$13M construction project bid approved for LFK Elementary School renovations

The Warren County School Board, on Wednesday, August 24, voted unanimously to approve a roughly $13 million bid by Lantz Construction Winchester (LCW) for renovations at Leslie Fox Keyser Elementary School in Front Royal, VA.

Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) staff are now authorized to prepare a board approval contract with LCW, the lowest bidder of the two.

During its special meeting — which followed a Warren County School Board building committee special meeting related to the same topic — the School Board approved the building committee’s recommendation to accept the LCW renovation project base bid of $12,329,700 (which includes replacing the school’s HVAC system) and six alternate bid items totaling $675,900.

Board members present for the vote were Chair Kirsten Pence, Vice Chair Ralph Rinaldi, Andrea Lo, Antoinette Funk, and Melanie Salins.

The board-approved six “add-on” alternate bid items from LCW for the LFK project are:

1) Upgrades to the gymnasium and stage;

2) Installation of solar daylighting devices in each classroom pod;

3) Replacement of existing exterior windows;

4) Kitchen upgrades, including new flooring and appliances;

5) Cafeteria modifications, such as removing the existing stage and installing new flooring; and

6) Library improvements.

WCPS Assistant Superintendent for Administration George “Buck” Smith explained that the alternative bid items on that list are ranked by their pre-determined value or need. The board voted to go with LCW’s base bid plus the alternate bid items. So, once the first item on the list has been completed, then the project contractor can move on to the second alternate bid item on the list, and so forth, completing them in order. “We can’t go on to the second item without first saying okay to the first one,” he explained prior to the board’s vote.

Almost $10.2 million in WCPS grant funds will help cover the renovation costs, according to Smith, who said there’s also another $2.3 million in WCPS surplus funds from fiscal years 2021 and 2022 that will be used.

Additionally, Smith said that Warren County has appropriated $2,271,617 for the project in its Capital Improvements Plan, bringing the total identified funding for the LFK project to approximately $14.77 million.

The actual remaining funds available for the LFK project are $12,355,516 once identified costs of about $2.4 million are subtracted from the $14.77 million total, Smith explained in an email to the Royal Examiner this morning. According to Smith’s renovations spreadsheet, such identified costs include an estimated contingency fund, estimated costs for cabling and technology, and architect and engineering costs.

Because the LCW bid is higher than what WCPS has available — creating a difference of about $650,000 — WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger explained that the school division will make up the available funds for the project largely by “value engineering” those funds to meet the approved budget.

Value engineering is basically a cost-cutting strategy. It’s a systematic and organized approach to providing the necessary functions in a project at the lowest cost, according to Investopedia, which says value engineering promotes the substitution of materials and methods with less expensive alternatives without sacrificing functionality. So, WCPS will work with the contractor to bring down costs, for example.

Similarly, Child Nutrition Funds could be used to pay for new cafeteria equipment, Ballenger said during a separate meeting on Thursday, August 25, held by the joint budget committee of the Warren County Board of Supervisors and the School Board. The school division would need to ensure that purchasing certain kitchen equipment or specific upgrades would be an allowable use of those funds, Ballenger said.

“There are a lot of avenues to get to where we need to be,” said Ballenger.

The LFK renovation project is slated to begin in January 2023 and to be completed in fall 2024, according to WCPS Maintenance Director Greg Livesay, who added that it’s paramount to begin the project as soon as possible considering the potential impacts of ongoing national supply chain issues, fluctuating transportation and fuel costs, and material shortages.

Taft Construction Inc. of Culpeper, VA, was the other bidder on the LFK project, with a base bid of $12,173,000 and $865,000 in alternate bids for a total of $13,038,000. LCW’s total bid came out to $13,005,600.

Following the School Board’s 5-0 vote to accept the LCW bid, the board went into a closed meeting to discuss “consultation with legal counsel” regarding a contract.

Click here to watch the School Board Special Meeting on this exclusive Royal Examiner video.

Click here to watch the School Board Building Committee Meeting of August 24, 2022, on the exclusive Royal Examiner video.

Click here to watch the Board of Supervisors/School Board Joint Meeting of August 25, 2022, on the exclusive Royal Examiner video.