Prince George’s County Public Schools Wins International Award for Alternative Construction Finance Program
Dear Prince Georgians:
I wanted to be sure you saw some amazing news and recognition that our school system recently received. Last week, Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) and Prince George’s County Education & Community Partners (PGCECP) officially won the international P3 Awards 2021 Social Infrastructure Project of the Year Award. PGCPS was one of ten finalists for its Alternative Construction Finance (ACF) program, an innovative public-private partnership (P3) that is being used to build new public schools quickly and at a cost savings for the County.
If you recall, back in 2019, I began working with PGCPS CEO Dr. Monica Goldson and other County leaders to create and fund a public-private partnership for school construction, to address the backlog in school construction. Once we successfully created and funded that P3 structure, PGCPS then put out a competitive bid process and ultimately partnered with Prince George’s County Education & Community Partners, a consortium of developers, to update, modernize and expand the County’s aging school infrastructure.
Prince George’s County has the second-oldest buildings in the State with more than half of our 208 schools over 50 years old. The pioneering “Blueprint Schools” program was specifically designed to address aging and overcrowded facilities and will deliver six new schools, ultimately serving 8,000 students, by July 2023, a mere two and a half years after reaching financial close.
Last summer, we broke ground on nine new schools in the County, an historic amount of school construction in just one year. Three of those schools are through the traditional model for school construction, and six are through the innovative ACF program. The six-school ACF program is currently one-third through construction with foundations nearing completion, structural steel topping out in spring 2022, building dry-in spring/summer 2022, and targeted completion summer 2023.
This innovative model, the first of its kind in the U.S., is also advancing local economic inclusion goals through diverse and local business utilization. Nearly 30% of total eligible costs will be awarded to minority-owned businesses and community-based small businesses, helping us create generational wealth for local and minority-owned businesses. We also expect approximately $174 million in savings to be realized by PGCPS in deferred maintenance and construction costs savings.
The P3 Awards judges were impressed with our County’s school construction model that sets an important precedent for other school districts looking to meet immediate and long-term needs, and that creates substantial cost and time-savings and sizable community benefits. The project has also recently been recognized as Social Infrastructure (Education) Deal of the Year and Editor’s Choice as the Best Deal in North America at the IJGlobal Awards 2020 and ESG Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year at the IJGlobal ESG Awards 2021.
We are so Prince George’s Proud that our County and our school system are being recognized for the Alternative Construction Finance program for school construction. This is a tremendous honor for our County, and we want to thank and congratulate everyone who played a role in pushing this innovative model for school construction forward. Through our collective efforts, we are not only providing quality learning environments for our children, but we are also making Prince George’s County a national leader in school construction.
If you would like to learn more about the innovative Blueprint Schools initiative, please visit www.pgcpsblueprintschools.com.
Yours in service,
Angela Alsobrooks
Prince George’s County Executive
PGCPS CEO Dr. Monica Goldson, along with PGCPS staff and partners, accept the P3 Awards 2021 Social Infrastructure Project of the Year Award.
|
