July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
South Adams proposal is approved (01/18/08)
South Adams School Board
By By JACK RONALD-
BERNE - A proposal by Performance Services, Indianapolis, to design and build a new kindergarten through grade eight facility adjacent to South Adams High School was accepted Thursday, contingent upon negotiation of a final contract.
In Indiana's first public school construction project using the design-build method, school board members selected Performance Services over Wight and Co., South Bend, and Weigand Construction, Fort Wayne.
All three firms prepared plans for the new school competitively at no expense to the school corporation. On Dec. 20, their plans were presented and sealed envelopes containing their proposed prices were placed in a school corporation safe.
Thursday night, those envelopes were opened and the proposed prices were divided by composite qualitative scores that had been determined by the South Adams Technical Review Committee in order to determine the proposal representing the best value.
Performance Services had posted the highest qualitative score - 89.4 - and submitted the lowest price proposal - $20,900,000 - making it the clear choice.
Weigand Construction had a qualitative score of 72.8 and proposed a price of $20,921,616. Wight and Co. had a qualitative score of 72.4 and proposed a price of $21,250,000.
The qualitative scores, which were determined last week, factored in architectural designs, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, team qualifications, work schedules, references, and an interview.
"I've been extremely impressed by the quality of the three proposals," said Dan Rawlins of InterDesign, Indianapolis, who has been acting as design criteria developer. "Hats off to everybody."
Design-build, said Rawlins, "brings together a designer and a builder at the front end of the project ... to bring the best effort forward."
He estimated each of the firms had invested well over a thousand hours putting together their plans and proposals at no cost to the school corporation. The design-build approach shifts risk onto architectural firms as opposed to the traditional design-bid-build approach which involves hiring an architectural firm first, then going to the marketplace to bid for construction.
As a result of Thursday's unanimous vote by the board, the school corporation will begin negotiating with Performance Services to nail down details of the plans and the exact cost.
"This has been - so far - the most intense of any project I've been involved in," said superintendent Cathy Egolf. "This is an exciting adventure, but I want you to understand the work is just beginning."
Rawlins noted that each of there were aspects of each of the three proposals that the Technical Review Committee had questions about. "There are things we can improve upon," he said. "And that's what the negotiations are about."
An earlier general obligation bond will provide funds to pay for the next round of design work and site preparation, and a construction bond issue is expected this spring.
A ceiling on borrowing for the project was set last year at $25 million. That figure was subject to a remonstrance but was reaffirmed by the South Adams school community after a petition battle.
Rawlins said actual construction costs are expected to be about $21 million, with other funds necessary for equipping the building and related "soft costs" involving design criteria work and the issuing of bonds.
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In Indiana's first public school construction project using the design-build method, school board members selected Performance Services over Wight and Co., South Bend, and Weigand Construction, Fort Wayne.
All three firms prepared plans for the new school competitively at no expense to the school corporation. On Dec. 20, their plans were presented and sealed envelopes containing their proposed prices were placed in a school corporation safe.
Thursday night, those envelopes were opened and the proposed prices were divided by composite qualitative scores that had been determined by the South Adams Technical Review Committee in order to determine the proposal representing the best value.
Performance Services had posted the highest qualitative score - 89.4 - and submitted the lowest price proposal - $20,900,000 - making it the clear choice.
Weigand Construction had a qualitative score of 72.8 and proposed a price of $20,921,616. Wight and Co. had a qualitative score of 72.4 and proposed a price of $21,250,000.
The qualitative scores, which were determined last week, factored in architectural designs, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, team qualifications, work schedules, references, and an interview.
"I've been extremely impressed by the quality of the three proposals," said Dan Rawlins of InterDesign, Indianapolis, who has been acting as design criteria developer. "Hats off to everybody."
Design-build, said Rawlins, "brings together a designer and a builder at the front end of the project ... to bring the best effort forward."
He estimated each of the firms had invested well over a thousand hours putting together their plans and proposals at no cost to the school corporation. The design-build approach shifts risk onto architectural firms as opposed to the traditional design-bid-build approach which involves hiring an architectural firm first, then going to the marketplace to bid for construction.
As a result of Thursday's unanimous vote by the board, the school corporation will begin negotiating with Performance Services to nail down details of the plans and the exact cost.
"This has been - so far - the most intense of any project I've been involved in," said superintendent Cathy Egolf. "This is an exciting adventure, but I want you to understand the work is just beginning."
Rawlins noted that each of there were aspects of each of the three proposals that the Technical Review Committee had questions about. "There are things we can improve upon," he said. "And that's what the negotiations are about."
An earlier general obligation bond will provide funds to pay for the next round of design work and site preparation, and a construction bond issue is expected this spring.
A ceiling on borrowing for the project was set last year at $25 million. That figure was subject to a remonstrance but was reaffirmed by the South Adams school community after a petition battle.
Rawlins said actual construction costs are expected to be about $21 million, with other funds necessary for equipping the building and related "soft costs" involving design criteria work and the issuing of bonds.
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