Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Capital Program topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board hears SMART program progress and warns of change-order, payment and staffing risks
Summary
Facilities staff told the board the $1.65 billion SMART program has completed or advanced hundreds of renovations, while acknowledging change orders, unforeseen conditions and vendor-payment problems that could delay projects. Staff pledged a quarterly dashboard, improved vendor outreach and plans for capacity building.
Broward County School District facilities leaders presented a comprehensive SMART capital program update to the board on Aug. 27, describing hundreds of active renovation projects, the program's spending profile and the drivers of change orders.
"We have completed the music and art portion of SMART and we have 176 schools in active construction," said the program lead. The presentation quantified program spending (roughly $1.65 billion program budget with a large share already committed or spent) and said certified small businesses have received about 29% of reported program payments.
Board members pressed staff on change-order backlogs and timeliness. Ashley Carpenter of Atkins, the program consultant, said more than 1,000 change-order items had been approved program-wide and another roughly 380 were open in the system (about $7.5 million currently pending review); staff said $43 million remains in contingency within project budgets. "Some change orders are consultant omissions or unforeseen site conditions," Carpenter said, calling for a standard errors-and-omissions recovery policy to reduce contractor premium costs.
Contractors and board members urged faster invoice processing. The board requested clearer metrics (time-to-approve change order, percentage of clean invoices paid within prompt-pay thresholds) and a public-facing project dashboard. Facilities executives said they will publish quarterly updates, continue weekly program-management meetings with AECOM and Atkins, and pursue targeted hires to increase district capacity ahead of the planned Oct. 31, 2025 SMART program closeout window.
What happens next: staff committed to produce a carve-out list (work removed or deferred), a list of open/pending change orders and a timeline for projects expected to roll into long-term capital (DEFP). They also proposed additional outreach and training for small and disadvantaged businesses to improve participation and payment flows.
Provenance: Presentation and Q&A recorded at the Aug. 27 Broward County School Board workshop (facilities/SMART program update led by Miss Paul with consultants from Atkins and AECOM).
