Council Hears Presentation on $2.89 Million Leftfield Contract for Providence school Phase 4; No Vote Recorded

Providence City Council on Monday reviewed a resolution to authorize a $2,894,400 contract award to Leftfield LLC to serve as owner's project manager (OPM) for Phase 4 of Providence Public schools.

During the meeting, Administration representatives and Leftfield's Chris Spiegel outlined the selection process and the firm's planned approach. Crystal Lindner, representing city finance, and Courtney Hawkins, city finance staff, were sworn in to present financial details. The clerk read the item into the record as: "Resolution authorizing approval of the following contract award by the Board of Contract and Supply in accordance with section 21 through 26 b of the code of ordinances, Leftfield LLC, $2,894,400, Department of Public Property." (Item 2)

The administration said the city issued an RFP for Phase 4 OPM services, received nine proposals, conducted four interviews and advanced three finalists to a price competition before selecting Leftfield. Council members pressed staff and Leftfield on how the new OPM would integrate with Downs Construction, which has served as the OPM for earlier phases. City staff and Leftfield said Downs would continue to manage scopes it currently oversees while Leftfield would provide additional resources for Phase 4, with coordination focused on budgets and swing space sequencing.

On environmental compliance, Councilors asked whether Leftfield could meet the city's carbon-neutral buildings requirements. Spiegel said Leftfield is building a "net 0" project in Massachusetts, has projects with energy use indices under 30 and has mechanical, electrical and plumbing experts on its team. He also cited use of geothermal in a South Kingstown project and said the firm has successfully incorporated federal tax incentives in past work to free funds for institutional programming.

Council members also asked about start timing and staff allocation. Spiegel said Leftfield plans to fast-track approvals, work closely with state reviewers, assign a full-time senior project manager and three project executives across phases, and expected roughly 3.5 full-time-equivalent staff devoted to the core project team. Council members thanked Downs Construction for prior work and said bringing additional oversight could help manage the large Phase 4 scope, which city presenters described as "hundreds of millions" of dollars in construction.

The meeting record includes two early procedural votes: a motion to take items 1 and 3 out of order (moved by Councilman Ed Was and seconded by Vice Chairman Taylor; motion carried) and a motion to continue items 1 and 3 (moved by Councilwoman Andewald and seconded by Councilman Sanchez; motion carried). The transcript does not record a formal vote on the Leftfield contract resolution during the portion provided; staff did not announce a final approval or vote time in the recorded discussion.

Next steps were not specified on the record. Council members indicated support for continuing the procurement process and asked staff to manage integration, timelines and budgeting as the Phase 4 effort advances.