The North Kingstown School Committee approved a motion to advance a recommended construction manager-at-risk preconstruction agreement for the new Wickford Middle School after a brief presentation on the RFP review process.

An owner’s project manager identified as Sam from Peregrine summarized the procurement timeline and scoring. The district issued the RFP in mid-to-late October and received six submissions on Nov. 12, which the presentation listed as “Consiglie, Demeo, DOC, Gilbane, O and G, and Chaumet.” A review committee that included the superintendent, the town manager, a building advisory committee member (Mr. Ferreira), and interim facilities director Mr. Milazzo interviewed each firm (50 minutes per firm: 30-minute presentation, 20 minutes for questions) and scored proposals using the RFP criteria.

Sam told the committee that Shawmut Construction was the top point-getter in the scoring and that the review committee recommended entering a preconstruction agreement as the first phase of work. The preconstruction agreement was described in the presentation as costing $100,000; Sam noted that amount covers only preconstruction services (cost estimating, constructability reviews, schedule development) and is not the total cost of the project. If the firm remains the selected partner after design completion, the district would negotiate a guaranteed maximum price contract for the full project.

Committee members asked for clarification on timing and next steps; Sam said there is no hard date yet but anticipated returning at the end of the summer with stage 3 documents and the GMP for committee approval. The chair called the question and the committee approved the motion by voice vote.

The committee’s action advances preconstruction work; the district said it will return to the committee with recurring updates and formal approvals for subsequent contract stages.