M-DCPS 21st Century Schools Bond Advisory Committee Approves First Annual Report

M-DCPS 21st CENTURY SCHOOLS BOND ADVISORY COMMITTEE APPROVES FIRST ANNUAL REPORT

MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) 21st Century Schools Bond Advisory Committee today approved the First Annual Report assessing the implementation of the General Obligation Bond (GOB) program.

“The approval of the First Annual Report of the General Obligation Bond clearly demonstrates that as a school district, M-DCPS is delivering on its promise to close the digital divide, placing technology at the fingertips of students and teachers and modernizing our schools with new construction and renovations,” said Bob Martinez, Chair of the 21st Century Schools Bond Advisory Committee. “With nearly 70 projects completed or near completion, the district is moving aggressively to upgrade or replace school buildings, while improving access to economic opportunities for small and minority business entities.”

The comprehensive report reflects the district’s completion of several bond-related milestones in just the first year of implementation. Below are highlights:

Accelerated instructional technology installation for schools consisting of classroom interactive boards and related infrastructure improvements. The 2014-2015 school year opened with nearly 11,000 interactive boards installed in classrooms across the district.
Successfully issued certifications to more than 420 small businesses, opening new doors of economic opportunity to these entities
Successfully pre-qualified more than 200 small construction firms paving the way for their participation in the GOB implementation
For 66 GOB projects slated for Year 1, added 13 new local architectural firms to the roster

Of these, eight are certified as Small Business/Micro Business Enterprise (MBE/SBE) firms and nine firms also are certified as Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) firms.

For the same 66 Year 1 GOB projects, added six new local contractors to the roster, five of which are M/WBE certified
Completed kick-offs for all 66 projects at the school sites with the assigned architects and contractors
Hired a local architectural firm and contractor for the $35M replacement of Miami Norland Senior High School. This project is in design and construction is slated to start in the fall of 2014. To maximize local economic benefit, this project has local business and local labor participation requirements that include:

20 percent SBE participation goal
28 percent M/WBE participation goal
20 percent local workforce utilization goal

Hired a local architectural firm, both SBE and M/WBE certified, and a contractor for the $22M 6th-12th grade addition to M.A.S.T. on Virginia Key and for the M.A.S.T. renovations. This project is in construction with a projected completion of summer 2015. To maximize local economic benefit, this project has local business and local labor participation requirements that include:

15 percent SBE participation goal
24 percent M/WBE participation goal
10 percent local workforce utilization goal

Hired four MBE certified local architectural firms for eight GOB projects in Year 2 with values below $200K
Hired seven MBE certified local contractors for the aforementioned eight bond projects.

Additionally, the Office of School Facilities and the Office of Economic Opportunity have provided the following information regarding the progress of the bond.

M-DCPS assembled an internal team of professionals from multiple departments to review and respond to concerns from community groups about the implementation of the bond. The group has met more than six times in the past two months and held more than 50 meetings since February 2013.
M-DCPS continues to increase its opportunities with Small, Micro and M/WBE firms on GOB projects. Of the 25 negotiated Year 1 projects awarded (24 of which predate the district’s S/MBE Program) with no goals:

53.13 percent of dollars ($22,774,787.62) have gone to M/WBE firms
42.85 percent of dollars ($18,369,363.50) have gone to SBE firms
42.48 percent of dollars ($18,207,165.29) have gone to Hispanic-American firms
9.75 percent of dollars ($4,181,357) have gone to African-American firms

Also discussed at today’s meeting was the draft Comprehensive Disparity Study for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. “There is no excuse for the well-documented inequity that has existed for more than 25 years in this school district and community as a whole. That is why, although the school district continues to make strides in improving equity in the awarding of contracts, I am commissioning an independent third party to specifically examine the subcontracting component of the district’s draft disparity study,” said Superintendent of Schools Alberto Carvalho. “It is more important to get it done right than to simply get it done.”

M-DCPS is holding a series of town hall meetings across the district to update parents and community members about the General Obligation Bond. Tonight’s meeting will be held at Miami Springs Senior High School, 751 Dove Avenue, beginning at 6:30 p.m. For a list of scheduled town hall meetings and upcoming General Obligation Bond projects, please visit www.dadeschools.net.