PGCPS capital programs defend change-order controls, outline PMIS plan after audit

Prince George's County Public Schools capital programs leaders told the Board of Education audit committee on Jan. 12 that the district's layered contract controls and documentation reduce the risk the audit flagged and that they will pursue a project-management information system to improve transparency and recordkeeping.

Shayla Jackson, director of capital programs, said the system of approvals begins years before construction and includes EFMP selection, mandatory feasibility studies for renovations, detailed educational specifications and multiagency design reviews. "No one office or person or department is acting alone," Jackson said, describing the multiple control gates that tie funding, scope and approvals to specific projects.

Jackson told trustees capital funding functions as reimbursement tied to a specific project appropriation rather than a lump-sum cash transfer. She described the contract lifecycle and said legal liability and the primary control point occur when a change order is executed via an AIA G701 modification and justified on a DCP Form 3,211. "If PGCPS changed to paying vendors by Apple Pay tomorrow, the contract and change order controls wouldn't change at all…