January 31, 2017
Contact: Mary Enger, Communications Director, 636.949.1856, menger@sccmo.org
St. Charles County, Missouri – The St. Charles County Council last night approved Brinkmann Constructors of St. Louis as the builder for the County’s new 30,000 square foot emergency operations center (EOC) facility. The EOC will be located on 10 acres of land off TR Hughes Boulevard, behind the existing St. Charles County Police Department building in O’Fallon.
After issuing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in May 2016, the County hired Landmark Contract Management of St. Louis to serve as owner’s consultant. Landmark worked with numerous County department directors and administrators during a six-month process from RFQ to builder selection.
Brinkmann was chosen from a field of nine companies that responded to the RFQ posted in August 2016. The County narrowed the field to three and then conducted an 8-week process of interviews and proposal reviews. Numerous internal work sessions to discuss each team’s proposal were held with several County department directors and stakeholders; an evaluation team of five key County personnel scored the companies and their proposals.
“Brinkmann had the highest technical score and the lowest cost proposal,” says St. Charles County Construction Manager Cory Bextermueller. “They presented their proposal and design process with a tremendous amount of energy and thought and we look forward to getting started on the project with them.”
The new facility will house the day-to-day operations of the Department of Emergency Communications, St. Charles County Police Department’s Division of Emergency Management, and a data center for County information technology operations and the county-wide emergency radio communications system. Currently, the County’s data center and some offices of the Department of Emergency Communications are located in the City of St. Charles. The Department of Emergency Communications also operates dispatching services and 911 operations from an office building in Wentzville. The Police Department Division of Emergency Management is located in the basement of the County’s jail in St. Charles. The project also includes an addition to the adjacent St. Charles County Police Department for an expansion of evidence storage.
“We are pleased to be working with Brinkmann Constructors,” says St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann. “Our team worked diligently to find the right fit for this project. The facility must be secure and resilient for public safety, emergency preparedness and critical response. I am confident our County team and Brinkmann Constructors will produce a 21st century building that provides the technology and space needed to better serve the 370,000 residents of St. Charles County.
“As our population continues to grow, demand for these services is rising,” Ehlmann continues. “Now is the time to consolidate these operations into one, mission-critical facility that will sustain 365/24/7 operations during in any type of emergency event or extreme condition.”
This is the first time the County has engaged in the design-build process. The St. Charles County Council passed an ordinance in 2015, establishing the design-build procedure and, in March 2016, authorized utilization of the process for the facility. All other County buildings have been constructed with the design-bid-build process.
“Since the County had never used the design-build process before, we developed the evaluation procedures and the actual scoring sheets for them,” said Brad Hornburg, CEO of Landmark. “They were responsive to the process, and they worked hard to achieve an appropriate selection.”
“Benefits of a design-build delivery method include time and cost savings, as well as improved risk management,” says Bextermueller. “Additionally, this process is known to increase creativity and innovation by maximizing the strengths of the contractor. We feel confident it is the best process for the County, given the highly specialized nature of this type of facility.”
Work to complete schematic designs will begin immediately with site demolition and grading to start in April. It is anticipated the facility will be operational in late 2018.
-end-