North Kingstown panel shortlists three firms for Whitford Middle School owner's project manager and authorizes interview subcommittee

The North Kingstown facilities committee reviewed seven responses to its request for proposals (RFP) for owner’s project manager (OPM) services for Whitford Middle School and agreed on a three‑firm shortlist to bring in for on‑site interviews.

A staff member described the role to the group as “an owner's project manager … our advocate who would work between us and a contractor … boots on the ground,” and said the committee’s evaluation and the cost figures read were scoped to Whitford Middle School only; services for the district’s capital improvement plan (CIP) were excluded by an addendum. The committee then discussed scoring, technical thresholds and the timetable that will send its recommendation to the full school committee and, if approved, to the town council for any bond approvals.

Why it matters: The OPM will act as the district’s representative during construction to confirm plans are built to specification and to monitor schedules and compliance. The committee must select a recommendation that the school committee can vote on by May 20 and, where bond funding is involved, the council must approve awards by the council meeting scheduled in June.

Committee members read the seven submitted OPM cost proposals for the Whitford scope: Downs Construction ($1,665,293), KCM Group ($897,226), Colliers (listed at $4,072,450 overall, with a Whitford‑only figure of $2,281,950), Peregrine Group ($2,422,610), Turner & Townsend ($1,500,000), ECC Corporation ($1,196,327) and Jacobs ($2,125,605). The Colliers submission included separate pricing that the committee said appeared to add CIP work the RFP had excluded; Colliers also provided a Whitford‑only figure on its form.

The committee followed the RFP’s evaluation rule that technical proposals receiving a score of 60 or higher proceed to cost review. Because not every committee member had completed every technical score on the evaluation sheets, members agreed to compute averages across submitted technical scores to determine which firms met the 60‑point threshold. After that averaging, the three firms that met the committee’s cutoff and will be invited for interviews were Peregrine Group (average technical score 67.2), Colliers (61.67) and Downs (60.11). Several members flagged that the RFP’s cost formula — which awards up to 30 points to the lowest cost and scales other bids against it — makes it difficult for significantly higher bidders to overcome their cost disadvantage even if their technical score is stronger.

The committee voted to form a subcommittee to conduct interviews of the shortlisted OPM firms and to negotiate the interview schedule and format. The motion to form the interview subcommittee carried by unanimous voice vote. Committee members discussed limiting presentations to short timed sessions (for example, 15 minutes presentation, 15 minutes Q&A) and making reference checks part of pre‑interview diligence.

The committee agreed the subcommittee’s recommendation, after interviews and any follow‑up reference checks and cost evaluations, will be forwarded to the school committee for its May 20 agenda; any recommended contract award that uses bonded funds would also need town council approval at a later meeting.

The committee did not make a final award; it only selected firms for interviews and created the subcommittee to conduct those interviews and report back.