Page 8 - School Planning & Management, April/May 2019

SPECIFIER’S
REPORT
amount. “We have 2,000 students in a community of 7,000 people,” he says. “I don’t want board members or the commu- nity to be in the dark about anything,” he admits. “It builds positive relationships; it builds trust.” The district’s operating bud- get for Fund 01 is more than $20 million.
State requirements: Not surprisingly, with 50 states, there are 50 different poli- cies regarding public bid requirements. In Illinois, there is a requirement to publicly bid purchases of a certain size. “There’s a threshold at $25,000 for supplies/materi- als and a number of other things,” says Bein. “It changes to $50,000 for facilities repairs/maintenance, such as HVAC re- placement. Then there are a set of bidding exceptions for higher-level services, such
ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS
In spite of the endless number of ways that school districts can structure purchasing and the vast amount of regulations that must be taken into account, purchasing is success- fully managed every day in public and private schools across the country. And, because of that, administrators have plenty of advice to share to make it a bit easier.
Specify the product that solves the problem. Again and again, the experts say that it’s critical to purchase the product that solves the problem first, and is durable and easy to maintain, second and third. Here are additional nuggets of information that help flesh out this advice.
Salum Stutzer, director of Facilities/ Purchasing for Independence School
you need to order rulers, should they have imperial or metric markings? Should they be solid wood or clear plastic?
Upson takes Bein’s advice a step further, noting that, while your architect may be making specifications, it’s up to you to know about those products. “You have
to dig in there and find out what’s what so you don’t get what you didn’t want,”
he says. “Make it a collaborative process with those stakeholders who have skin in the game. Also, rather than specifying one product only, indicate that this brand or that brand will work so that bidders have an option for pricing.”
Seek help when you’re not sure what product will solve the problem. One way to seek help when you’re not sure what product will solve the problem is reaching out to colleagues. “Develop relationships, and ask questions,” says Helgerson. “Ask colleagues at other districts for help. We don’t do that enough. I’m lucky to be in an area where superintendents are willing to ask and share information, and that’s the greatest resource.”
Another way to seek help is by talking with vendors. That’s what Suzie Pearson, principal of Wallace Elementary in John- ston, Iowa, did. “Our focus was moving from a teacher-directed to a student- centered environment,” she notes, describ- ing how the school recently underwent a transformation from a middle school to an elementary school serving 400 preschool- ers and 650 K-5 students (with a capacity for 800-plus K-5 students). She spent a lot of time talking with numerous furniture manufacturers to find product that met her definition of a student-centered environ- ment. “We could choose desks or tables,” she recalls, “and, while they could be con- figured in different ways, at the end of the day, they were still desks or tables.”
Finally, at a conference, Pearson found NorvaNivel, a Dallas-based furniture man- ufacturer that focuses on creating product for “flexible, agile, and collaborative learn- ing environments” (norvanivel.com) and learned that the company was willing to
as legal services and accounting services.” In contrast, in Ohio, competitive bids are required “to ‘build, repair, enlarge, improve or demolish any school building’ if the cost of the work is over $50,000 (Ohio Revised Code (RC) 3313.46)” and for “any con- tracts for the purchase of school buses (RC 3313.172, 3327.08),” according to Ohio School Boards Association.
Federal requirements: Federal regula- tions add another layer of complexity to the specifying and purchasing process. Ohio School Boards Association notes two occasions when federal law stipulates that competitive bids must be obtained. The first is “if the cost is over $150,000,” and the second is for “purchases over the sim- plified acquisition threshold of $150,000 when using federal grant funds.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF SCHOOL OUTFITTERS
District in Missouri, notes that solving the problem means matching the product to the program function and intent for the area in which the product will be placed. “In solving the problem, you can select the Cadillac, middle-of-the-road or lower-
end product,” he says. “There’s a happy medium in there and, for us, it’s trying to get the best bang for our buck by choosing products that have a good life span, are easy to clean, easy for our technicians to maintain, and of which our technicians are certified to maintain.” His department has an annual operating budget of $17 million and, with more than 15,000 students, the district is the 13th largest in the state.
Bein indicates that solving the problem is about being intentional about under- standing what you need. For example, if
8 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / APRIL/MAY 2019
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