The Central Government Real Estate Agency

The Central Government Real Estate Agency is unique in terms of the size and variety of its assets. The agency’s portfolio includes the maximum-security courtroom in Amsterdam, various military air bases and the naval base in Den Helder. The Binnenhof parliamentary buildings in The Hague, national museums and art galleries, the woodland around Het Loo Palace: the Central Government Real Estate Agency is responsible for them all. Thanks to our efforts, courts can hold hearings, the armed forces can conduct exercises and the Tax Administration can collect taxes. We provide all the Netherlands’ 120,000 central government employees with comfortable, healthy and safe workplaces. We maintain and manage the buildings and land used by the state. That is our core business.

Real estate is about more than buildings and land. Real estate shapes our world, our future, our dreams and our ambitions. As the nation’s largest real estate organisation we are contributing to a better Netherlands. And we set the bar high. We go beyond functional, affordable buildings and asset management. We also want real estate that is healthy, sustainable and liveable.

Working for the Central Government Real Estate Agency means working for the Netherlands. Apart from providing an optimal working environment for central government employees, we also want to manage our properties effectively. On top of that, we aim to create value for society. That makes us unique. After all, where else do you get the chance to work on this scale in a such a diverse range of settings? The Central Government Real Estate Agency is a unique employer.
In terms of our portfolio, our professional know-how and our way of working. For us, value for society is just as important as financial value, which gives us a different view of real estate. Nowhere else offers the possibility to work in such a versatile way, incorporating so many different points of view. We’re constantly asking ourselves ‘Can we work more sustainably, more smartly, more flexibly and more innovatively? And if so, does it benefit society?’

The Central Government Real Estate Agency has 2,900 employees. We maintain and manage almost 900 square kilometres of land – four times the area of Amsterdam – and buildings totalling almost 12 million square metres.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency maintains and manages its real estate  for its users and uses buildings and sites to create economic value and value for society, based on central government goals.

The site https://www.bidbook.eu/en  is designed to provide information about the range of available real estate, operating rights and commercial rights (e.g. rental, leasehold, ground lease, building rights, etc.) of the Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency and other European public real estate agencies.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency invites tenders for construction and real estate projects on TenderNed . This includes assignments meant for architects and consultants. TenderNed is the Netherlands’ online marketplace for government agencies that wish to contract out projects and commercial enterprises that wish to bid on them. If you wish to compete for an assignment or project, you must register with TenderNed. You can download the contract documents from the website and create a search profile there. Once you have done so, you will be alerted immediately when new requests for tender are issued. The Central Government Real Estate Agency follows pre-determined procedures and uses model documents when inviting tenders and awarding assignments. The assignments are subject to standard terms and conditions of contract.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency contracts commercial enterprises to develop, manage and maintain buildings and systems. We make use of various types of contract in such cases, depending on the nature and scope of the agreement concerned.

Traditionally, many contracts cover a single aspect of property, for example maintaining the electrical system or the lifts in a building. That is gradually changing, with a growing trend towards integrated contracts. Such contracts cover multiple disciplines, for example lifts, electricity and climate control, and structural matters. Contracts can also cover multiple phases of a building or site project, for example development, construction, maintenance and management.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency assesses and monitors the performance of contractors in accordance with the contracts. We review the results of assignments as well as the contractor’s working methods and client focus, for example by means of the Past Performance tool.

Traditional contract types

Many of the contracts awarded by the Central Government Real Estate Agency cover a single aspect of property. For example, there may be separate contracts for maintaining the electrical and climate control system or the lifts, or for property development, construction and management.

Integrated contracts

Increasingly, the Central Government Real Estate Agency has been working with integrated contracts. An integrated contract covers multiple disciplines, for example lifts, electricity and climate control, and structural matters. It may also cover multiple phases of a building’s or site’s life cycle. For example, there may be a single contract covering development, construction, maintenance and management. There are different types of integrated contract, including DBM, DBFMO, and main contracting.

DB and DBM contracts

A DB or DBM contract encompasses multiple phases of a building’s life cycle: the ‘Design, Build’ phases (DB) or the ‘Design, Build, Maintain’ phases (DBM). The Central Government Real Estate Agency is exploring options for awarding DB and DBM contracts.

DBFMO

The most common integrated contract awarded by the Central Government Real Estate Agency is the DBFMO contract type. DBFMO stands for ‘Design, Build, Finance, Maintain and Operate’. In other words, we contract out all of these tasks to a single private party.

In a DBFMO contract, the client and the contractor can cut costs by ensuring better coordination between the various project phases. Coordination of this kind is also conducive to good quality accommodation and long-term use.

Main contracting

The Central Government Real Estate Agency is running a trial with main contracting in property management and maintenance. In main contracting, we conclude an agreement with a single contractor, known as the main contractor. The main contractor manages and maintains one or more buildings. The contract is usually valid for a period of eight to eighteen years.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)

In the case of large-scale projects, the Central Government Real Estate Agency generally works on the basis of public-private partnerships (PPP). In a PPP, the various project phases are clustered into a single request for tender and a single contract. We work with the contractor for a longer period of time, for example on the design, construction, management and maintenance of an office building. The client is paid on the basis of completed performance.

PPP contract types

There are various types of PPP contracts, including DBFM, DBFMO and alliance contracts. In the latter case, the Central Government Real Estate Agency participates in a project with other parties (e.g. architects and building firms). In other words, we are simply one of the project participants.

As the largest property manager of the Netherlands, the Central Government Real Estate Agency sets an example in public-sector commissioning practices. We observe good commissioning practices by acting with integrity and transparency in inviting tenders and selecting candidates. We develop sound and innovative contracts and implement the State’s policy on public procurement.

Integrity in tendering

The assignments put out to tender by the Central Government Real Estate Agency often involve large sums of money and major interests. That is why we have a duty to act scrupulously when drafting requests for tender and selecting contractors. To build confidence in our role as a commissioning body, we adhere to government quality and integrity standards.

Art commissioning body

The Arts Percentage Scheme makes the Central Government Real Estate Agency the largest commissioning body for art in the Netherlands. In accordance with this scheme, we spend a percentage of every budget involving the construction, remodelling or purchase of property on art. The percentage is linked to the size of the budget. The scheme takes effect when the budget for a construction or remodelling project exceeds € 1,000,000.

The Arts Percentage Scheme has ensured that central government has a wide-ranging and important collection of sculpture, photographs, paintings, installations and other forms of artistic expression to exhibit in and around its buildings. The art and the quality of the buildings combine to provide an inspiring working environment.

Sustainable procurement

The Central Government Real Estate Agency wants all of its purchases to be sustainable, whether they involve products, property or services. Criteria for sustainable procurement have been established for the various product groups. You can use these criteria to evaluate the sustainability of your products or services. We adhere to these criteria in our public procurement procedures.

We participate in the Sustainable Infrastructure Project, an alliance of commercial parties, government commissioning bodies and research institutes that aims to incorporate sustainability into railway, land, road and marine engineering projects. The participants do their utmost to use sustainable methods at every stage of their infrastructure project.

Managing quality

The Central Government Real Estate Agency aims to deliver quality to its clients, i.e. the organisations and people who use the sites and buildings under its management. To achieve this, we make firm preliminary agreements (under contract) with the commercial enterprises that work for us. During the term of a contract and afterwards, we keep an eye on their compliance with the pre-determined specifications by applying systematic contract management (SCM) and the Past Performance tool.

Functional specifications

The first important phase in procurement and tendering is to develop a set of specifications. Functional specifications describe the behaviour of the product or service requested by the user. In other words, what must the product do? Functional specifications say nothing at all about how this requirement is to be met. They may be brief and general in nature. They encourage the commercial enterprises that work for us to monitor quality themselves.

Systematic contract management (SCM)

The Central Government Real Estate Agency monitors compliance with contracts on the basis of systematic contract management (SCM). That means that we manage the contracts from the very start based on risks, rather than assessing performance after the fact. Under SCM, you, as the contractor, must ensure that you are working in accordance with the specifications. You do so by using a quality management system based on ISO-9001 standards. You elaborate on this in a separate quality plan for each project, allowing you to monitor the quality of your work continuously.

Payments made to contractors and suppliers must be justifiable. The Central Government Real Estate Agency is therefore responsible for ensuring the quality of procurement. That requires us to assess our contractors’ and suppliers’ quality management system. Where necessary, we will take steps based on our findings. In the end, SCM means better quality for our clients.

Past Performance

The Central Government Real Estate Agency assesses contractors’ working methods using the Past Performance tool. In this method, contactors are awarded a mark for their performance after delivery or execution. If the mark is satisfactory, the contractor is given a reference. We use the assessment when selecting contractors for new projects.

The Past Performance tool assesses the contactor’s client focus. It does not review whether an assignment was completed in accordance with the contract. The Past Performance tool looks mainly at:

• whether the contractor works to a plan
• expertise and quality
• cooperation, communication and organisation
• health and safety

The Dutch Public Administration Probity Screening Act, known as the Bibob Act, is intended to prevent the government from becoming directly or indirectly involved in criminal activities. Private-law real estate transactions in which the government is involved also fall within the scope of this Act.The Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency enforces the Bibob Act in relation to transactions such as the rental, letting out, purchase, and sale by performing its own investigation, within the framework of the law, into the integrity of potential contract partners. Matters meriting attention in such an investigation in any case include that partner’s previous history, its financing, the transparency of its business operations, and its commercial affiliations. The Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency is obliged to observe confidentiality when gathering this data. Should any irregularities be identified, the Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency has the right to discontinue negotiations without judicial intervention or any obligation to pay expenses. Within the Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency, the Standing Committee on Market Party Integrity handles matters touching on integrity. The Dutch Central Government Real Estate Agency can also seek advice from the National Bibob Agency, which is part of the Justis Department (Judicial agency for Testing, Integrity and Screening), which is part of the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency makes data available as open data. This means that everyone is free to examine and reuse our data.

We make all of our data available via data.overheid.nl, according to the ‘open, unless’ princple. That means that all data is freely accessible unless this is prohibited by law, as would be the case, for example, if the data were subject to privacy law protection. Everyone is free to reuse open data without restriction and without having to cite a source.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency uses Building Information Modelling (BIM) to obtain up-to-date, concrete, reliable information on buildings under its management. BIM is a digital 3D building model integrating all data related to the design, build, and management processes. All the relevant parties can work with this information. A growing number of building firms, design agencies and other construction-sector enterprises work with BIM.

Uniform building information and information management

Building Information Modelling (BIM) gives the Central Government Real Estate Agency concrete, reliable, uniform information on its stock of buildings. We use this information for various reasons, for example:

• to manage contracts
• to manage buildings
• to monitor the quality, safety and health aspects of our buildings
• to account for the buildings under our management as part of our stock

Our use of BIM complements our efforts to maintain professional commissioning practices in the public sector.

Prescribed BIM standards

In future, the Central Government Real Estate Agency wishes to have access to long-term, reliable information on its stock of buildings. That is why we have prescribed a set of BIM standards for building and maintenance providers, known as the RVB BIM Norm. A provider must supply a permanent stream of up-to-date building information product in order to comply with these standards, for example in the form of building models and graphics. These products contain the data prescribed under the standards. We prescribe the RVB BIM Norm for DBFMO contracts and for a number of integrated management contracts.

Contractors are only obliged to deliver information products under the BIM standards if their contract so dictates. Otherwise, contractors may decide for themselves whether or not to supply information products in accordance with the BIM standards. In all cases, the data must satisfy the requirements stipulated in the relevant contract.

BIM Norm

The BIM Norm only describes the specifications for the BIM information products that you are obliged to deliver as the contractor. In the case of DBFMO and other integrated contracts, the performance requirements are described in the output specifications attached to the contract.

The output specifications indicate what you are to deliver and when, and according to which specifications. You are otherwise at liberty to design and organise your “BIM process” as you see fit.

The present BIM Norm states the following:

• You must include all material and spatial elements covered by the output specifications in the building model.
• The requested functions must be linked to the building model. This shows the relevant elements and rooms for assessing the performance requirements.
• You must supply the data from the building model in the form of CAD graphics and in the IFC open file format.

Development of the BIM Norm and new versions

The current version of the BIM Norm does not (as yet) set requirements for many aspects, nor does it set general requirements. We have done this deliberately because we wish to encourage suppliers and contractors to make use of BIM. The lessons that we learn in this stage can be applied when producing new versions of the standards in the years ahead. We also intend to prescribe the standards for other types of contract. How the BIM standards develop also depends on how widely BIM is used in the sector and on advances in ICT.

Given the current stage of development, we have decided to apply the BIM standards on smaller scale. Gradually, we will gain more experience enforcing the standards and making use of BIM data. The DBFMO contracts for which we have prescribed BIM are still in the “design and build” phases. As yet, we have no experience in the “operate” phase.

Applying the BIM Norm for integrated contracts

In future, the Central Government Real Estate Agency intends to prescribe the BIM standards for various different types of contract. These contract types are themselves still being developed. When and how we will prescribe BIM for these contracts therefore depends on their progress.

BIM Norm for DBFMO contracts

In the case of DBFMO contracts, we apply the BIM Norm as a performance requirement in the output specifications. That makes this specific performance requirement one of the subjects covered by the monitoring and payment arrangements.

What this means for you as the contractor is that you must keep the building model and all files exported from that model up to date and make them available to us from the point at which the building is occupied. You must make the data available in digital data transfer environment to be designated for that purpose. We will set requirements for the design, reliability and security of that environment.

You must also deliver data in accordance with the BIM standards prior to the occupancy phase. We will not use this data to assess tenders.

BIM Norm for DBM contracts

The Central Government Real Estate Agency wishes to apply the BIM Norm for DBM contracts. As this type of contract is still at an early stage of development, application of the BIM standards in these contracts is also just getting started.

BIM Norm for integrated management contracts

In a few years’ time, the Central Government Real Estate Agency intends to apply the BIM Norm broadly for integrated management contracts for management and maintenance (multiyear integrated contracts). The situation will be similar to the DBFMO contract: as the contractor, you will keep the building model and all files exported from that model up to date and make them available to us. The BIM Norm will be included in the monitoring and payment arrangements.

Questions about the BIM Norm

As we continue developing the BIM standards, we welcome your questions, comments or additional information. Please e-mail them to the BIM post-office box: postbus.rvb.bim@rijksoverheid.nl Please be aware that we do not undertake to answer every question, or to respond within a specified period of time.

The Central Government Real Estate Agency is responsible for auctioning the tenancy rights to petrol stations along national highways in the Netherlands. Once a year, in September, the tenancy rights to a number of existing petrol stations are put up for auction.

The Auction schedule for petrol stations along national highways 2017-2023 indicates the relevant locations per year. A civil-law notary will draw lots to determine the order in which the relevant locations are auctioned on auction day. The tenancy agreement will be valid for a maximum of fifteen years.

Parties wishing to participate in the auction may purchase a bidding book providing information on the locations put up for auction. They must apply for admission to the auction using the designated form and pay an entry fee to be admitted to bidding. The tenancy rights will be awarded to the party entering the highest bid.

With the exception of various locations specified in the annex to the Petrol Act, tenancy rights to new locations will only be assigned by auction.