Stoughton building committee votes to pursue construction-manager-at-risk, approves design and OPM contract amendments

The Stoughton School Building Committee on an unstated meeting date authorized the town to pursue a construction-manager-at-risk (CM-at-risk) delivery method for the new elementary school project and approved contract amendments with design firm DRA and owner’s project manager Vertex to carry the project through design development and toward construction. The committee also created subcommittees, delegated subcommittee appointment authority to the committee chair, and discussed permitting, energy systems and schedule milestones.

The approvals move the project from schematic design into the MSBA design development and construction-document phases and start permitting steps that committee members said are on the project’s critical path. The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) funding agreement and state permitting reviews, including a likely Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Environmental Notification Form (ENF) and related environmental-justice outreach, were cited repeatedly as timing and approval milestones that will shape the next 6–12 months.

Tim Bonfati, project executive with Vertex, told the committee the team is working to submit a roughly 60% design-development package in October and two construction-document submissions (a 60% and a 90% set) through the winter and spring, with an eye toward beginning construction activities in the following construction season. "Our goal is to move into beginning active construction," Bonfati said. He described the MSBA process (project scope-and-budget agreement, then a funding agreement) and said the team expects a funding-agreement document from MSBA "sometime in the summer" (exact timing not specified).

Committee members and consultants emphasized permitting as a schedule risk. Carl Franceschi of DRA said the project as…