The Osceola County School Board on March 16 voted 4-1 to adopt a new local vendor policy for construction management firms, dropping a three-tiered system that allocated points based on whether a company was local, regional or state.

A protest over the recent rankings of proposals from construction management firms for the $14.5 million Highlands Elementary School replacement project using the three-tiered system prompted the policy change. Amid confusion over how points are awarded and how local status is determined, the School Board March 9 chose to solicit new proposals for the project and vowed to rework the policy.

Previously, management firms were granted seven (local), five (regional) or three (state) “weighted” points based on where they were headquartered. Now, a firm, when it submits a proposal for a particular contract, instead will have to show how it would increase participation by Osceola County subcontractors and how it did so in its two previous School District contracts. If it never did work for the district, then the company would have to show how it used local contractors on its last two projects.

In addition, construction management firms will be required to document what local subcontractors were used on projects and justify why they weren’t used, if available and qualified to do the job.

In the new policy, a local construction management firm would be defined as one that has its headquarters, offices or other facilities within Osceola County and would have the appropriate business licenses from the municipalities in which it operates.

In order for a joint venture to qualify as an Osceola County business under the new policy, a partner must have had for at least a year an office or facility in Osceola County and must have the needed business licenses. This provision will kick in July 1. A firm to qualify as local and to make a proposal also needs to have all the required licenses in place before the district solicits that proposal.

For contractors providing professional services to the district, a three-tiered point system will be replaced with a one-tiered system, whereby a firm that qualifies as an Osceola County business would be granted three weighted points.

Members of the Osceola County Business and Taxpayers Association wanted more teeth in construction management firm contract language, essentially that 70 percent of subcontracted work goes to Osceola County companies, unless it can be shown there are not enough firms available to do the work.

Jim Wells, association member, said the policy change for construction managers makes the selection process too subjective.

School Board Member Cindy Hartig, who voted against the change, said she was concerned there was no penalty for a construction management firm failing to hire enough local subcontractors once it gets a project.

“I don’t have confidence that all CMs would have due diligence in bringing in local participation,” Hartig said.

School Board Chairman John McKay said companies not carrying through on contract promises would have a more difficult time getting future contracts, given that they would not be able to show a history of hiring locally.

The School Board tabled for two weeks awarding the $3.73 million management contract for the Gateway High School classroom addition project to Dallas-based Balfour Beatty Construction pending having more documents for the job available to board members and to justify why certain items were negotiated out of the contract by district staff.

“Some things should not be in the contract,” board member David Stone said. “There are things here that are flat wrong.”

Hartig initially raised the issue about the contract.