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Committee approves Omnia contracts to speed county facility repairs
Summary
Beaufort County’s Public Facilities Committee approved contract awards to Omnia for bundled roof and HVAC projects intended to accelerate work across multiple county buildings; staff told the committee the cooperative delivery model could let the county complete a far higher share of planned projects and capture energy incentives.
The Beaufort County Public Facilities Committee on June 16 approved contract awards to Omnia to deliver bundled roof- and HVAC-replacement work across multiple county buildings, a move staff said will speed repairs and reduce procurement layers.
Chair (S2) put the roof-replacement award on the floor and the committee approved the item with a motion and no objections. Staff member (S7) described Omnia as “a public purchasing cooperative similar to what we've all dealt with with Sourcewell,” explaining the vendor provides pre-bid scopes and a single contract that county staff can use to manage multiple building projects instead of soliciting separate bids for each site.
Director (S4), who led the procurement discussion, said the county currently has dozens of projects in its facilities pipeline and that Omnia would allow earlier project starts and consolidated project management. “All we have to do is send them the SOW,” S4 said, describing how Omnia supplies a project manager and uses prequalified vendors. S4 added that the approach could materially increase the county’s delivery rate: staff estimated they could accomplish “98% of [the] projects” using the cooperative versus roughly half via traditional bid-based procurement.
S4 also cited potential energy incentives tied to the approach: staff said the cooperative structure would allow the county to spend at scale and capture rebates. “We can spend anywhere up to $12,000,000 with Omnia and get back 15% back in rebates, incentives, and energy savings,” S4 said.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about vendor fees and contingencies; S4 confirmed Omnia retains a percentage fee and that local vendors still face competitive quoting within Omnia’s contracts. The committee then approved a parallel Omnia HVAC replacement award (Item 9) with no objection.
The approvals authorize county staff to contract with Omnia under the cooperative vehicle and to proceed with the bundled roof and HVAC projects; the committee did not set final project-by-project authorizations at the meeting. The committee voted to move both items forward to the next step of procurement and implementation.
