When Springfield Public Schools was looking for voter approval of $50 million in school bonds in November, the community’s return on investment was one of its selling points. But when its board awarded one of those school bond projects to an out-of-state architectural firm on Jan. 19, it left some local companies questioning the school district’s commitment to the community. While the Nov. 3, 2009, ballot language doesn’t promise to award bond projects to local firms, the school district’s Web site implied a local preference would be granted. Under the subhead “Why now?” the site states, “As intended by the stimulus package, the majority of the $50 million will be spent locally to employ contractors and laborers and purchase materials and supplies required to complete the proposed projects.” When it came to awarding the $9.4 million expansion of Westport Elementary School, the school board opted for Omaha, Neb.-based BCDM Inc., despite passionate protests by local architectural firms in the days leading up to and during the board meeting. Two local firms also won assignments: Dake Wells Architecture Inc. picked up the $2.7 million gymnasium addition to Jeffries Elementary, and Esterly Schneider & Associates Inc. won the $7.4 million renovation to Hillcrest High School. While area architects made enough of an impact on board members to elicit a promise to review the selection process for architects and contractors, school leaders insist that the steps taken to choose BCDM were good ones. “The process that we had worked extremely well,” Board President Gerry Lee said. “I don’t know that there are any flaws in the one we used.”
Money not a factor Because architecture firms offer professional services, the search for an architect is limited to the firm’s qualifications, said Scott Wendt, director of business operations for the district, noting that price isn’t a factor. “The fee is not part of the evaluation on the front end,” he said. “Now, it can take somebody out on the back end, if somebody is unreasonable.” Wendt put together a 12-member committee made up of district staff. Member Dave Bishop, the district’s deputy director of facilities, said the committee followed the guidelines already established by the district, adding the policy can be found under the board policies section at www.springfieldpublicschoolsmo.org. After reviewing the policy, the committee examined qualifications from 21 architectural firms, which were submitted upon the district’s request at the beginning of the year. The policy states this guiding criteria: specialized experience and technical competence; capacity and capability to meet specifications within set time limits; past records of performance; and the firm’s proximity and familiarity with the project area. “We’re always trying to pick the top ones,” Wendt added.
Then there were nine After qualification reviews, the committee selected nine semifinalists for the three projects. Of the nine firms, BCDM was the only out-of-market firm. Dake Wells; Esterly Schneider; Butler, Rosenbury & Partners; Bates & Associates; Buddy Webb & Co.; Jack Ball & Associates Architects; Sapp Design Associates Architects; and Marshall-Waters-Woody and Associates were the other eight finalists, according to e-mail correspondence between school officials and architect Geoffrey Butler, who provided the materials to Springfield Business Journal. Next, the committee asked each firm to respond in writing to 10 questions, followed by interviews between executives and committee members. During this stage, Wendt said, the committee evaluated a firm’s ability to work well with the district, its educational specialization and familiarity with Springfield. During the interviews, the architects were asked to pick the school project of their choice. Dake Wells principals Brandon Dake and Andrew Wells chose the Westport project, they said, before quickly pointing out that they’re thrilled with the Jeffries project. “I think the size (of the Westport project) was a part of it, but it’s also an opportunity to make a significant impact on the community and the neighborhood, and we feel like we were up to the challenge,” Wells said.
Five firms to three The committee held a second round of interviews with five of the firms. While the school district did not respond to SBJ’s requests for the firm names, architect Butler also provided the committee’s short list. On it were BCDM, Dake Wells, Esterly Schneider, Jack Ball and Sapp Design. At this point, the committee asked the district to arrive for the interview 30 minutes early and prepare to go through “mock charettes.” When they arrived, the firms were given some details about Westport and asked to spend about 25 minutes preparing to walk the committee through the ways the firm would approach an issue arising at that project. “They weren’t interested in whether we solved the actual problem, they just wanted to see how we would go about our problem-solving process and how we would interact with a committee,” said Craig Schneider, principal at Esterly Schneider. Schneider said his firm, which has experience with the district, including the current remodeling of the district’s administration office, tried to communicate its hands-on approach. Wendt said that message came through. “They really talked about how they go through the field verification process and other aspects of a project,” he said. BCDM principal Bob Mabrey said he did his homework at the start of the selection process. Mabrey, whose firm designed the $10 million Harrison Elementary School last year, flew to Springfield to tour the three projects and visited Study, whose students will be transferring to Westport, taking photos and talking with district staff. “During the charette then, I had those photos with me, and as part of the process, we walked through the photographs and we talked about what was good and what needed improvement,” he said. The committee’s final job was to recommend the firms it felt were best for each project. Wendt noted the strong points of each firm: Dake Wells’ creativity, Esterly Schneider’s attention to detail, and BCDM’s attention to quality control and construction administration. In the end, Wendt said, the committee did its best to do what the board asked of it: Find the best firm for each project, noting capability is only a small factor of the equation when multiple firms are competing for three jobs. “It’s not always about capable,” he said. “It’s about the best fit.”[[In-content Ad]]
A relocation to Nixa from Republic and a rebranding occurred for Aspen Elevated Health; Kuick Noodles LLC opened; and Phelps County Bank launched a new southwest Springfield branch.
