During a series of public comment and Board of Trustee meetings, parents, employees and taxpayers of the Fort Bend Independent School District were presented with the plan for a proposed bond package on the November 2014 ballot. The presentation included a plan to construct ES 46 in Aliana, a facility needed to address overcrowding at Oakland Elementary.
With unissued but authorized debt from a 2007 bond election, Superintendent Dupree emphasized to the community the District has the $32.3 MM in funds (page 20) necessary to proceed with construction of ES 46 and on August 11, 2014 the Board of Trustees voted to move forward with construction of the much needed school.
Say what??
In a May 2013 Board of Trustee meeting (scroll to the 2:54:00 mark) the Board was told an evaluation team examined nine proposals to build ES 46 with Pepper Lawson announced as the best value for the District. The Pepper Lawson bid came in at $14.8 million– $300,000 over the original construction budget back in 2007 of $14.5 million.
Max Cleaver told the Board Pepper Lawson could make the 365 day construction schedule to complete the school by August 2014.
One month later in June 2013 at the urging of Dr. Dupree, the Board ultimately voted to wait for the completion of the Long Term Facilities Plan before approving the contract to construct ES 46.
Fast forward to August 2014
According to an August 11, 2014 agenda packet, Superintendent Dupree had previously been delegated the authority to execute the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) amendment to the contract if the cost was $18,147,517 and the board voted for issuance of a $20,638,774 guaranteed maximum price (GMP) contract (Item 6A) for the construction of ES #46 in Aliana with an 11- month construction schedule.
ES 46’s constructions costs have increased from $14.8MM in May 2013 to $18.1 MM in August 2014—an increase of 22{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} over 16 months.
Questions emerge
The Board approved construction of ES 46 however questions have emerged–Fort Bend ISD taxpayers want to know if a GMP contract to construct ES 46 in time for an August 2015 opening date would typically contain a premium of 22{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}.
Over a six-year period, the cost to build ES 46 increased by $300,000 yet between May 2013 and August 2014 construction of ES 46 has grown by another $3.3 MM—an increase of over 22{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}.
Are vendors taking advantage of Fort Bend ISD taxpayers?
Without seeing the exact documents, plans, specifications and requirements, the “Houston” construction market has been seeing a 1{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} per month increase in completion costs. If you had a $10,000,000 cost estimate in 2013, then you should be expecting a $11,200,000 price tag in 2014. Keep in mind that it’s going to take another year to complete, but you don’t calculate that in the increase. All materials are not bought and delivered on the start date, so the incremental increases are covered in the 1{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}/12 calculation. The 22{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} increase raises red flags galore, especially if it’s the same contractor that set the price in 2013.
It was not awarded to the same contractor. Pepper-Lawson was evaluated as providing best value in 2013 but the award never materialized for the reasons cited in the article. The August 2014 contract award was to Bartlett Cocke.
The final GMP for Elementary School #46 stands at $20,638,774 some $2,491,257 higher than originally approved in June of 2014 and $5,312,774 higher than Aug 2013. However it will be built 1 MONTH faster and will have $543,000 of technology items!
https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=35733315