ISSUE: The main issue at hand is that we are receiving 70% of the Evaluation Report by Engineer applications between the Preliminary Review Deadline and the Midnight Completion Deadline.

BACKGROUND: During the last application cycle we received a total of 111 applications which were filed using the Evaluation Report by Engineer Method and of those applications 79 of them were validated between the two deadlines. The previous application cycle produced similar results. May 2, 2014 was the listed preliminary review deadline. May 8, 2014 was the listed Midnight completion deadline. The reports for public comments were due to be posted on May 16, 2014 giving the staff only 5 business days to review all of the applications, provide comments on the applications, and post the reports for public comments. With such an influx of applications in that short period of time it has become a difficult task for the staff. Once we move to the new 2014 Building Code the amount of applications received during this small time frame will triple, and create a major strain on the application review staff. With the new proposed plan the staff will have 7-10 days and sufficient time to set applications to re-apply without a “rush” from all parties as we have experienced in the past.

STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Staff would like to propose that we move the completion deadline back one week to the time of the preliminary review deadline. This would give us sufficient time to conduct a more thorough review of “Evaluation report by engineer method” applications for accuracy in a timely manner. Implementing this change will help further streamline the Product Approval Program and the application review process.