Privatization Advisory Committee Meeting

PRIVATIZATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING

of the

CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG BOARD OF EDUCATION

April 10, 2012

The Privatization Advisory Committee held its eleventh meeting on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 in conference room 527 on the fifth floor of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center.

Committee Members PresentRob Harrington, Chairperson

Joan Belk

Sylvia Grier

Barry Hall

Kathleen Rose-Bellot

Cassandra Tydings

John White

Committee Members Absent:Mike Murdock

Susan Walker

Board Members PresentTim Morgan

CMS Staff PresentKevin Bringewatt, CMS Legal Counsel

Mike Raible, Ex. Director, Planning/Project Management

Phil Berman, Ex. Director, Facilities

Ronnie Greene, Ex. Director, Procurement

Rusty Fuller, Director, Custodial Services

Denise Cavoly, Ex. Coordinator, Planning/Project Management

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 8:08am.

Opening Comments

Rob Harrington welcomed everyone and outlined three areas for discussion:

• Review of the RFP for Custodial Services at Specified CMS Facilities
• Workflow Template
• Report on Board of County Commissioners’ Meeting

Minutes

The minutes from the March 20, 2012 committee meeting were approved.

Review of the RFP for Custodian Services

There was a thorough review of the thoughts/comments of Mr. Hall as contained in his April 2, 2012 email to all committee members. Each concern was discussed in detail, with a resulting recommendation for change, as follows:

1. Duration/Term of the Agreement – the discussion centered on the possibility of extending the term of the contract from one year to multiple years in order to attract better pricing by vendors. Mr. Greene explained that funds cannot be encumbered beyond year-end without approval from the Board of County Commissioners. There was consensus to move the term to three years; Mr. Bringewatt confirmed that BOCC approval would not be necessary because the contract language would only legally be binding for one year. Recommendation: Change language to provide for a three year term with a more developed opt-out clause.

1. RFP provides little detail about Facilities – the suggestion was made that the RFP be more specific regarding the number of offices, cafeteria and gym spaces to be cleaned, as opposed to identifying those areas by square footage alone in order to attract smaller vendors. The discussion centered on whether to conduct a mandatory tour and/or whether to include a floor plan of the facilities to better define the areas to be cleaned. Recommendation: Make the tour of facilities non-mandatory but include a floor plan of the specific sites in the RFP.

1. Hours of Service – the discussion focused on whether the RFP should restrict the hours of service to business hours only or allow for after-hour cleaning. The conversation explored the prospect of bonding and the viability of increasing the required vendor liability insurance. It was noted that the interim superintendent has been reluctant in the past to issue keys and alarm codes to contractors for after-hour work. A suggestion was made to allow vendors to bid on both day time and after-hour service to determine the difference in expense before making a final decision. Recommendation: Change RFP language to seek vendor cost for service both during business hours and during after-hours service.

1. Sub-Contracting – there was a brief discussion regarding the RFP language for sub-contractors. Recommendation: Strengthen the sub-contractor language.

1. Minimum Staffing Levels – members questioned the reason for identifying the number of employees needed rather than the number of hours required to complete scope of work. There was also interest in determining employee turnover rate for prospective vendors as there is a close correlation between turnover and success. Recommendation: Require historical vendor turnover data in the bid process. Remove the number of employees needed and hours required, as long as the scope of work is definitive.

1. RFP Product Requirements – the concern is that by requiring use of specific custodial products the cost of service will be higher. It was explained that CMS is seeking to standardize to generic all custodial products to reduce cost. It was also mentioned that by having vendors control the product inventory as described in the RFP, products will be less likely to ‘disappear’ as might be the case if CMS provided all products to the vendors. Recommendation: Ensure clarification at the specification meeting.

1. Specialty Services Provisions – there was an in-depth discussion about the language regarding the hours required for specialty services (snow removal, window replacement, etc.). There was concern that the cost of these services might increase because of the vagueness of scope of work required in this provision. Also of consideration is whether it is more prudent to have a per-site maximum number of hours allotted for specialty services, or establish a contingency pool of combined hours available for all six sites. Recommendation: Establish a 300 hour contingency pool for specialty services.

Mr. Bringewatt indicated that it would take several weeks for him to investigate the possibility of including a penalty clause and the cost of after-hour cleaning. In conclusion, the committee voted unanimously to approve the RFP for Custodial Services at Specified CMS Facilities subject to the above-mentioned recommendations.

Workflow Template

The committee indicated full agreement with the workflow template presented at the March 20, 2012 meeting by Mr. Bringewatt.

Meeting of Board of County Commission

On March 27, 2012, Mr. Harrington delivered a brief status report from the Privatization Advisory Committee; there were few comments from the board. Mr. Harrington reported that the committee would continue its work.

Technology Meeting

On March 26, 2012, Mr. Hall met with Mr. Raible to discuss privatization opportunities in technology and the 2014 initiative to computerize testing. Mr. Hall reported that there needs to be more definition in technology development; a fuller report will follow in coming meetings.

Closing

Mr. Harrington adjourned the meeting at 10:16am.

The minutes were recorded by Diane L. Wilson.

______

Rob Harrington, Chairperson

______

Diane L. Wilson, Scribe