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Manchester committee gets update on school construction; members press for monthly procurement transparency
Summary
Leftfield and contractors reported progress on five priority school projects, outlined subcontractor selection steps, and said 68% of contract value so far is with New Hampshire firms; committee asked for monthly procurement reports and leveling sheets after vendor concerns about bidding fairness.
Members of the Committee on Joint School Buildings on Sept. 9 received a status and procurement update on the city's priority 1 school projects and pressed for regular, written procurement transparency after vendors raised questions about the bidding process.
The presentation was delivered by Mark Lenfest of Leftfield, the program manager for the multi-school program that includes Hillside and McLaughlin middle schools and projects at Parkside, Southside and Beach Street. Lenfest said group 1 work is "about 90% procured" (later described as roughly 95% for some trades), Consigli had submitted a revised guaranteed maximum price (GMP) expected to be executed this week, and work such as foundation excavations and elevator pit concrete pours are underway.
The discussion focused on how subcontractors are selected. Lenfest described Consigli's use of "leveling" or "D scope" sheets to narrow bids to the 2—3 most responsive subcontractors, verify that each bidder included all scope items (for example, firestopping penetrations), and then ask bidders to confirm or revise pricing where line items were missing. Lenfest said the process…
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