State works to improve facilities plan approval process
Published: December 1, 2010
The Division of the State Architect is considering new ways to cope with a huge backlog of school construction projects that were closed without being certified and now stand in the way of sorely needed renovation and modernization projects.
Since 2008, the DSA has been asking local educational agencies to go back and produce documents needed to certify completion of about 20,000 facilities projects—some of them decades old—before it would agree to review any new work on those facilities. Projects are usually closed without certification because of missing documentation, and some facilities have been in use for as long as 28 years, the DSA estimates. Those buildings now need new roofs or other renovations but according to DSA rules, work cannot proceed because the structures do not have a certificate of compliance.
To have a project certified, an LEA must submit documents to verify that the construction work has been completed in accordance with the Field Act and meets all minimum Building Code requirements for accessibility, fire/life safety and structural integrity. Ideally, that should occur not long after the construction is completed.
“The more time that passes, the more complicated, complex and problematic certification becomes. As time passes, people involved in the process change employment, retire, die or just disappear. Documents become lost, discarded, misfiled or otherwise unobtainable,” reported an expert working group assigned to study ways to improve and streamline the school construction process.
The tortuous school construction process—which wends its way through some seven different state agencies—has long exasperated district officials. This summer, the state Assembly’s Education Committee asked the Department of General Services to review the operations of the DSA and the Office of Public School Construction to see where the problems lay. The working group offered its report in October, identifying three major issues that appear to contribute to the dysfunctional school construction process:
- There is a lack of communication and coordination between the agencies that review and approve school construction projects. The group suggested that the California Department of Education, DSA and OPSC all use a single, common tracking number for each project and that they give more attention to customer service.
- New construction and modernization projects are being held up because the DSA will not review plans for work on uncertified projects.
- The way construction grants are awarded is not equitable, and the amounts do not reflect actual costs.
The DSA’s Project Certification Guide, updated last March, outlines a complex process for getting closed projects certified. However, with 20,000 projects clogging the pipeline, officials recognize the need to simply the process, said Tom Duffy, a legislative analyst with California’s Coalition for Adequate School Housing and a member of the expert working group.
“DGS has paid attention to the issues school districts have brought to them,” Duffy said. “Their major complaint is that the OPSC is not user-friendly. They need to deal with school districts like they’re clients and try to resolve their issues.”
CASH has been working with the DGS on emergency regulations that can simplify the process to allow an inspector or engineer to review old projects to confirm they comply with all necessary codes and regulations. The district can then file one document with the DSA to receive certification. The emergency regulations are expected to go to the Building Standards Commission for approval in January.
A list of closed, uncertified projects for each LEA is available from the DSA website or by contacting the DSA regional office.
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