Council approves $5.5 million guaranteed maximum price for Florence Grama Center renovations after debate on procurement and oversight

The Newport City Council approved a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) amendment of $5,500,000 for construction manager‑at‑risk services with Albor Construction Corporation for renovations to the Florence Grama Center. The funding for the project comes from a $7,500,000 grant administered by the Rhode Island Pandemic Recovery Office; the city is acting as fiscal agent and staff said no municipal funds are required.

The vote was 6–1. Councilors pressed staff on procurement details, disclosure of competing bidders and the role of state oversight. David Carlin and other councilors asked why state or federal officials were not more involved in the selection panel and requested more documentation about competing bids and scoring. Manny Ferreira, owner’s project manager with KCM Group, said the project went to public bid after schematic design, received five construction manager proposals, and that Albor (recorded in bid materials as the most advantageous on pricing and technical factors) was selected through a scoring process. Ferreira described how the construction‑manager‑at‑risk model brought the contractor into design to align drawings with the established budget and said value engineering brought the project to the $5.5 million GMP.

City staff and the owner’s team said the Pandemic Recovery Office reviewed the procurement and had visibility into the RFP process and scoring; staff said ranking sheets and documentation exist and were available to state grant administrators. The council also heard that the town of Middletown is a project partner: Middletown representatives have participated in weekly project meetings to define services the renovated center will provide for both municipalities.

Why it matters: the Florence Grama Center project is among the largest single items on the docket and will be funded by pandemic recovery dollars intended to support workforce development, health monitoring and education. The size of the contract and the use of grant funds led councilors to ask for more transparency on bidder competition and state oversight.

Next steps: staff will continue to manage contract compliance and payment requests as Newport serves as fiscal agent for the grant; councilors requested that procurement records and bid scoring be included with project updates.