Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
SCA's internal process for member-funded projects
5:48:13
ยท
3 min
Council Member Rita Joseph inquires about the School Construction Authority's (SCA) internal process for member-funded projects, from submission to completion. Cora Liu, VP of Capital Planning Management at SCA, provides a detailed explanation of the process, including pre-adoption discussions, OMB approval, design consultations, and project implementation.
- The process involves early communication with council member offices and principals
- Projects are divided among three implementers: SCA, DSF, and DIT
- Design and scope finalization can take up to a year, followed by bidding and construction
Rita Joseph
5:48:13
So back to your resume, I wanted to find out your internal process at SCA for member for member resume projects because my colleagues wouldn't want me to answer that, and when projects are submitted to their completion.
5:48:28
What's the internal process for SCA for a resume projects?
5:48:32
From the time we submit it to the time of completion.
5:48:35
I submitted a project in 2022.
5:48:37
It has yet to be done.
5:48:41
I'm not gonna name the schools.
5:48:42
We're gonna talk this offline, but I have a list.
5:48:45
FY '22, I just came in as a council member.
5:48:48
I funded a computer lab in my district.
5:48:51
Those kids still have no computer lab till today.
5:48:55
What's the process when you submit from from the beginning to end?
5:48:59
What's the timeline?
Cora Liu
5:49:01
I'm happy to talk about the general process.
5:49:04
So we typically work with council member offices very early in the fiscal year.
5:49:10
We call that the pre adoption.
5:49:11
That's when we talk to the offices, talk to the principals to get understanding of what kind of projects might be coming.
5:49:19
This is the phase where we're doing a lot of fact finding on trying to help the principals.
5:49:24
A lot of information are put together.
5:49:26
Once the council members finalize their list of projects and funding they are waiting to give, we receive that.
5:49:33
And then we work with OMB to make sure those projects are kept eligible to make sure we have all the right information for OMB to approve those funding transfers.
5:49:44
So once we have those approval from OMB on the projects, then we put more information together.
5:49:51
We submit the CP request to OMB.
5:49:55
There is a process where OMB has to review, and they typically have a lot of questions about the scope of those projects.
5:50:03
But generally by this year, January, for example, of 2025 is when we got CP approval for authorized OA projects.
5:50:12
At that point, we'll kind of divide projects up to three implementers.
5:50:17
Some projects have been done by SA.
5:50:19
Some projects are being implemented by DSF and then DIT.
5:50:24
I will talk a little bit about the projects being managed by us.
5:50:28
We will then assign them to a design consultant who will now reach out to the school to have a scope kickoff.
5:50:35
I think, again, that's where a lot of questions raised.
5:50:38
Principals might have a different idea or perspective or expectation of what they are getting from the projects.
5:50:44
So there's a lot of back and forth between us, with the school, sometimes with council members' office and staff to try to finalize what can be done with those projects.
5:50:54
But if we're very clear, settle on the scope, then we go through design process, then project gets bid and awarded.
5:51:02
I think the other thing I want to mention that would be the early communication is really helpful.
5:51:08
I know a few projects we started working on them, the principal playground, for example.
5:51:14
They didn't know we have an exterior project that's in design about going out to bid.
5:51:19
So if we have talked to them, we would have said, maybe you should ask the funding to fund an interior project because we cannot have two projects happening at the same time.
5:51:29
They end up have to wait for the exterior project to be completed.
5:51:34
So again, this is why the early communication is really critical.
5:51:38
But that's our process in terms of our project to move forward.