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Picking the best of the bids submitted for a recent RFP to upgrade science classrooms at four Portland Public Schools facilities was a relatively simple task for the district鈥檚 Office of School Modernization 鈥� none were submitted. The office, already fighting hard to stick to its demanding eight-year schedule, will try to get the project to happen next year.

With much focus currently on unhealthy levels of lead in PPS schools, it鈥檚 easy to overlook all the construction going on at district facilities, as well as all the cost escalations associated with performing public work during a historic building boom. But with classes now out for summer, work on the district鈥檚 $482 million bond program will soon peak. For the next three months, work will be performed on 47 schools, including three major modernizations. And with the office preparing to go to the board later this month with requests for the next bond program, it鈥檚 possible that the legacy of the boom could be felt for years to come.

鈥淭hey鈥檝e got 62 days 鈥� that鈥檚 it,鈥� said Jerry Vincent, PPS chief of school modernization. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not much.鈥�

Climate controls

If the bond is a symphony nearing its crescendo, Vincent is the conductor.

Vincent, who started in November, is a sort of journeyman bond program manager who鈥檚 administered a number of large bonds in Southern California and elsewhere. The tidy office where he oversees the latest Portland bond is at one end of an expansive, cubicle-lined basement in the district鈥檚 out-of-the-way Rose Quarter headquarters.

鈥淲hat do you do when you advertise as much as you can, and it鈥檚 not a budget thing 鈥� there are just no bidders?鈥� he asked last week. 鈥淲ell, there鈥檚 a lot going on out there.鈥�

Voters in 2012 approved a measure to modernize three high schools, replace one elementary school, and tackle a variety of projects across 63 district schools 鈥� many involving roofs, seismic upgrades and ADA-related accessibility. Summer work looms at Franklin High School, Faubion School and , design work is taking place for Grant High School and master planning for Madison, Lincoln and Benson high schools.

As Vincent鈥檚 office scrambles to get it all started on time, much of the focus is now on the minutiae 鈥� e.g., fingerprinting all workers who will be on-site at a school.

In May, monthly program spending hit $10 million. Kevin Spillman, chairman of the district鈥檚 Bond Accountability Committee, in his quarterly presentation to the PPS Board of Education, said that figure is about to look 鈥減retty puny.鈥� In the next 15 months, the program will expend approximately $220 million, or around $14 million per month.

鈥淎nd this is in the context of a very challenging design-construction environment,鈥� he said.

In this arena, Spellman is no mere gadfly. He鈥檚 director of Multnomah Education Service District, a professor of civil engineering at Oregon State University, and for 18 years was president of Emerick Construction. Spellman said the BAC is on its guard entering what will be a big summer.

鈥淪ubstantial risks still exist in the program, so we are very concerned about this shrinking level of reserves,鈥� he told the school board last month.

Designs for Roosevelt and Franklin have already come in behind schedule, in part because of design changes due to capacity tweaks at both schools. The completion date for Franklin has been pushed back three months, to May 2017, though crews are expected to easily finish before classes resume in the fall. A larger problem is the fact that the project has almost completely burned through its contingency.

In Roosevelt鈥檚 case 鈥� where work is said to be proceeding at a 鈥渇urious鈥� pace 鈥� a great deal remains to be done. But with the project鈥檚 contingency now below 5 percent, there鈥檚 concern among the advisory committee about running over budget, given the inevitable surprises that pop up in highly-technical modernization efforts such as this.

The contractor, Lease Crutcher Lewis, has already employed a staggering strategy to keep as many trades working as possible.

鈥淎t best, that move-in is going to be very challenging,鈥� Spellman said.

In the case of Faubion, a PK-8 school that is getting a rebuild costing more than $35 million, design work is still proceeding smoothly; however, $1.9 million had to be transferred to the project because bids came in over budget and there鈥檚 little contingency remaining.

While the market has created uncertainty around the current big three projects, the smaller ones have been perhaps more seriously affected. Spellman said escalating market prices have caused a shortfall of work related to the so-called Improvement Project 2016. Of the six bid packages, only one came in on budget. Three were 鈥渟ubstantially鈥� over budget and one of the smaller packages attracted no bids at all. For the lighter work, the district required a transfer of about $3 million from the program reserves, Spellman said.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not going not do the work 鈥� we鈥檙e deferring it,鈥� said Ken Fisher, senior project manager with Heery International, consultants being retained for the bond program. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not sure we would have had enough time to put it back out to bid, and, because of the bid climate, we鈥檙e not sure we would have gotten anything we could have implemented anyway,鈥� Fisher said.

A chance for equity

The PPS board as well as social welfare advocates have asked that the bond program support minorities and women in construction. To that end, the volatile bid climate has been challenging, though Vincent and Spellman both say efforts have been successful, with improvement anticipated this summer.

Selecting joint ventures as construction managers-general contractors has been effective in increasing participation of women- and minority-owned firms. Advocates of this approach to improving participation say it鈥檚 more effective because it allows project leaders more chance for creativity than the alternative, traditional low-bid approach, which is strictly a numbers game.

So far, more than 7 percent of program payments have gone to MWESB firms.

But with so few bids on the two high school projects, Franklin in particular, it鈥檚 thought that participation numbers will remain well below aspiration levels.

On the plus side, the RFP for the $85 million to $90 million Grant High School project saw the selection of a new power couple on the CM-GC stage in Portland. Minority-owned Colas Construction has elected to pursue the project with white-owned Andersen Construction (Colas previously partnered with R&H Construction for a number of high-profile projects).

Portland Public Schools 2012 capital improvement bond program

Project name聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Original budget聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Budget changes聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Current budget

Franklin modernization聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 $81,585,655聽聽聽 $24,985,204聽聽聽 $106,570,859

Grant modernization聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 $88,336,829聽聽聽 $23,554,752聽聽聽 $111,891,581

Roosevelt modernization聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 $68,418,695聽聽聽 $28,198,736聽聽聽 $96,617,431

Faubion replacement聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 $27,035,537聽聽聽 $21,834,591聽聽聽 $48,870,128

Roosevelt High School modernization

Start date: spring 2015

Scheduled completion: fall 2017 (phase I buildings to be ready for occupation by fall 2016)

Cost: $92 million

Architect: Bassetti Architects

Contractor: Lease Crutcher Lewis

Franklin High School modernization

Start date: summer 2015

Scheduled completion: fall 2017

Cost: $102 million

Architect: DOWA-IBI Group/SERA Architects

Contractor: Skanska

Faubion PK-8 School rebuild

Start date: fall 2015

Scheduled completion: fall 2017

Cost: $27.5 million from the bond program (an additional $7.5 million to $15 million will come from Concordia University)

Architect: Bora Architects

Contractor: Todd Construction