The HISD Board of Education on Thursday authorized the district to negotiate contracts with seven firms to provide construction manager at risk (CMAR) services on selected 2012 bond projects.

Those firms are:
· Sterling Structures for Condit Elementary School and Grady Middle School
· Tellepsen Buildings for DeBakey and Milby high schools
· DivisionOne Construction for Delmar Field House/Stadium Improvements and the Relief Elementary School
· KBR Building Group for Furr, Sharpstown, and Washington high schools, and Young Men’s College Preparatory Academy
· B3Ci for the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
· Cadence McShane Construction for the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Sterling High School
· Satterfield & Pontikes Construction for Lee High School and the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet School

Utilizing the CMAR contracting method helps HISD ensure a quality project by increasing coordination with the design team, establishing a guaranteed maximum price for construction and minimizing the potential for problems, such as cost overruns. CMAR also allows greater potential for subcontracting specialized work, increasing the number of potential business opportunities with the district. Many of the 2012 bond program projects will be assigned CMARs because of the nature and complexity of the projects.

The selected firms were chosen from a pool of 33 contractors based on several selection criteria, including qualifications, relevant experience, safety record, minority and women-owned business enterprises (M/WBE) plan, construction methodology and phasing strategy, and financial stability. Qualified firms were then invited to submit cost proposals for construction services.

The firms have committed to contracting from 20 percent to 35 percent of their work to M/WBE consultants.

In addition, the board authorized HISD staff to negotiate a contract with the architectural firm of Page Southerland Page to design the new High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.

HISD has reviewed qualifications submitted by 85 architectural and engineering firms seeking to do work with the district under the 2012 bond program. As part of the review, the district invited members of the HSLECJ school community to hear presentations from three finalists selected for the project. Administrators also solicited the expertise of professors from the University of Houston, Rice University and Prairie View A&M University schools of Architecture.

To date, HISD has heard oral presentations from about 40 firms. All firms, including those not invited for presentations to date, will remain under consideration for other 2012 bond projects, including 15 remaining schools.

The Board of Education also approved CMAR contracts for North Forest High School and the Early Childhood Center as the planning and design process of those schools gets underway.

HISD was ordered by the Texas Education Agency on July 1, 2013, to annex the North Forest school district. In the three months since that order, HISD administrators have conducted a comprehensive facility review and assessment of all the schools in the North Forest area.

Both North Forest High School, 10725 Mesa Drive, and the Early Childhood Center, 10719 Seneca Street, were found to be in such poor condition that the most cost-effective solution is to build new schools that will also accommodate future enrollment growth. In August, the HISD Board of Education authorized administrators to select architects for both projects, a process that is being finalized.

In order to move forward on these projects, the board approved the following CMARs:

· Drymalla Construction Company for the Early Childhood Center
· B3Ci for North Forest High School

HISD is currently addressing the funding needs of these projects to include state monies and bonds issued by the HISD Public Facility Corporation. That entity previously issued bonds to finance all or a portion of district construction projects that have included Westside and Chavez high schools, the Food Service Warehouse and DeAnda, Peck and Roosevelt elementary schools.