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The Southampton County School Board learned March 10 of the latest efforts to find contractors to build a Student Health & Education Building on the campus of Southampton High School, ideally by the end of the current fiscal year.

Southampton County Public Schools Chief Operations Officer Will Melbye and Joshua C. Bower, a representative from the architectural firm Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, provided the board with an update during its March 10 meeting.

Starting with a brief history of the building project, Melbye noted that the school division began with an initial budget of $650,000 that included Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds and construction funds.

Then he said an initial estimate came in during March 2024 that reached $750,000.

“We put the project out to bid in September of last fall,” he said. “We did not receive any bids on the project at the time.”

He said the school division and its architect reorganized and took another approach, issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) on March 5 that will be open until March 26.

The RFP describes the scope of the work on the building project as follows: “Southampton County Public Schools is seeking to construct a new fieldhouse at the high school campus. The building shall be constructed of concrete footing and slab, wood framing, metal roofing

and siding. Interior finishes include metal partitions with painted gypsum wallboard, acoustical ceiling tile and epoxy flooring.”

Drawings and specifications are included in the RFP.

The RFP also lists the following project schedule:

• March 5 — SCPS issues RFP;
• March 18 — Questions deadline;
• March 26 — Proposals due to SCPS; 
• March 31 — Contractor shortlist notification; 
• April 7 — Contractor interviews; 
• April 14 — Contractor issued notice to proceed (NTP); 
• July 31 — Substantial completion; and
• Aug. 8 — Final completion.

“Now the RFP allows for a total number of days — from notice to proceed until the project has to be complete — of 116 days,” Melbye said. “They can get it done faster, but they can’t go longer.”

He noted that the total budget itself encompasses the following:

• Site prep; 
• Cement slab; 
• HVAC; 
• Building materials; and
• All associated labor.

“Pretty much it just covers the complete construction of the entire building,” he said. “It also includes what we need for permits, legal fees, our architecture and engineering fees and all auxiliary equipment to outfit the facility so that we don’t have just a blank shell. We’re going to have health and fitness equipment in the building for the students to use.”

The final total budget amount for the project will be unknown until SCPS commits to a specific proposal.

Bower said the RFP for job order contracting for general construction services allows contractors to submit a proposal for their piece of the project that they would like to handle, like plumbing and electrical, for example. However, the RFP also has the flexibility to allow for contractors who may now want to do the entire project because they are in a different marketplace than they were in October when no bids were received on the project.

“So this really does allow us the freedom to be able to hand pick contractors and place contractors together in order to make this happen,” Bower said.

Like Melbye, Bower also highlighted the timetable of the project, noting that contractors are going to be submitting everything, the cost along with the schedule.

“And just because we’re putting a certain number of days does not mean that they cannot get done in less time than that,” Bower said.

Emphasizing a key benefit to this particular RFP, he said SCPS will be signing a contract with a contractor that will allow the school division to do more than just build the fieldhouse. It will be able to employ the contractor on other projects as well.

“You can actually call on this contractor for a series of years to be able to do this, if you find that they are successful, that they do a great job and they meet your timeline and your budget,” Bower said.

He said there is a lot of incoming positive feedback from contractors in response to the current RFP.

“I think we are definitely moving in the right direction to get you done with this building — our goal is by the end of this fiscal year,” he said.