Bond-Funded Improvements Slated to Start Dec. 15

When North Carolina voters passed the $3.1 billion higher education bond referendum on Nov. 7, a sigh of relief was heard on campuses across the state.

But now what?

Voters responded almost 3-to-1 to the statewide call to action regarding the bond, and now it is time for officials to get to work. Although students and professors will have to tolerate inconveniences as buildings are renovated and upgraded across campus, planners say the benefits should more than live up to the pre-election hype.

From the Dec. 15 start date of the first project, to the final proposed project ending in 2009, more than 20 percent of the campus at a time will be under construction. Projects are scheduled to happen all over UNC, with a focus on North Campus' aging and outdated facilities.

The bond money for these projects will be given to UNC throughout a six-year period, doubling the University's typical construction budget. The Facilities Planning Department will use these resources to fund the Capital Improvements Project. This project will serve as a guide for the much-needed new construction and renovation on campus.

The money will come to the University from the State Treasurer's Department. Planners will use the money for such diverse projects as renovating Murphey Hall in June 2001 and creating new science facilities in a three-phase project scheduled to begin in January 2003 and end in September 2008.

Roger Patterson, associate vice chairman of finance for the Financial Planning and Budgets Department, said there are certain projects that could not be funded by the bond money.

"There were certain buildings the state said `yes' to and certain buildings they turned down," Patterson said.

The state will support most academic buildings, but it will not allow the bond money to be used for parking decks and residence halls.

Some buildings receive partial funding from the state, leaving UNC responsible for securing the rest.

Of the 50-plus projects slated in the Capital Improvements package, more than 40 will receive at least partial bond funding. Anna Wu, project leader for the Capital Improvements Project, said the Facilities Planning Department has so many projects scheduled in upcoming years that it needs to hire more staff members to cover the additional work.

"This is the first time that we have been able to map out a plan with all of the funding, and it does influence the type of planning you can do," Wu said.

Wu said additional money can also create difficulties in an environment where needs are numerous and priorities differ among UNC community members.

Kevin MacNaughton, the associate vice president of finance for the UNC-system president's office, was instrumental in helping all the UNC-system schools structure their project timelines. He worked with Wu and Facilities Planning Director Gordon Rutherford when they brought their proposals to the table.

"Some projects are dependent on each other - you can't start one until the other is completed," MacNaughton said. He listed space for construction materials and maintaining classrooms as reasons why some projects get bumped ahead of others.

MacNaughton also was responsible for planning how many projects UNC could undertake at a time, based on the allotted amount of bond money.

"We calculated how much money was needed per month if we could do all the projects ideally and then took those projections and compared them to the amount we'll get from the bond. Luckily, they came out pretty close," MacNaughton said.

MacNaughton said inflation played a role in considering yearly dollar allotments. He said officials also overestimated each project's budget by 5 percent in anticipation of financial woes.

"Our intent is not to have projects suffer inordinately because they were in a later year," MacNaughton said. He said planners hope to have most projects completed within nine years to get the most out of the bond funds.

A large part of each project's time frame is dedicated to the design process itself, which Wu said is both critical and time-consuming. The University must begin by advertising a project and then choose a design firm based on the strength of its submitted proposal. It usually takes 18 to 24 months to design a project, which then must receive the Board of Trustees' final stamp of approval.

The next phase of a project is finding a contractor. Ed Willis, director of UNC's Construction Management Department, said most contractors usually are given 30 days after a project is advertised to submit their bids.

The University puts out advertisements in statewide publications such as the N.C. Purchase Directory, a listing of all available state construction work. Willis said trade associations also keep listings of current projects, so interested contractors can learn about new jobs through several avenues.

After the bids are put in, there is a bid opening, and the lowest bidder is automatically selected. "Probably 70 percent of the contractors who work on campus are ones who work here regularly," Willis said. He said jobs like those found on large university campuses are usually taken by contractors with experience doing large and often difficult projects.

Willis also said there are times when a contractor wins a bid without being the favored applicant.

"But if they have a license and they have bonding (in the state of North Carolina), it's pretty hard not to work with them," Willis said.

Regardless of who gets the job, officials from all the offices involved said there would be unforeseeable snags and difficulties arising in all the jobs. Willis said there are always problems finishing jobs on time, and Wu said it is important to stay on track early on in the Capital Improvements Project.

"If we start to lag in the beginning, it will have a ripple effect," Wu said.

She also said she believes it is important for members of the UNC community to see the larger picture when they are confronted with high levels of construction on campus.

Even knowing about all of the upcoming difficulties, planners all said they are optimistic about the next decade at UNC.

"We're here to make sure things are expedited and move swiftly," MacNaughton said.

"We want to make sure we don't sacrifice quality for speed."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.