Duncanville ISD to award Central Fine Arts Academy contract to Northridge Construction

The Duncanville Independent School District on July 21 approved moving forward to negotiate a construction contract with Northridge Construction Group to renovate Central Elementary into the Central Fine Arts Academy, board members said. The action, approved 6-0, follows a district evaluation of eight competitive sealed proposals for RFP 24-25-016. Administration recommended Northridge as the best value based on staff scoring and the accompanying evaluation summary in the board packet. District project staff told the board the base proposal from Northridge was $11,349,000. Two alternates — replacement of existing concrete at the south basketball court and upgrading the playground shade structure from fabric to metal — total $328,331, bringing the base-plus-alternates award amount to $11,677,331. “We received eight complete proposals. Based on that evaluation, Northridge Construction was determined to provide the best value to the district. Their proposal came more than $3,100,000 under our budget for Central,” said Ms. Zamora, the district project presenter in the board packet. Board members asked for clarification that the administration planned to pursue the base bid plus both alternates, and staff confirmed that the lower-than-expected bid permitted awarding both alternates within budget. Background: the work is funded by the 2023 bond approved by voters and was solicited as a competitive sealed proposal following the district purchasing guidelines. The board packet included cost information and an updated letter from the district’s architecture firm (WRA) that reflected the base cost plus alternates. Next steps: the board’s motion authorized administration to negotiate and enter into an agreement with Northridge Construction Group. Staff will return contract documents for final signatures after negotiation. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0.