At a work session Aug. 5, Moore County Schools staff reported on recent bid openings and the status of multiple construction projects funded by the 2018 bond and other financing.

John Barath (presented as the district project lead) told the board four contractors submitted bids for the new Pinehurst Elementary School; the apparent low bidder was Thomas Construction Group of Wilmington with a base bid of $31,750,000. Barath said the budgeted construction amount on the project schedule had been $28,870,000 — leaving an apparent shortfall of about $2,880,000 between the budgeted construction line and the low bid.

District staff and the design team (listed in the presentation as constituent architects and engineers) met with Thomas Construction to review the bid and identify potential savings. Barath said the team will meet Aug. 16 to review value-engineering items and will return a final recommendation for board action at the Sept. 3 meeting. The project sheet the board had reviewed identified roughly $945,000 in contingency and about $195,000 remaining in prorated escalation/ inflation — about $1,140,000 total — leaving roughly $1.7 million still to fund if the low bid is accepted without other savings.

Barath said the district is managing three elementary projects as part of a $103 million program and that a cumulative shortfall including Southern Pines Elementary and Pinehurst narrowed to roughly $2.9 million after applying contingency and unused funds from other project budgets. He cautioned that site unknowns (demolition and subsurface conditions on a previously developed site) counsel against draining all contingency funds.

Staff reviewed other projects: McDeatts Creek Elementary School is in final fit-out with a certificate-of-occupancy inspection scheduled for Aug. 12 and a planned ribbon-cutting on Aug. 22 at 10 a.m.; the contractor and the town have been coordinating final work on an on-site traffic roundabout that affects the occupancy timeline. The temporary Pinehurst Elementary modular campus at Rassie Wicker Park was reported as powered and nearly ready; district staff said front-office operations at Pinehurst would close for the move and reopen at the temporary site on Aug. 14.

Southern Pines and Aberdeen projects were reported moving forward (Southern Pines in early site retaining-wall and grading work; Aberdeen past 50% construction). Barath said the apparent low bidder (Thomas Construction Group) has worked in North Carolina but had not previously done work in Moore County; the district is requesting a project resume and references from the bidder. Board members asked staff to bring a full award recommendation to the Sept. 3 board meeting.

Staff noted landscaping on new schools is under a one-year warranty and that items that fail during the establishment period will be replaced in the fall as part of the contractor punch list and warranty retention process. Barath and other presenters repeatedly emphasized the proposal to pursue targeted value-engineering opportunities before recommending an award to the district board in September.