Overview

Overton Brooks Veterans' Administration Medical Center (OBVAMC) provides healthcare services for over 37,000 Veterans every year from 15 Louisiana parishes, 5 counties in southern Arkansas, and 10 counties in East Texas. They complete more than 462,000 outpatient visits annually and are accredited for 111 inpatient beds, making OBVAMC a vital healthcare resource in the region.

OBVAMC is also a Federal Coordinating Center (FCC) for the National Disaster Medical System, which provides support when hurricanes, tornadoes, or other disasters overwhelm state and local health and medical resources.

OBVAMC faced numerous infrastructure challenges including end-of-life systems, a failing central utility plant that lacked redundancy, an obsolete and non-connected building automation system, and a significantly underperforming existing solar photovoltaic array. They decided to utilize a utility energy services contract (UESC) to achieve comprehensive infrastructure improvements while significantly reducing energy consumption and improving maintenance and operations.

Southland was selected by OBVAMC's utility provider, CenterPoint Energy, as their energy services partner for this UESC due to our integrated, full lifecycle capabilities and extensive healthcare experience.

Our Approach

The start of project development for the project was challenged by restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Our team worked closely with all project stakeholders to establish plans for safely and efficiently completing the preliminary assessment and investment grade audit. During project development, it was determined that non-recurring maintenance (NRM) funding was available to supplement energy and operational savings. Leveraging these NRM funds allowed a broader, more comprehensive scope that included the construction of a new central utility plant and numerous other significant improvements.

To design and deliver this critical campus-wide project, we leveraged our full building lifecycle expertise and understanding of VA compliance standards.

To ensure continued performance as expected, performance period services will provide ongoing periodic maintenance for solar and building automation.

Result

This UESC will support OBVAMC in their mission to provide exemplary care to Veterans by renewing mission critical systems to align with current VA standards for efficiency, reliability, and threat management. The project includes the construction of an entirely new central utility plant and remodeling of the existing plant buildings to better serve OBVAMC. Southland is providing an upgraded and expanded building automation system, a new dedicated fiber backbone, campus-wide standardized LED lighting systems, and the restart and recommissioning of an existing 1.4 MW solar array.

When completed, OBVAMC will recognize a significant reduction in the hospital's energy use intensity (EUI), from 223 kBtu/SF per year to 127 kBtu/SF per year which is a 43% reduction. In addition, it will provide over $1.1 million in annual energy and operational savings.