The BHDD - Office of Mental Health, G. Werber Bryan Psychiatric Hospital / William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute (BPH) provides inpatient psychiatric and forensic treatment and evaluation services to adults, and psychiatric and substance use disorder treatment to children and adolescents. BPH operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, providing treatment to citizens of South Carolina. BPH consists of eight patient lodges plus administrative offices and other ancillary buildings. It is the policy of OMH hospital management as part of maintaining compliance with hospital accreditation, to ensure at least one lodge is both vacant and in good standing with its licensure so that there is a place to which to relocate patients in the event of an emergency in one of the occupied lodges. Currently two of the eight patient lodges are without a working fire alarm system, as the components of the system for those lodges have failed and they are unable to be occupied for this reason and due to the recently discovered presence of harmful mold. Additionally, with no available replacement parts, etc., two lodges require 24 hour/day fire watch provided by OMH Public Safety which is an issue of critical economy and efficiency. A contract for construction/installation of Project J12-9833-LC Bryan/Hall Psychiatric Hospital Fire Alarm Replacement has recently been awarded, and' a Notice to Proceed has been issued to a licensed electrical contractor. However, the recent confirmation of the presence of mold contamination within the vacant lodges threatens to delay the fire alarm system construction/installation and the ability of the hospital to provide the necessary vacant lodge for emergency purposes. This creates an immediate threat to the health and safety of the staff and patients. Lodge A was determined to require the least remediation and, as such, will be addressed through this emergency procurement so that the fire alarm project can proceed and at least one vacant Lodge will be available. Separate projects are being established to address the HVAC and remediation needs of the other lodges. As OMH was proceeding with scheduling replacement of the fire alarm system, the presence of hazardous mold was detected as resulting from condensation related to damaged HVAC ductwork system insulation and improperly functioning HVAC air-handler's internal condensation collection pans, including the absence of secondary condensation collection and drainage systems that are required by contemporary mechanical codes. The replacement of the obsolete and failing fire alarm that is required by life-safety codes needs urgently to begin and to be safely completed as quickly and efficiently as possible. To do that, safe access for the fire alarm system contractor(s) to the vacant patient lodges is required. The dual threat to public safety: an obsolete fire alarm system in need of urgent replacement, and the presence of dangerous mold contamination in patient lodges, compounded by the economic cost of and inefficiency of providing 24 hr./day fire watch to continue operations of this mental health care facility, has resulted in the need for this emergency procurement. GMK is familiar with the isues because they recently conducted a condition assessment study of the BPH HVAC systems and determined the cuases of moisture issues that have resulted in the current mold contamination within the patients' lodges. In addition to being licensed professional Architects, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers, GMK also has licensed General Contractors and General Construction managers. Therefore GMK, not only has the expertise to efficiently plan, design, and engineer the required scope of work for this project, they also have the construction market knowledge, and the skill and resources to execute its construction expeditiously.
