U.S. Government Officially Recognizes Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC®)

Ontario, Calif. — The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has incorporated IAPMO’s Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC^®) in its newly released Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service (P100), marking the first instance that this federal agency has officially referenced the Uniform Codes. 

With more than 300,000 federal buildings nationwide, the federal government is the country's largest landlord. The GSA owns and leases more than 363 million square feet of space in 8,397 buildings in more than 2,200 communities nationwide.

“With this official action, the federal government is making it clear projects built to the provisions of the UPC are acceptable within jurisdictions that utilize the code,” IAPMO CEO Dave Viola said. “We would especially like to thank President Biden and his administration for their efforts to specifically include the UPC in GSA guidance.”

The UPC is included in the 2024 P100 as part of Appendix B, which acknowledges recognized codes. P100 establishes mandatory design standards and performance criteria for GSA-owned buildings. Design and construction professionals must abide by the policy and technical criteria in P100 while programming, designing, and documenting GSA buildings.

The 2024 P100, which was released May 31, also incorporates a proposed change from ARCSA International — part of The IAPMO Group —requiring major capital projects of more than 5,000 square feet employing rooftop rainwater catchment and harvesting systems to comply with relevant ARCSA/ASPE/ANSI standards. The document is available at www.gsa.gov/p100.