PPEA is the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act. It was passed in 2002 by the Virginia General Assembly to allow localities to form partnerships with the private sector. Through these partnerships, the public and private sectors work together to complete major projects, like building new schools. To date, hundreds of successful PPEA projects have been completed in Virginia. The PPEA is an alternative procurement tool (alternative to Design-Build, or Design-Bid-Build) that provides a consistent and predictable method of delivering important public projects. Public-private partnerships enable public bodies to partner with private entities to bring private sector expertise to bear on public projects and encourage innovative approaches to construction and renovation projects. Many school divisions & local governments have sought PPEA procurement in efforts to save costs on procurement. Information is available at the following link; http://legacydatapoint.apa.virginia.gov/ppea.cfm

Virginia Beach City Public Schools estimated that the replacement of three schools would cost about $428 million in total when School Budgets were updated over two years ago. Recently VBCPS has estimated in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) 2024 budget that with inflation the projected cost for the replacement of these three schools could be north of $700 million if the traditional design-bid-build construction delivery method were to be utilized. By using the PPEA process approved with the S.B. Ballard Team, the cost savings could be tens or hundreds of millions of dollars off the projected CIP 2024 budget estimates and could also open the schools’ years earlier than the CIP projections. The S.B. Ballard Team is currently only contracted for programming/planning, design and pre-construction services via an Interim Agreement for $15,404.544. The Interim Agreement process will yield designs with enough detail to provide a GMP (Guaranteed Maximum Price) for construction, with further consideration based on available funding. If funding is available and the GMP is accepted, the process may continue with a Comprehensive Agreement to complete the remaining design and construction.

This project was submitted to VBCPS as an unsolicited PPEA proposal. VBCPS had the option to accept the proposal as submitted, reject it, or accept it with modifications. The proposal was accepted with some modifications, but not with additional projects. As required by the adopted PPEA Guidelines, the accepted and modified proposal was publicly advertised with a request for competing proposals. Accordingly, the project scope only includes the three replacement school projects and the Holland Road Annex Swing Space Renovations. There is room for modifications to the current projects included in this PPEA. Educational programming and design are part of the PPEA requirement and allows for some alterations of scope as an outcome of the planning process. In fact, some additive alternates were included in the proposal, and these can be included if VBCPS chooses to do so, depending on available funding. However, adding a new project on a new site or a significant change in the scope or nature of the project would likely require a new and separate PPEA. Accordingly, new projects of this nature cannot be added.