The Select Board on Sept. 29 authorized the fire department building committee and the town administrator to enter contract negotiations with CMS (Marlborough, Mass.) to serve as owner's project manager (OPM) for the planned fire station project.
Members of the building committee reported five responses to the OPM request for qualifications. After ranking qualifications and references, the committee narrowed the field to three firms and recommended CMS as the top choice. The committee said CMS has municipal project experience, including fire stations, and the highest track record in the RFQ of delivering on time and on budget.
The nut graf: The board gave the building committee a conditional go-ahead to negotiate with CMS so the OPM can begin early project tasks; the committee warned that an advertising/procurement flaw for the designer will require a new RFQ for the final design and will delay the schedule.
Committee members said the OPM fee will be negotiated and is built into the project's soft costs; they emphasized that the OPM is not paid a percentage of contingency funds and that an independent cost estimate is part of the OPM's scope to guard against change orders. The committee also said that a prior advertising/procurement step for the designer had a procedural defect (incorrect newspapers/state publications), so the designer cannot be continued under the old procurement; the OPM's first tasks will include reissuing the RFQ for the final designer. That re-advertisement was described as an unanticipated delay.
The board voted to permit the town administrator and the building committee to enter negotiations with CMS, and to proceed to Colliers if CMS negotiations fail. Town counsel review was flagged as potentially necessary depending on contract complexity.
Ending: With the authorization to negotiate, the building committee expects to complete OPM negotiations and start the designer RFQ; the committee will return to the board with a negotiated contract and, if needed, a recommendation from the second-ranked firm if negotiations with CMS are not successful.