Staff recommends FGM as construction manager at risk for Chatham’s new village hall and police facility; board to negotiate contract

Staff member Matt told trustees that the selection committee received six proposals for a construction-manager-at-risk role for the planned village hall and police department. After independent scoring and a panel review, the committee recommended FGM based on demonstrated experience, capacity to manage workload and project delivery, and use of technology such as drones and 3-D modeling during design and construction stages.

Matt said the committee’s evaluation used multiple metrics—past experience on similar projects, perceived workload/backlog, fee and preconstruction services, and construction-cost considerations—and that the decision came down to experience rather than lowest fee. He said some proposals were excluded because fee metrics or lack of recent comparable experience were outliers.

Trustees asked procedural questions: whether bid bonds would be required and about the scoring process. Matt replied that bonding would apply at the construction-bid stage (this procurement concerns professional services) and that committee members scored proposals independently before meeting to reconcile outliers.

There was no vote on the recommendation at this meeting. The board directed staff to begin negotiating contract language with FGM and to prepare the agreement, schedules and documents for board review and a likely approval vote at an upcoming meeting.

Why this matters: Selecting a construction manager at risk is a key procurement step that shapes project delivery, risk allocation and oversight for a major local capital project. The board prioritized a firm with relevant experience and project-delivery tools over a purely fee-based selection.