School Board to Vote on Commissioning Contract

One of the items on tonight's agenda for the Centennial School Board meeting at 7 p.m. is the approval of a $92,870 bid by Reynolds Consulting Engineers to commission William Tennent, Willow Dale, Davis and McDonald once construction is fully completed.

By performing commissioning services, engineers from Reynolds will perform a quality control check on the schools' internal systems, including HVAC and other utilities. The goal is to ensure that all of the systems operate at the estimated levels set by the contractor.

Reynolds Consulting Engineers is a sister company to Reynolds Construction Management, the firm Centennial tasked in 2008 with overseeing the construction and renovations of the the high school and three elementary schools. It was one of three final companies competing for the contract and was chosen over Loring Associates and Brinjac Engineering for a few reasons, according to Operations Committee member and school board president Dr. Andrew Pollock.

"They are already familiar with the project and they came in with the lowest bid," said Dr. Pollock. "If the other firms went lower, they would have had more consideration. We want to save the taxpayers' money."

Led by project manager David Hickey, an LEED-certified commissioning agent, Reynolds Engineering will check the following systems:

• Central building automation systems
• Central boiler system
• Central chilled water system
• Fan powered variable air volume and standard variable air volume boxes
• Secondary system hot and chilled water pumps
• Variable frequency dives on the pumps and all the differential pressure sensors
• Rooftop and indoor air handling units
• Air/water flow checks on 30 percent of fan powered variable air volume and standard variable air volume boxes and associated reheat coils, as well as fan coil units, exhaust fans and supply fans
• Make-up air units (ventilation) and energy recovery ventilation units
• Kitchen hood exhaust fans and kitchen makeup air units
• Kitchen walk-in refrigerators and freezers and gas-fired equipment
• Pool dehumidification units
• Interlocks between HV AC controls and non-HV AC equipment
• Water systems including but not limited to water heater, re-circulating pumps and plumbing fixtures
• Access control/security and video surveillance system

Reynolds Construction Management has performed the district-wide project for $69 million, below the projected $84 million, but various have placed an additional $4 million cost onto the school district.