It was disappointing to read that once again, County Mayor Coppinger selected the same three architectural firms to do the school work. I am sure that the new superintendent had very little input with the short amount of time he has been here and is not familiar with the firms and their capabilities.
There are many highly qualified and experienced firms in Chattanooga that pay taxes here, raise their families here and send their children to school here and could bring some fresh ideas to the table, but it is always the same three firms.
One of the three firms selected is now owned by a Knoxville company.
John Fricke
* * *
Our local governments have long history of being bound to the same older firms and overlooking local talent for out of town for architectural and engineering services.
Local professionals have many terms for the condition, but the condition is mostly a result of relationships and politics.
In the state of Tennessee professional architectural and engineering services sought by local governments are supposed to be advertised under Requests for Proposals so all firms are notified of the opportunity for contract work. The state of Tennessee mandated the minimum procurement process municipalities must utilize when acquiring contracted professional services.
Often, local governments will simply skip this step and telephone firms they have worked with in the past requesting a draft contract. I am not aware if Hamilton County advertised for RFP in this case. I would bet they did, general government does really good work.
Locals became dismayed over a decade ago when it was discovered that the Hamilton County WWTA had not advertised in over 10 years for engineering contract services and had contracted with the same large firm with no opportunity for other firms to compete. Without RFP, no one knows the opportunity exists. It is all in the dark.
RFP's keeps the process in the open.
There is nothing wrong with the firms Hamilton County has selected. These firms have strong track records on institutional projects and building schools. I just hope they are a direct result of RFP process, and that Hamilton County gives other younger, local firms contract opportunity in the future. It would be nice to see some of the younger and local architectural firms have a chance.
Local governments often get entrenched in personal relationships with these firms, between government staffers that make hiring recommendations and the architects, so the relationship are the drivers.
This creates additional challenges for younger firms trying to gain contract work from local government. Honestly, I would say the personal relationship factor is the greatest bar for new firms.
Projects funded by public tax dollars should be open to competition and RFP in an ideal world, but there are other driving factors.
Many large firms will open satellite offices in Chattanooga to capture project specific work, when Chattanooga is not their home base. These firms should not be awarded contracts of any kind. Hire local, there is plenty of talent in Chattanooga.
In my career with public infrastructure, I have worked on arriving at contract specifications for many an architectural and engineering agreement for my employer, and licensure, qualifications, and project experience are all that should matter, but that is not the case at all. It is not an ideal world.
Sometimes, it matters which firm visited the mayor first or last. I have seen selections changed often based on politics.
This all equates to huge challenges for the younger rich with talent architect firms, that don't have those connects. It is more than an uphill battle for new firms trying to capture a local government contract.
I would like to see Hamilton County shake their stale local government trend, and give the other local firms here contract work next rounds.
Perhaps a fresh outlook is needed. Our public school buildings look like mini prisons.
April Eidson
* * *
Mr Fricke, before jumping to conclusions about the possible motives behind why local architectural firms were not selected for school construction this time, you might consider that some local firms have worked on construction before. One local architect, an excellent one, designed the addition to Ooltewah Intermediate School before it transitioned to Wolftever Creek Elementary. I know, I was principal at the time.
Also, when a new county middle school was designed by a local architect, he outsourced the structural engineering to a Birmingham firm. I know, I was a teacher at that time at that school and my uncle’s stepson was the Birmingham structural engineer.
I realize these are just two projects. So one may conclude what might appear to be one thing may not be exactly as you think it is. Other new construction projects may also outsource to out of state contractors and all the work may not be locally even though the firm winning the bid might be local.
Someone once very publicly questioned why out of town contractors received the construction contracts on some new school buildings. The answer was, at the time, local construction firms were not bonded for the amount specified to build the buildings and the winning bidders, out of town companies, were. I don’t know if that’s still true.
Knowing all the facts might clear up the matter.
Ralph Miller
* * *
I don’t think there was any implication of wrong-doing by the author. I am one of the local architects in Chattanooga that was not selected and while it may be imperfect, there is a selection process in place. I obviously don’t know what happens on the final/end selection with the mayor’s office or what criteria determines the final selection, but I do know that the county sends out letters of interest to all qualified firms in Hamilton County and beyond. From those interested, five firms are selected and interviewed for each school by a committee made up of the County Public Works Administrator, HCDE representatives, School Board member from the district as well as the commissioner from that district and others. From that interview, my understanding is that a list of three firms for each project are then submitted to the county mayor.
Like I said, it may be imperfect and possibly could be improved upon, but there is a process in place. I know from experience that all of the firms selected are well established firms who are qualified to do the work and all have experience doing schools for HCDE previously and will do a good job and I have no doubt that they will be good stewards and provide quality services to Hamilton County.
We are lucky to have so many talented and experienced firms here in the Chattanooga area and I am sure that all of the local firms would like to be involved and see the process opened up more with more firms involved the school design process. Hopefully there can be meaningful dialogue between the county and the architectural community about the selection process and we can see more involvement in the near future.
Tim Burney