SENATE BILL REPORT

                   HB 1831

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

                  Ways & Means, April 1, 1999

Title:  An act relating to improving the effectiveness of common school construction.

Brief Description:  Requiring adoption of rules for certain construction management techniques.

Sponsors:  Representatives Ogden, Thomas, Lantz, Carlson, H. Sommers, Keiser, Dunshee, Lambert, Quall, O'Brien, Cody, Kenney, Dunn, Santos, Schual‑Berke, Lovick, Edmonds, Wood, Haigh, Rockefeller, Conway, Stensen, Dickerson, Kessler, Hurst and Esser.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Ways & Means:  3/30/99, 4/1/99 [DPA].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON WAYS & MEANS

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended.

  Signed by Senators Loveland, Chair; Bauer, Vice Chair; Brown, Vice Chair; Fairley, Fraser, Honeyford, Kohl-Welles, Long, McDonald, Rasmussen, Rossi, B. Sheldon, Snyder, Spanel, Thibaudeau, West, Wojahn and Zarelli.

Staff:  Michael Groesch (786-7434)

Background:  The 1995-97 capital budget implemented a pilot project for five school districts to contract with qualified teams to conduct value engineering and constructability review studies on school construction projects to determine the potential advantages and savings associated with these processes.  The results of the pilot projects demonstrated that these techniques can increase cost-effectiveness during construction and improve building systems operation during occupancy.

Value engineering is a process of evaluating the design and the components of a building and offering alternative solutions to improve the long-term value of the building.  Constructability review has a similar purpose, but it analyzes the details of the design in search of potential difficulties that may arise during the actual construction of the project.  Building commissioning is the process of testing all the systems in the building to determine if they are installed and working properly and making the necessary corrections to assure all the building systems are performing efficiently.  Current State Board of Education rules require school districts to perform value engineering on a limited basis.

Summary of Amended Bill:  The State Board of Education must adopt rules defining and setting qualifications and performance standards for the following construction management techniques: value engineering, constructabilty review, building commissioning, and construction management.  The board must include the cost of these management techniques in the funding of each school construction project at the state matching percentage rate for the district.  The board must consider the adequacy of the building management techniques when prioritizing school projects and allocating state funds for those projects.

School districts applying for state assistance for school facilities must use a professional firm to perform value engineering, constructabilty review, building commissioning and contract or employ a professional construction manager.  All recommendations from the value engineering and constructabilty review process must be presented to the school board for acceptance or rejection.  If a recommendation is rejected, the board must provide a statement about why it was rejected in the application for state assistance.  The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction must provide consulting services and training information to school districts on the use and benefits of these construction management techniques.

Amended Bill Compared to Original Bill:  The bill is contingent upon funding in the omnibus budget act.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Available.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  These techniques were proven in pilot projects and even though there is a cost shown on the fiscal note, there are savings which will be realized through these improvements.  The contractors association was asked to review the techniques and endorses their adoption.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  PRO:  Dwayne Slate, WA Assn. of School Directors; Duke Schaub, Assn. of General Contractors; Charlie Brown, King County School Coalition.