The White County Board of Education voted Thursday night to move forward with a request for proposals for a districtwide facilities infrastructure audit.
White County School Board Chair Bob Young said district leaders are seeking professional guidance on future capital projects now that many recent needs have been addressed.
“Our maintenance director is looking for those next projects, and he wants to be prudent with what we would go and spend money on,” Young said. “At this point, from his perspective is that we’ve covered all the low-hanging fruit, so we get into a scenario where we need the next project may require a professional’s viewpoint on looking at our facilities and where we may get biggest bang for our buck.”
The proposed audit would involve engineers reviewing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems across district buildings. The goal is to identify efficiency upgrades and long-term infrastructure needs that could guide future investment decisions.
Board members discussed whether the district could move directly toward a specific firm or whether a formal request for proposals process was required. Legal counsel advised that the board should follow a formal RFP process to ensure proper procedure.
“The RFP process is really just a formal process,” Finance Director Chad Marcrum said. “Think of it like a bid, but without pricing. All that we’ll do is we draw a sample of the services that we want provided. We send that out to people that provide those services, we publish that on the website, put it in the newspaper, and then have a deadline for people to send those responses back to us.”
Markham said the audit itself would not carry an upfront cost. He said firms typically conduct audits in hopes of being selected later to complete recommended improvements.
Board members ultimately approved a motion directing the district to begin the RFP process. The board will review submitted proposals and determine next steps after responses are received.
Young said the system made significant improvement in its capital infrastructure thanks to recent COVID money.