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Capital Project Management In December 2020, the District’s voters approved a two-part capital improvement project with an estimated maximum cost of $15.9 million. The project’s scope included transitioning the combination middle school/high school (middle/high school) to the electrical grid;1 renovating classrooms, parking lots and tennis courts; upgrading lighting in various locations; and replacing the bus garage roof and windows, sidewalks and auditorium lighting at various District buildings. The District financed the project using long-term debt and approximately $3.3 million from its capital reserve fund. A significant portion of the capital improvement costs were eligible for reimbursement through State building aid. The Board hired a construction management firm (construction manager) to oversee the project. The Superintendent and Director told us that the project was substantially completed in December 2023. How Should a Board and Officials Properly Oversee and Manage Capital Projects? A school district (district) board of education (board) and district officials should present proposed capital projects to the public in a transparent manner. To make an informed decision, voters must have a sufficiently detailed description of a project’s scope, which includes a thorough description of the estimated costs, type of work to be completed, furnishings and equipment to be purchased, where the work will be performed and information regarding how the district will pay for the project. The board should monitor progress and approve necessary changes to ensure a capital project is completed in a cost-effective manner. With any construction undertaking, changes or amendments to the project likely will occur because certain variables may not be known at the start of a capital project. In the case of a capital improvement project, change orders typically are formal construction contract modifications, which are agreed upon by district officials and the contractor, that authorize changes to a project’s scope, cost or estimated completion time. However, before entering into and approving a change order, the board and district officials must ensure that the change order complies with procurement requirements, including the district’s procurement policies. Goods and services that are not required by law to be competitively bid, such as professional services, must be procured in a manner that: l Helps ensure the prudent and economical use of public money. l Is in the taxpayers’ best interest. l Facilitates the acquisition of goods and services of maximum quality at the lowest possible cost under the circumstances. l Guards against favoritism, improvidence, extravagance, fraud and abuse. New York State General Municipal Law (GML) generally requires the board to competitively bid purchase contracts exceeding $20,000 and public works contracts involving expenditures that exceed 1 The District had a co-generation facility in operation since 1999 that allowed the District to produce its own electricity using natural gas. Anticipated renovations include disconnecting the middle/high school building from the co-generation facility, connecting the building to the electrical grid and decommissioning the co-generation facility. 2 Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller