Editorial: How good a grade does the Larkspur Community Center deserve?

The district says it’s the biggest monetary project in its history at more than $18 million. And the district also claims it saved money.

When government officials congratulate themselves for doing such a good job of saving money, there is reason to be skeptical. So let’s take a closer look.

The district said at its meeting Tuesday night it saved $195,859.78 on the $18 million project. It also is proud of the relative amount of the additional expenses wracked up in change orders — $718,582.22 or about 4% of the project.

The district did not take the low bid for this project. Oregon allows governments to use alternative bidding as long as they comply with additional regulations. The district went with what’s called CM/GC for construction manager/general contractor. Instead of just taking a low bid, the district chose to have a competitive selection process for a contractor to manage the project. Subcontractors were still bid out. The idea is that CM/GC can enable the contractor to help develop the project so there are fewer problems and maybe money can be saved.

Does it really work? Of course, we can’t just zip to an alternate reality and see what happened under a low bid Larkspur. Oregon law does, at least, require governments to do a report and try to prove that CM/GC did work.

The district’s report suggests it did. It says some parts of the proposed project were removed, such as a water slide. That saved money. It also says the contractor suggested to staff shutting down the senior center during a portion of the construction to allow the contractor to move faster. OK, but a temporary closure would have never come up if the project had not been CM/GC?

A better argument may be the percentage of the project cost for change orders that $718,582.22 or about 4% of the project. By way of the contrast, consider the district’s construction of the Pavilion, the facility with the ice rink. The district utilized a low bid. It was a $9.1 million project and it had a higher percentage of change orders — more than $650,0000 or about 7.8%.

The best argument may be one provided courtesy of the city of Bend. The city’s sewer plant expansion project was perhaps a more technically challenging project than the park district’s Larkspur expansion. The city went for a low bid contract. The project begun in 2013 went sour for pretty much everyone involved. It cost the city millions more than anticipated, ended up in a legal tussle with contractors and delayed completion. The city did a major rethink of when to use what kind of bidding for projects.

The park district does use low bid contracts for, well, normal new park construction. But as things get more complicated, it does rely on some of the alternative contracts permitted by Oregon law. That might not always save money. It might save the district and the taxpayers from a big mess.