In 1996, the Pacific Rim Region of the General Services Administration (GSA), as part of its ongoing efforts to meet energy efficiency goals, embraced an ambitious plan to renovate building automation systems at the Phillip Burton Federal Building located at 450 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco — a 1.4 million ft² (130 000 m²), 22-story structure. The project’s design cycle coincided with ASHRAE’s release of the BACnet standard for building automation communications. GSA and its design team decided to deliver this project as not only a major conservation effort, but also the first large-scale demonstration of a multi-vendor, BACnet automation network.