Vote And Value Engineering Urged For NHS Expansion

By Eliza Hallabeck

After hearing a representative of the Morganti Group discuss the Newtown High School expansion project this past Tuesday night, the Public Building and Site Commission decided to recommend that the project go back for referendum and go simultaneously under review for value engineering suggestions.

The special meeting of the Public Building and Site Commission Tuesday was convened after the NHS expansion project came in over budget by $3.9 million when the bids closed on July 29.

Ed Barrett, the director of preconstruction for the project with the Morganti Group, presented three possibilities to solve the funding shortfall for the town to the commission.

“Most of the bidders said they thought it was a well thought-out job,” said Mr Barrett, but inflating costs in materials over the past couple of months have worked up the price of the project.

Mr Barrett said over the past couple of weeks the Morganti Group has been talking with the subcontractors and going through the scope reviews for the project, and the group came up with the three possible options for the underfunded project.

Option A, he said, would be to work with the bids as they stand and apply value engineering to bring the cost down, but Mr Barrett said he does not believe that enough money will be saved by doing this. He said the project will still be over budget.

Option B, he said would include rebidding those aspects of the project that were over budget and continuing to review the other areas of the project for value engineering. Mr Barrett said doing this probably will not cut the cost down as far as the $3.9 million either, and it will take extra time to rebid portions of the project.

Option C, would involve a significant amount of value engineering and some redesign for the project. This would force the project to be put before the state, and would take a considerable amount of time.

“In terms of the number of bids that came in, we were happy because we did get a good number of bids,” said Mr Barrett, but he explained that for certain projects the bidders that took the different jobs will be hiring out to different companies to complete parts of the project. He said this adds to the cost of the overall bid package. He also said that other bidders seemed interested, but when the bids were opened, about 20 of these interested firms did not bid for the project.

Mr Barrett said if the project were opened to be rebid then there may be a chance of getting these extra bidders for the project.

As part of the value engineering for the project, Mr Barrett suggested breaking down the more expensive bid packages, such as the general trades package. He said doing this would allow different contractors to take different portions of the project.

“With Option B we still don’t think we can get $4 million,” said Public Building And Site Commission Chair William Furrier, “but that could give us enough time.”

 Mr Furrier said Option C may get the project completed in budget, but it would include a significant amount of value engineering and some redesign. In the event that Option C is used it would require completing bids again by the end of December and starting construction in early March.

“We are still looking at a 23-month project, so that does shift the project out,” said Mr Furrier.

Public Building and Site Commission alternate member Robert Mitchell said Option C would require going back to the state, and he added that portion could make the project last an extra year.

“There’s a presumption with Option C that we could make that number,” said Mr Furrier regarding the extra $3.9 million needed for the project, “but it’s a presumption.”

Mr Furrier explained that the cost of the project has increased by inflation, and waiting longer will only make the project more expensive in the long run.

Mr Barrett reminded the committee that the bidders have 90 days to hold to the amount that they bid for the project, but after that time is up the project will have to be rebid.

“We have more like 60 days now. It’s not 90 days anymore,” said Mr Furrier, adding that it is unlikely that the project will get anywhere given more time.

Robert Mulholland, a Public Building and Site Commission member, said he thinks the Board of Education and the committee need to meet to discuss any cuts that could be made the project.

After discussing the three possibilities in detail, the Public Building and Site Commission moved to recommend to the Board of Education that the budget for the NHS expansion project be resubmitted for another referendum vote, and at the same time that value engineering be researched by the Morganti Group and Fletcher Thompson.

If a revised project budget goes to vote, the Board of Education and the Public Building and Site Commission will meet in early September to assess where the project stands and what can be done further to expedite its eventual construction.