Acton Agua Dulce Unified School District

Statement of Qualifications

Master Planning / Facilities Planning Services for Acton Agua Dulce Unified School District
Acton, California

2 August 2005

Maxine Griffin Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District
32248 Crown Valley Road Acton, CA 93510

Dear Ms. Griffin,

PinnacleOne proudly submits this proposal. Its form, structure, and content respond to Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District’s "Request for Qualifications for Master Planning/Facilities Planning Services." PinnacleOne has the ideal mix of experience and proven capacity sought by the District.

PinnacleOne’s experience is broad and deep. We have developed master plans for Poway and Oceanside Unified School Districts. We have managed various alternative delivery methods, such as multi-prime. We actively participate in Public School Construction throughout the Southern California market. We take great pride in 25 years of success serving School Boards, their staff, and their constituents.

As strong as our firm is, the people assigned to this task will matter more. Mr. Bruce Risley, Vice President, will serve as Principal in Charge. He has first-hand master planning experience having led our efforts at Poway and Oceanside. His role is more than window dressing. He will actively lead the project, participate in meetings, and help forge the consensus for change, which the District seeks. Mr. Fausto Silva will work with our strategic partners on demographics, educational standards, and municipal finance. Their goal will be to measure the District’s financial need and capacity. Mr. Rick Darling will work on facility assessments, ensuring their accuracy and completeness as well as securing buy-in from site administrators, faculty, and staff.

We believe that planning success comes from having the right combination of people, experience, and abilities. We have that combination. Do not just accept us at face value; call our references. They will tell you that PinnacleOne delivers what it promises.

We look forward to discussing how best to move forward. Sincerely yours,

Bruce P. Risley, AIA Vice President

445 South Figueroa Street Suite 3650

Los Angeles, CA 90071 P 213.486.9884 F 213.486.9894

Table of Contents

Master Planning Experience
Firm Background and Qualifications
Fee Proposal
Insurance Requirements Section IV
Sample Plans Not provide in electronic version by vender

Poway Unified School District Strategic Implementation Plan

Oceanside Unified School District Strategic Implementation Plan

Master Planning Experience

The projects listed on the following page reflect some of the many projects for which PinnacleOne has provided master planning or facilities analysis services here in California. Services have included conducting needs identification workshops with project stakeholders, evaluating and reporting on the condition of existing facilities, preparing budgets and estimates, and planning for the phasing/sequencing of design and construction activities. Additionally, in many instances, PinnacleOne has been retained to oversee and manage program implementation.

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Firm Background and Qualifications

Firm Name PinnacleOne, Inc.

445 S. Figueroa Street, Suite 3650 Los Angeles, California (213) 486-9884 (p) (213) 486-9894 (f)

Primary Contact

Dr. C. Lance Barnett, Director E-mail: clbarnett@pinnacleone.com

Firm History

Established in 1980, PinnacleOne is a leading firm of construction consultants with a unique focus on advising public owners throughout all phases of the design and construction process. Our 175 person staff consists of architects, engineers, project and construction managers, estimators, and schedulers with an average tenure of 20 years in the industry. These senior-level professionals, many of whom have served in both owner and consultant capacities throughout their careers, focus on meeting or exceeding client expectations for schedule, cost, and quality.

PinnacleOne serves clients nationwide through regional offices in Irvine, Los Angeles (main California office), San Diego, Sacramento, Phoenix, New York, and Hartford.

Services Performed - PinnacleOne specializes in the management of educational and public facility construction, ensuring the thorough and thoughtful planning and execution of comprehensive capital improvement programs. Serving on behalf of public owners, PinnacleOne delivers an array of services designed to minimize risk and maximize project success. PinnacleOne's broad range of services can support and enhance programs at any stage of development, from conception through close-out. Our services include:

Facilities Analysis
Master Planning
Pre-Bond Planning
Strategic Implementation Planning
Cost Management
Program, Project, And Construction Management
Owner Representation
Budget And Schedule Planning
Alternative Delivery Method Analysis
Design And Construction Oversight
Constructability Reviews
On-Site Construction Observation
Reporting And Communication
Change Order Evaluation And Negotiation
Occupancy And Move Management
Claims Analysis And Resolution Assistance
Energy Solutions And Project Commissioning
Leedtm Consulting

PinnacleOne has the experience, staff, strategic alliances, and institutional knowledge to provide all the services that the District's RFC seeks. We sincerely believe that we can meet and exceed your expectations, producing a development and facilities plan that voters can support and will embrace.

We have successfully undertaken similar engagements for Poway and Oceanside Unified School Districts. While they are much larger (both successfully passed bond measures in the high $200 million range), the basics are the same. Success begins on a firm foundation of validated and verified facts including school condition, current and future demand for services, as well as sources and likelihood of additional funding. Success' superstructure consists of careful attention to the desires of faculty, administrators, students, and oversight bodies. Success also comes from developing a consensus as to standards. Standards are one end of the need equation. By necessity, need equals the difference between reality and standards. While the California Department of Education and the County Board of Education provide guidelines that circumscribe need. Yet, those guidelines are insufficient to define need. One of our first activities will assemble District Staff and educational experts to develop the detail standards required to define need. See subsection (E) below.

Add valid estimates of costs for renovations and new construction to produce a common, shared understanding of the opportunities and challenges that the District must address. Done right, the District should enjoy victory at the ballot box. Done wrong, the District will lose credibility and build hurdles that it may not or cannot surmount.

The foregoing is more than an article of faith. To show how we would approach the District's unique circumstances, below we comment on each of the items composing the District's Scope of Services. (We use the numbering system of Item II in the RFC for ease of comparison.)

A. Conduct a full analysis of the school district, including assessment of public and staff opinion, District history, state law and board policy for areas of indicated need.

PinnacleOne has done such assessments for several California districts. We begin by developing a comprehensive data recording form to ensure complete and comparable data for each school site. This is an easy but critical step, since we can modify forms we have used before and since we have done such assessments. Each site will receive a careful on-site review that includes meeting with its administrators and facilities staff to ensure that nothing is overlooked. The result is a comprehensive database of current and future needs that will guide the creation of a facilities development plan.

B. Create projected enrollment statistics by grade level, based on solid information including current development in the area, with a 10-15 years projection, for the purpose of forecasting the facilities needs of the District now and in the future.

We have developed strategic alliances with several reputable demographic and municipal finance firms, who will ensure that the District has accurate forecasts for future enrollment trends. Working with City, County, and Southern California

Association of Government staff, we will paint an accurate picture of the District's demographic future - i.e., amount, cost, and phasing of new housing, ability of current and anticipated infrastructure (especially water and sewer) to support that future, as well as number and age distribution of future enrollments. That same data will enable municipal finance specialists to accurately project future-bonding capacity, both for a Proposition 39 bond (55 percent) as well as for a traditional capital bond (67 percent).

C. Conduct an initial meeting to discuss special requirements, procedures, time schedules and other items deemed to impact the overall study. Mr. Bruce Risley, who is our Principal in Charge, will lead our meeting efforts. He is exceptionally qualified to lead this endeavor having lead similar efforts for Poway and Oceanside Unified School Districts. Whenever we have a meeting, from this initial meeting through to meeting with neighborhood groups, we begin by articulating a goal for the meeting. Here we want to ensure that all concerns surface, so that the District's plans can incorporate and address them. Time and process concerns will receive special attention. It does no good to begin a nine-month process, say, when there is a well-formed consensus for a 12-month process.

D. Meet regularly with District staff to address incremental and preliminary findings and to refine the consultant's work based on the findings as necessary. The PinnacleOne way is not "I did it my way; all by myself." We strive to be the District's trusted advisor. We want regular meetings so that all participants and decision makers are in the loop. We take pride in our ability to create and manage inclusionary, collaborative processes that guarantee the group's satisfaction with the process. Note that we are not so naive as to believe that all will be happy with the results. Plans must reflect reality and reality requires choices. Thus, there will always be grumblings about outcomes; that is inevitable. What is not foreordained is dissatisfaction with the process. We promise to include and hear all voices and points of view.

E. Examine the growth and facility repair needs of the District. Assess the current sites for adequacy. Create a plan to bring these sites to a reasonable standard of occupancy, as measured by standards created in conjunction with the District.

Growth and facility needs result from the likely future of Acton and Agua Dulce's demographic and housing growth. The Santa Clarita Valley must anticipate rapid growth as part of the inevitable and seemingly indefatigable growth of Los Angeles. Currently, California's and Los Angeles' population grow is 1.5 percent per year. The northern part of the County appears to be growing at double that rate. A simple extrapolation would increase the District's student population by as much as 30 percent in the next decade. (Please note that this figure is more hypothetical than "real.") We will bring demographic expertise to the District. Working with District staff and others, we will produce demographic forecasts of the highest quality. It will have all the detail needed by the District to foresee and anticipate its future.

As mentioned above, we plan a comprehensive effort working with the District, as well as educational experts, to define educational standards. This will be hard work, partly because the science of standards is constantly evolving. We will look at the literature on issues such as Indoor Air Cuality, Heating and Ventilation, Natural Light, and ADA among others.

We will work with our strategic partners to refine growth estimates and marry them to current facilities assessments to carefully determine how much renovation and new construction the District will require.

F. Interview District staff, students, parent and community organizations Include in this data gathering process meetings in the communities of Acton, Agua Dulce and a combined meeting relative to the high school. Mr. Bruce Risley will lead this process aided by Mr. Rick Darling. The key to success here is inclusion and completeness. We will meet with all affected parties to achieve two goals. First, we must ensure that everyone has the opportunity to be heard. Assuming the District wants to reverse history and pass a school bond, all of Acton-Agua Dulce needs and deserves the opportunity to participate. The second goal is to begin to forge a consensus on direction and distance. The District will receive little guidance from a pie-in-the-sky plan. The District needs a detailed plan for action to which individuals can and will subscribe. Meeting with affected groups is the only way to start. Continuing those meetings throughout the process is the only way to succeed.

G. Make recommendations to the District relative to areas of need, based on a deep knowledge of legal aspects of school operations an a strong understanding of potential resources available to the District to help them meet this need. We believe that the District wants and needs a Facility Development Firm that will be a true partner. Hence, we do not see our role as "making recommendations," rather we see working with the District to develop alternatives that meet its and its constituents' desires and cost constraints. We are very good at this process having successfully applied the PinnacleOne planning model in Oceanside and Poway. Do not take our word for this bold assertion. Call our references and ask them.

H. Consider the need for specialized facilities in the District for functions such as auditoriums, gymnasiums, computer and science rooms, libraries, etc. PinnacleOne provides much more than planning services to California School Districts. We currently participate in more that $1 billion in public school construction. This on-going field experience uniquely qualifies us to provide the guidance sought under this item. We build libraries, gymnasiums, and science technology centers. We are intimately familiar with their unique design and construction challenges. We will bring all of that knowledge and insight to bear on advising the District on what specialized facilities they should consider.

I. Create a facilities plan designed to include, but not to be limited to, a document that is in accordance with the Guide for the Development of a LongRange Facilities Plan, developed by the California Department of Education. PinnacleOne produces Facilities Master Plans that meet the California Department of Education's guidelines. Nevertheless, we want to include more. One example uses storyboards that graphically display program progress. The most established tool for displaying plans uses Gant charts, with critical paths, and resource requirements. While of great value to professionals who earn their livelihood in public education construction, they are usually beyond the comprehension of a lay audience. The storyboards serially map those charts and figures onto school site maps. The result is a series of maps for each school site showing when construction will begin on each major project. How project schedules overlap. How projects will influence day-to-day operations at the site. When posted on the website, students, faculty, classified staff, and parents have a quick way to determine current conditions. They also have a yardstick with which to measure progress, since divergences between the plans and reality are easy to observe.

J. Create a facilities plan designed to meet the student housing needs identified based on current site conditions and projected student enrollment. This product is the heart of the matter before the District. It will reflect the desires of educational professionals, their staff, and constituents. It will contain cost estimates that detail the monies needed to complete the plan. This is another area where our California experience will greatly advantage the district. We know construction costs and conditions throughout the Los Angeles Basin. Thus, our plan will incorporate not only the severity of needs, but also the market's ability to supply the solution. Your District is on the northern rim of Los Angeles County. Plans that outstrip the local construction's capacity to perform will require drawing in non-local resources. That in turn will raise construction costs. Neither the District nor its constituents need or want to pay top dollar for construction services.

Conclusion

PinnacleOne has assembled a core of competent staff. Mr. Bruce Risley has exceptional planning skills, having lead similar efforts in Poway and Oceanside Unified. Mr. Fausto Silva, currently working with Tustin Unified School District, has first-hand knowledge on how to develop plans that lead to efficient, effective construction. Mr. Rick Darling knows the north county construction market as well as how Sacramento's regulatory and legislative milieu affect public school construction. He will provide crucial guidance and insight into how to make the facilities' plan bulletproof. To index

Fee Proposal

PinnacleOne's practice is to negotiate fees, based on a complete and common understanding of the services to be provided. While the District deserves accolades for having worked through the issues it confronts, we think that submitting a detailed fee proposal could mislead the District about its costs and the quality of the final product(s). Consequently, we commit to fair, good faith negotiations of a detailed scope of work, before signing a contract. To permit the district to judge the competitiveness of our costs, here are our hourly rates by position. Based on relationships with other clients, we know these rates to be competitive.

Principal $206/hr Senior Demographer $159/hr Project Manager $134/hr

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Insurance Requirements

PinnacleOne currently holds Professional and General liability insurance policies covering each of the items outlined in Section E of the Request for Cualifications at or above the specified limits. PinnacleOne will provide evidence of coverages prior to the commencement of work.

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Facilities Committee
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