Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 203 - Commission for Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation
Rule 203.00.10-006 - AFT 30 - Rules Governing Self Construction Projects by Public Education Entities

1.01 These regulations shall be known as the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Rules Governing Self-Construction Projects by Public Entities.

1.02 The Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation's (Commission) authority for promulgating these rules is pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 6-21-109, Act 1472 of 2009.

2.01 The purpose of these rules is to establish how the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation (Division) will assess, identify, assist, monitor and address public educational entities that self-construct.

3.01 "Public educational entities" (Entities) is defined to mean an Arkansas public school district, charter schools, educational cooperatives or any publicly supported entity having supervision over public educational entities.

3.02 "Self-construction" is defined to mean any construction where the public educational entity uses its own employees, acts as a general contractor, uses a construction manager while acting as a general contractor or acts as its own construction manager using contracted construction services.

3.03 "Construction project" is defined to mean making or forming an improvement by combining parts, labor or materials; the erection or alteration that exceeds a cost of $20,000 of a structure of physical object under the supervision or ownership of a public educational entity.

3.04 "Design professional" is defined to mean a person or firm who provides professional expertise in order to carry out a capital erection, repair or improvement project. Design professionals may include, but may not be limited to the following professionals: planners (land, city, utilities, etc.), architects, landscape architects, surveyors (land), engineers (consulting and professional engineers providing expertise in various licensed fields such as civil, electrical, mechanical, structural, sanitary, etc.).

3.05 "Maintenance work" is defined to mean the repair but not the replacement or alterations that exceed a cost of $20,000 of existing facilities when the size, capacity and type of the existing facility or equipment is not thereby substantially changed or increased.

3.06 "Commodities" is defined to mean all supplies, goods, material, equipment, machinery, facilities, and personal property purchased for or on behalf of an Entity.

3.07 "Open market purchases" is defined to mean those purchases of commodities by any purchasing official in which competitive bidding is not required.

3.08 "Administrator" is defined to mean a school Entity superintendent, an educational cooperative director, the Administrator, Director, Chairman, or President of a charter school, or other educational entity.

3.09 "Commission" is defined to mean the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.

3.10 "Division" is defined to mean the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.

4.01 When an Entity board votes to self-construct, the Administrator of the Entity shall submit Part A and B of the Construction Approval Form to the Division annotating that the project is "Self Construction". (The form may be found on the Division web site; http://arkansasfacilities.gov). and which is hereby incorporated into and made part of these rules, as "Appendix A" to these rules, This notification shall include the following items:

4.02 Upon receiving an Entity's notification of intent to self-construct, the Division shall provide a written assessment of the Entity's decision to self -construct.

5.01 When an Entity develops plans for a self-construction project to be submitted to the Division for approval, the Entity shall ensure that the design and specifications satisfy all Arkansas legal requirements including, but not limited to, the following:

6.01 When an Entity self-constructs, the Entity shall ensure by written report compliance to all Arkansas laws, including but not limited to, the following:

6.02 Commodities Purchasing

6.03 Bidding Requirements

6.04 When giving public notice of intent to receive bids for construction, an Entity may include alternates in the bid specifications. If the Entity includes alternates in the bid specifications, the alternates must be deductive, no more that three (3) alternates may be used and the alternates must be set forth and considered in numerical order. (Ark. Code Ann 22-9-203)

6.05 When advertising for bids for construction, an Entity may negotiate a final contract amount with the successful bidder if the low bid is within twenty-fife percent (25%) of the amount appropriated for the project and all alternates have been exhausted. (Ark. Code Ann. 22-9-203 as amended by Act 921 of 2001)

6.06 A five percent (5%) corporate bid bond or certified check in the amount of five percent (5%) of the bid shall accompany all submitted bids on construction contracts that exceed $20,000. (Ark. Code Ann 22-9-203)

6.07 The successful bidder on construction that exceeds $20,000 shall provide the owner a performance and payment bond for one hundred percent (100%) of the contract amount. This bond must be filed in the county where the work is being performed before authorization to proceed is granted. (Ark. Code Ann. 18-44-503)

6.08 Any sub-trades contractor doing work in areas such as electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. must hold the required trades' licenses from the State of Arkansas. This applies to Entity personnel, as well as sub-trades contractors employed by the Entity. Any contractor who performs a job that exceeds $20,000 must also hold an Arkansas contractor's license. (Ark. Code Ann. 17-25-101(a))

7.01 Any Entity Administrator or certified employee that knowingly submits to the Commission or Division a false report or false information required by Arkansas law or these rules and regulations shall be subject to having his license revoked, suspended, or placed on probation pursuant to Ark. Code Ann 6-17-410.