Orange County Public Schools

OCPS is the 10th largest in the nation and is the fourth largest in Florida. The district serves over 200,000 culturally, socially, and economically diverse students. You may learn more about the district and current news via the following link: https://www.ocps.net/es/cr/newsrAddoom/Pages/default.aspx .

Below please find content from a recent news release relevant to the district's programs:

Trade Fair to Help Small, Minority and Women-Owned Businesses Participate in School District’s Multi-Million Dollar Building Program and Other Procurement Opportunities

March 7, 2013 -- The Orange County Public School (OCPS) district embarks on a $190 million school building program this summer. Want a piece of the action? Come learn how at the March 22 OCPS Trade Fair at Jones High School.

Decision makers from the school district’s purchasing office, facilities department and operations areas will be on hand to explain what projects are coming up, what they look for in construction partners and vendors, and to answer your questions. Business owners will have an opportunity to network with architectural/engineering and construction management firms currently working with the district, as well as attend various workshops and a panel discussion with department leaders. The trade fair offers an opportunity for small business owners to present the products and services to trade fair participants and district staff.

“This trade fair gives minority and women business owners and local developing business owners a chance to meet prime contractors, school district purchasing staff, and key stakeholders,” said Joycelyn Henson, Senior Administrator for the school district’s Office of Business Opportunity. “This is how many of our current vendors got their foot in the door and began their business relationship with OCPS.”

OCPS policy encourages prime construction contractors to subcontract 23 percent of their school district contracts to minority or woman owned business enterprises (MWBEs) and 10 percent to local developing businesses (LDBs). The school district expects architectural and engineering (AE) contractors to achieve a 15 percent MWBE participation and 10 percent LDB participation. Having a pool of qualified MWBE and LDB firms to work with helps prime contractors meet that expectation. 

The district also is aggressively seeking local developing businesses and vendors who provide non-professional goods and services to participate in the district’s procurement opportunities. Non-professional goods and services refer to items and services not related to construction, architecture, or engineering services. The district’s MWBE expectation for these type purchases is 12 percent and 10 percent for LDB participation.

“It’s all about purchasing from local small and diverse businesses. It just makes good business sense to invest in our own community,” said Harold Robinson, Business Opportunity Specialist.

The Trade Fair will be held:

• 9 a.m. - noon
• Friday, March 22, 2013
• Jones High School

801 South Rio Grande Avenue; Orlando, FL 32805

Informative break-out sessions include:

• How to do business with OCPS
• Cost estimating
• Business financing
• Small business partnering with primes
• Value of BIM & requirements for LEED certification
• Minority, women, and small business certification
• Digital curriculum in Orange County schools
• OCPS vendor ethics

To register, log on to OCPS OBO Trade Fair Registration . Come to the event for lots of information, food, and door prizes. For questions, please call (407) 317-3739.

# # #

The School Board of Orange County, Florida, does not discriminate in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities, on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, marital status, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other reason prohibited by law. The following individuals at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center, 445 W. Amelia Street, Orlando, Florida 32801, attend to compliance matters: ADA Coordinator & Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Supervisor: Carianne Reggio; Section 504 Coordinator: Latonia Green; Title IX Coordinator: Gary Preisser. (407.317.3200)

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

School Building Program Creates Nearly 10,000 Jobs

OCPS A Large Local Economic Driver

Jan. 8, 2013 -- The construction of twelve Orange County public schools in the 2012 – 2013 school year is boosting the local economy by $224 million and the creation of 9,776 jobs. Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) has one of the most robust building programs in the state thanks to the 2002 voter-approved sales tax referendum. OCPS Superintendent Barbara Jenkins made the announcement at the construction site of the new Eccleston Elementary School, which recently had its exterior walls erected – a major project milestone.

“As educators, we’re excited about providing 21^st century schools with the updated technology our students need to compete in today’s global economy,” said OCPS Superintendent Barbara Jenkins. “As members of this community, we’re very pleased our building program is generating jobs for working families, business for our private sector, and growing our economy.”

The construction projects include two brand new relief schools and the renovation or replacement of ten existing campuses. The relief schools, built to handle new growth, are in the Dowden Road/Randal Park area near Lake Nona and on Hackney Prairie Road near Ocoee. Both are elementary schools. Construction crews will renovate four existing schools over the next year. Work is wrapping up on another six schools. These projects directly create 5,566 jobs and another 4,210 resulting from the economic ripple effect. Those are jobs created from the expenditure of wages earned on the school construction contracts or projects by architects, engineers, carpenters, landscapers and other tradesmen who spend their paychecks on housing, groceries, gas, clothing and entertainment.

“The whole community benefits from the OCPS building program,” stated School Board Chairman Bill Sublette. “It improves our students’ learning environment and our area’s jobless rate. We have Orange County voters to thank for that.”

OCPS Chief Facilities Officer John Morris added, “Having spent my life in construction, I know how difficult downturns in the building sector can be. Putting experienced people to work in lean times is almost as fulfilling as building great schools for our kids. With the continued slow pace in housing and other building, we’re seeing good workers on our job sites and very competitive pricing.”

OCPS remains the second largest employer in central Florida, with more than 22,000 people involved in the education of 184,000 students at 184 schools.

(more)

Page 2

Construction at schools completed last year created more than 6,500 jobs. Those include 3,702 direct positions and 2,801 indirect jobs connected to the building of Aloma Elementary School, Arbor Ridge K-8 swing school, Cypress Springs Elementary School, Princeton Elementary School, SunRidge Elementary School and Middle School, and University High School.

School board member Kat Gordon, who represents Eccleston’s district, noted that 23% of the money spent on Orange County school construction goes to minority, women-owned or small local developing firms.

“These projects not only provide thousands of jobs, but they’re with firms that keep the money in central Florida and support and grow our local talent pool. When you add the OCPS required apprenticeship program for construction jobs, you can really appreciate how our building program benefits our community,” explained Gordon.

District policy states that there must be one apprentice for every ten journeymen in the mechanical, electrical, plumbing or fire trades.

# # #

The number of indirect jobs created by these school construction projects is determined by the RIMS II model, which indicates a multiplier of 0.7567 for construction industry jobs in metro Orlando.

OCPS EEO Non-Discrimination Statement

The School Board of Orange County, Florida, does not discriminate in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in its programs and activities, on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, marital status, disability, genetic information or any other reason prohibited by law. The following individuals at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center, 445 W. Amelia Street, Orlando, Florida 32801, attend to compliance matters: ADA Coordinator & Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Supervisor: Carianne Reggio; Section 504 Coordinator: Dr. Kimberly Steinke; Title IX Coordinator: Gary Preisser. (407.317.3200)