Saturday, August 25, 2007

Express-Times on Nazareth MS Bids

Sorry I missed this on Friday, but fortunately Brad was at the Thursday night meeting of Buildings and Grounds and already posted the full run down of what happened (read it here).

The Express-Times' JD Malone posted a 'breaking news' blog on Thursday afternoon (read it here) following the opening of the bids on the construction project for the new Middle School. The article appeared online and in print on Friday (read it here). There was a 'clarification' made today (read it here).

The only significant difference between the two reports is the headline and opening sentences.

Brad does a good job of addressing the costs and explaining what the bids mean. In short, there are building costs and there are other related costs. The total project budget is $57,895,461. The soft cost or other related costs are $7,764,766. As Brad also wrote, "The total of the four bid packages with recommended alternates was $49,284,000. That leaves approximately $870,000 left over for contingencies."

The original contingency was $3M, so it would seem that these bids came in a bit higher than expected, not lower as the Express-Times headline and opening paragraph in Friday's story indicated. In fairness to JD Malone, while he is the writer, article submission is a process involving not only the writer, but editors, headline writers etc., and this appears to be a case where the process led to the clarification (based on comparing his breaking news post with final article).

What I found interesting in the bids were some of the alternates.

Malone's post notes the all-weather track was an alternative and eliminating it would save $606,000. Considering we eliminated the track at Andrew S. Leh Stadium it would seem even if we eliminate the turf we'll need to build a cinder track. Is that included in these savings or would it then become a new project/change order?

Both Malone and Brad point out an alternate was to change the completion date to November 1 from September 1. While September is aggressive, will two months make that much difference? It would seem if we miss the start of school it won't be possible to make the transition during the year. As I recall from discussions last year, the current MS will have work done to reconfigure it for Intermediate School. All 7th and 8th grade students, teachers, books, and supplies would need to be moved from the current to the new MS, all 4th and 5th grade students, teachers, books and supplies from all three elementaries would need to be moved to the current MS/intermediate school, new staff and building needs would be in place, and new bus routes and assignments would be made (4th and 5th would also have new bell schedule or 6th would as they are now different). Seems like a lot to get done while school is in progress.

The transformer was marked as an alternate at a saving of $280,000, yet during discussion in Jan/Feb, the addition of a transformer was to save the district annually and recoup that spending in a short time. It would be a shame if we pinched for something that would actually save us money.

It looks like Monday's Board meeting will have more information and that a Special Board meeting is likely to allow the NASD more time to figure out what its options are.

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