of the construction, fixed equipment and the mechanical and electrical systems as installed. These electronically submitted .pdf files must include the life safety plans of the facility.

Rulemaking Authority 400.23 FS. Law Implemented 400.141, 400.232 FS. History–New 12-21-15.