Washington County Housing Authority approves design-build RFPs for Hartwood Commons Phase 2 and a motel-to-transitional housing conversion

The Washington County Board of Commissioners, meeting as the Housing Authority Board of Washington County, voted May 6 to adopt findings that allow an exemption from the county's normal competitive bidding process and to issue requests for proposals for design-build teams for two housing projects.

Jill Chen, assistant director of the Department of Housing Services for the Housing Authority of Washington County, told the board the hearing's purpose was “to adopt the findings and grant exemption from the competitive bidding process and approve the use of alternative competitive contracting processes, namely, the design build process, and finally, to issue an RFP for that design build process.”

The staff presentation said the two projects are: Hartwood Commons Phase 2, a permanent supportive housing project of 54 units; and a recently acquired building to be converted to transitional housing via a motel conversion and rehabilitation. Lisa Varon, real estate division manager, said the transitional project's estimated construction cost is about $5,000,000 and described scope items including added community kitchens, more laundry space, hard‑floor interior upgrades, HVAC for common areas and conversion of some units to meet ADA accessibility needs.

Varon and Chen recommended using the design‑build contracting method instead of the county's typical design‑bid‑build approach. Varon said design‑build creates “a unified team, streamlining the project management where it's under 1 contract” and allows early collaboration between contractor and architect to reduce change orders and shorten schedules. She said the housing authority will run a competitive RFP process with published selection criteria that include proposer experience, demonstrated ability to deliver similar projects, diversity/equity/inclusion practices, and capacity to perform.

Board members asked about market capacity and risks. One director said she worried these projects might be too small for typical design‑build firms and asked whether the county could get qualified teams. Chen replied that projects in the $3 million to $5 million range are on the smaller end but that the authority has engaged smaller local contractors to explain the process and had a healthy response on prior work: “We had a healthy number of applicants. I think it was 5,” she said. Varon said teams will be evaluated on demonstrated prior collaboration among GC and architect and that the RFP will ask for cost estimates (not exact bids) to assess fee and contingency levels.

Board members also raised the risk that a design‑build partner might later separate its architect and contractor. Chen said that contractual provisions can protect the county's ownership interests and allow the county to approve replacement design partners. County counsel and the housing authority staff will include insurance, bonding and assignment clauses to mitigate those contingencies.

After the public hearing — for which no members of the public signed up to speak — the board approved the findings, granted the exemption from competitive bidding, authorized use of the alternative competitive contracting process, and directed staff to issue the RFPs. The motions carried unanimously, 7 to 0.

Board action notes and next steps: staff will publish the RFPs for competitive selection of design‑build teams, assemble a review panel to score proposals per published criteria, and negotiate with the highest‑scoring proposer. Any negotiated contract will return to procurement and county counsel review before execution.