Boston, Mass. - August 27, 2002 - The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it has selected VFA's Capital Planning and Management Solutions (CPMSTM) approach. CPMS, an integration of condition assessment services and pure Web technology, will be implemented as a core component of NIH's efforts to establish an organization-wide process for facility lifecycle management. VFA will work with NIH to assess more than nine million sf of building space at Bethesda and other sites.

NIH's Office of Research Services completes a condition assessment of its facility portfolio on a three-year cycle, which includes research laboratories, hospitals, and administration buildings. VFA's assessment methodology empowers NIH with a strategic process for conducting audits of its building conditions, setting benchmarks and achieving established standards of quality. Furthermore, officials will be able to compare all gathered information on an equal, impartial basis. Leveraging CPMS, NIH can promote greater accountability and better articulate maintenance needs, as well as associated funding requirements, to ensure its buildings support the advanced medical research NIH conducts.

"Due to the highly sensitive nature of the research we perform, it is critical that we have a clear handle on our facility conditions and a process by which we can understand where to direct resources for building requirements," says Ed Bain, National Institutes of Health. "Maintaining all facility information within VFA.facility enables us to pinpoint definitively which project takes priority. We can also use this information to ensure we have the structures in place to support and protect the research being done within our facilities."

A renowned organization that includes 27 separate Institutes and Centers, NIH's facilities play a key role in its work to research and uncover knowledge that will help prevent, diagnose, and treat disease and disability. The organization selected VFA based on the recent success of CPMS in a pilot project, which was completed in September 2001.

"Facilities are mission-critical to the National Institutes of Health, requiring detailed information to optimize operations," says Jerry Kokos, president and chief executive, VFA. "NIH recognizes the impact facilities have on its ability to achieve its organizational goals. The Institutes' selection of VFA's services validates our integrated CPMS approach and demonstrates the growing level of importance government agencies are now attributing to their physical assets."

VFA.facility—VFA's benchmark software solution—is a Web-based enterprise solution that enables users to gather and maintain a repository of detailed building information across an entire property portfolio to support a coordinated and comprehensive approach to facilities capital management. VFA's Capital Planning and Management Solutions, an integration of enterprise-level technology and assessment methodology, empowers users to assess and measure building conditions, update condition information rapidly and communicate the data to facility managers and superiors at sites across the country1—all in a timely, cost-efficient manner.

About VFA
VFA provides Web-based tools and consulting services for guiding its clients through the process of strategic infrastructure management. VFA's software application has the proven capability to integrate with other Facilities Maintenance and Operations software applications such as preventive and routine maintenance systems (CMMS), or CAD-centric space planning and move management systems (CAFM). Through the VFA led Facilities/Infrastructure Certification Program (F/ICP), facilities professionals are trained and qualified on VFA's proven, standardized condition assessment methodology and how to implement the acquired data in budget development and capital planning.

VFA has developed a strong customer base in education, government, healthcare, and major corporations. VFA can be contacted at (617) 451-5100. The Company's headquarters are located at 266 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210-1112. Additional information about VFA and F/ICP can be found at www.vfa.com.