Peak Center flooding investigation request garners no responses

With no submissions on an advertised search for a request for qualification (RFQ) concerning an investigation into the flooding at Fort Smith Public Schools’ Peak Innovation Center, the FSPS Board of Education will have to decide on a Plan B.

Peak, a unique regional workforce education center built on a site donated to FSPS, has flooded three times since it opened March 28, 2022.

The school board voted June 21 to search for a company to conduct an independent investigation of drainage failures at the center. An RFQ was advertised beginning June 24. It calls for an investigation into drainage failures at Peak Innovation Center and states that the school board is seeking a third-party review of the current drainage system and recent drainage failures at the center. The search calls for a company to complete the investigation within 90 days.

The deadline for submission was July 28. Monday (Aug. 14) School Board President Dalton Person said no one had submitted.

“It tells of one of two things: Either we did a poor job advertising, which I don’t think is the case because we did this the way the district always does, or we what we are asking is so out of the ordinary there aren’t a lot of people who do it,” Person said.

The RFQ was posted on the district’s website and Bonfire, a national site for RFQs. It also was published in the local newspaper’s legal classifieds section for four consecutive weeks.

Person said the school board is scheduled to meet Aug. 28. Before then, Craig Tecmire, FSPS supervisor of purchasing, was going to research and find some firms who could conduct the investigation. Person said he was also going to search possible firms.

The RFQ stated that FSPS has invested more than $20.363 million, including millage funds, public and private grants, and other sources of funding, in Peak, “a place where career and college-bound students develop real-world skills and earn industry-specific certifications to create a future workforce that will drive success across industry and beyond.”

“(The FSPS school board) is seeking an investigation into the multiple drainage failures and the current drainage systems at Peak Innovation Center. The School Board recognizes that to properly investigate our drainage failures at Peak, the entire building process will likely need to be evaluated and welcomes this,” the RFQ states.

The board voted June 21 that whoever is selected by the board to investigate the center will report to and operate under the direction of the school board. The RFQ states that whoever is selected “spend some time on-site in Fort Smith and conduct interviews of parties that were involved in the Peak construction process,” another provision agreed upon by the board during the Wednesday meeting that was specially called to address an investigation at Peak.

The subject of an independent investigation into the flooding issues was broached after two companies involved with the construction of the center – Fort Smith-based Turn Key Construction, which was the construction manager at risk for the Peak Innovation Center project, and Halff Associates (formerly Morrison-Shipley Engineers, Inc.), engineers for the project – wrote letters to the school board raising concerns about the building and water issues.

Though the RFQ states that the school board recognizes the investigation could be a lengthy process, it also states that the board asks initially that it not take more than three months to complete after official notification to begin work. The RFQ states that the school board expects a final deliverable written and oral report to the board that identifies inefficiencies and detailed failures within Peak’s building and planning process. They also want the report to include a comprehensive understanding of parties at fault in the recent drainage failures and recommended improvements for the district to incorporate in the future.

“Not getting any submissions from the RFQ is not the end of the road,” Person said. “It just means we have to look at it differently.”