LAWTON – The Lawton Youth Sports Trust Authority has tapped the Oklahoma Citybased construction management firm The Boldt Company to oversee construction of Lawton’s youth sports complex.
The authority voted 5-0 Sept. 11 to select Boldt as the construction manager at risk for the project and authorize Chairman Brian Henry to negotiate terms of the contract. A contract proposal will be brought back to the authority for final approval.
A construction manager at risk is hired to oversee an entire construction project, from the initial design through the construction phase and closeout. The CMAR is responsible for monitoring the construction schedule and project budget to ensure the job stays within the contract price.
The authority issued a request for qualifications from contractors interested in serving as the CMAR for the project, which included architectural firms that were recommended by city staffers and members of the community, Henry said.
“I will tell you that local construction managers were included and they politely declined, citing the scope being too big for them,” he said. “But they offered any kind of help that they could provide, including lists of subcontractors.”
Henry said the authority received four responses to the request for qualifications, and two companies said they could not fit the project into their schedules. The remaining two companies, Boldt and QUAD Construction, both submitted proposals for the project.
A subcommittee of the authority interviewed both companies and scored them using a matrix, Henry said. He said the companies’ scores were averaged, and Boldt had the highest score.
Both companies have experience with building sports fields and buildings but did not show the subcommittee any work on sports complexes, Henry said. He added that research and discussions with both companies indicated they had the capability to oversee construction of the sports complex.
The complex will be located on a 120-acre site off East Gore Boulevard, east of MacArthur High School. The architectural firm ADG Blatt is designing the complex, which will include outdoor baseball fields as well as an indoor sports facility.