Selection process a concern

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Selection process a concern

Opinions

Wednesday, 05 May 2010 12:53

Despite assurances that everything is working smoothly, we are still worried about the selection process for Osceola County School District major building projects.
The $14.5 million Highlands Elementary School replacement project has been problematic from the start, with the initial ranking of construction management firms thrown out only to be replaced by a new ranking. Then, the firm that was displaced from the top of the list in the second ranking filed a protest. And finally, the School Board decided to rework the district’s local vendor policy and apply that policy to a new solicitation, throwing all the old proposals out.
School Board Member Cindy Hartig expressed concerns about the initial selection process and then about the selection of a top-ranked firm after the second solicitation. One of the firms that was among the top contenders initially but not in the second also sent the district a letter announcing that it intended to protest the selection process. However, that firm a few days later chose not to proceed, ostensibly so that the project would not be delayed.
Granted, competition for school building projects is fierce in these hard economic times and firms spend valuable resources putting together proposals, only to have the project go to some other company. However, we still see several issues that School District administrators and our School Board have to tackle: not enough time, apparently, is built into the procurement system to deal with protests; a School Board member is still questioning the fairness of the selection process; and the public, right or wrong, has the perception that something is amiss.
That same board member also asked whether the district had its “ducks in a row” when it approved a $60,000 contract for pre-construction site work at the Highlands school with the top-ranked firm before negotiations even had begun with that same firm for the larger management contract.
Back when the School Board decided to seek a new round of proposals for this project, one member said he was “embarrassed” over the situation and that the selection process “needs to be as tight as possible.” Another member said the “board is responsible for this mess” and that the selection committee had been “less than objective.”
In light of all the problems, we’re not sure that the latest selection has been as tight as it needed to be nor as objective as it could have been.