NREL decided early that to deliver the RSF, with its challenging performance requirements, on time and on budget, a traditional design-bid-build procurement process would not suffice. Rather, a performance-based "Best Value Design- Build/Fixed Price with Award Fee" delivery approach (Post 2010) was pursued to encourage innovation, reduce risk, expedite construction and delivery, control costs, make optimal use of team members' expertise, and establish measurable success criteria. The RSF procurement strategy provides an important context for understanding the design process and the use of energy modeling tools. By hiring a design-build team, NREL encouraged an integrated design process comprising architects, engineers, and builders working toward well-defined goals. This arrangement resulted in an iterative design pattern involving the entire team. Detailed computer simulations were used to assess whether the design as it evolved would meet performance requirements. It also required NREL to clearly define the scope and goals in the RFP and then allow the design-build team to find creative solutions. Having specific end-use and whole-building energy use goals necessitated that energy modeling be included in the design process from the beginning. The fixed budget for all work (conceptual design, preliminary design, final design, and construction) of $64 million, formulated by the U.S. Department of Energy, was determined before energy goals were established. This fixed budget, coupled with the energy goals, required that cost modeling be emphasized as much as energy modeling. The selected design-build team performed a great deal of conceptual phase energy modeling in the months leading to the submission of its design competition proposal in March 2008. Preliminary design occurred from July 2008, when the contract was awarded, through November 2008. Final design took place from January 2009 through July 2009. Construction began in February 2009 and lasted until June 2010, when it was turned over and ready for occupancy.