L.A. District to Hire Firm to Install Air Conditioning

The Los Angeles Board of Education unanimously agreed Tuesday to hire a company to install air conditioning in hundreds of schools at a cost several million dollars higher than individual contractors would be expected to charge.

Board members said they were willing to pay the premium, estimated at 9% of the $155-million contract, in exchange for a fixed price and the promise that the work will be done in 18 months.

The contract with joint-venture PG & E Energy Services/CH2MHill concluded a yearlong tug of war over more than $200 million budgeted from the 1997 school bond measure to air-condition 300 schools.

After more than a year of deliberations, the so-called fast-track proposal--touted as quicker and less expensive than the district’s contracting process--actually turned out to be more expensive. But its proponents on the volunteer Proposition BB oversight committee remained adamant that it was a better way to do the job.

In an impassioned pitch for the proposal, committee Chairman Steven Soboroff said it represented a change from the old way of doing business, in which change orders often dramatically inflated initially low budget estimates.

Soboroff cited several schools where air-conditioning jobs done by the district’s contractors were costing from 10% to more than 30% more than the amount budgeted by the district. He said the overruns were caused by poor designs done by architects working from blueprints rather than inspecting the schools.

Although they voted for it, board members lacked enthusiasm for the fast-track proposal, recalling an outside consultant’s estimate that the existing contracting process headed by 10 project managers could complete the work for about $140 million.

Several board members prodded representatives of PG & E/ CH2MHill to lower their price, without success.

David Gralnick, director of integrated services for PG & E, eventually suggested the firm might offer a kind of a bonus, such as a computer, to schools whose officials helped to speed the construction.

“We are not in a position to adjust our price,” Gralnick said.

The fast-track plan was proposed in May by a joint venture including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Eleven firms made proposals on the work last summer. All but two of those were rejected or dropped out, some suggesting that the district staff was creating obstacles to retain the work within the existing contracting process.

As the negotiating process dragged on, the district contractors have proceeded to install air conditioning in the hottest schools, and will complete about half of the 300 schools.

In other action Tuesday, the board unanimously adopted a district plan and a $1-million budget to implement Proposition 227, the successful June initiative that requires public schools to end most bilingual education.

The plan, proposed last week by schools Supt. Ruben Zacarias, offers parents a choice of two options. One provides for instruction mostly in English, with some clarification in the students’ primary language. The other would use bilingual aides to assist students.