BURTON SCHOOL BOARD SELECTS ARCHITECT, CONSTRUCTION MANAGER-AGENT FOR BOND PROJECT

  

The Burton School Board moved forward with building plans for Burton ISD’s 2021 bond project at its meeting Wednesday.

After a series of presentations, trustees voted to select DSA, Inc., based out of Dallas/Fort Worth, as the construction manager-agent for the bond project.  They also selected Reliance Architecture, based in the Austin area, to serve as the architect for the project.

Joe Carlock, Sales and Marketing Director for DSA, said his firm’s job as construction manager-agent would be to bid out directly to trades-contractors.

 

Carlock said DSA will have a full-time job superintendent on-site responsible for overseeing the project, as well as a project manager at DSA’s office who will be on hand during critical junctures.

Antonio Naylor, President of Reliance Architecture, said his firm has spent much time performing jobs that consist of several smaller projects such as this.

 

Ryan Lione, Senior Associate at Powell Law Group, said transparency is a big part of what a construction manager-agent would provide.

 

Lione said the school board is allowed per Texas Government Code to select an architect and construction manager-agent without going out for requests for proposals or requests for qualifications.

When it came time for a vote, trustees moved 6-1 to select DSA and Reliance Architecture, with Donna Putnam voting against.  Putnam explained that while she has the “utmost respect” for the two companies selected, she felt the district needed to have an open selection process to choose between multiple construction companies and architect firms.

Other action taken by the board Wednesday included adopting a prevailing wage rate and delegating authority to the superintendent to work with the district’s legal counsel on trustees’ behalf to negotiate and execute the necessary construction contracts related to the project.  Those items passed unanimously.