School Board Extends Bond Liaison Contract

The school board voted Thursday night to extend its contract with SIM Architects, Inc. as its interim bond liaison for up to six months.

The district originally contracted with SIM Architects in December to coordinate to coordinate the early stages of the Measure J bond improvement work, including overseeing the hiring of the bond program manager, Swinerton Management & Consulting.

SIM Architect's contract expired on June 30 but has been extended on a day-to-day basis by the district up until this point. 

Trustee Philip Weise opposed extending the contract, stating that the district no longer needs a bond liaison and the job description needs to be rewritten and put out for public bidding.

"When I look at your job description and I look at the project manager’s job description, there’s quite a bit of overlap," Weise said.

Eugene Sim energetically defended his firm's role, occasionally stomping his foot and striking the lectern as he listed the work performed, including negotiating the contract with Swinerton, working with the facilities subcommittee and the citizens' bond oversight committee and on the facilities master plan. He said SIM Architects has put in over 2,000 hours of work, well beyond the 1,208 hours it was permitted to budget.

"This is South San Francisco Unified School District, not an average school district. I want to say that on the record," Sim said. "I'm very passionate about this."

Trustees Liza Normandy, Judy Bush and Board President Maurice Goodman voted to extend SIM's contract. Goodman said he thinks the district will continue to need a bond liaison throughout the bond project to oversee work and represent the district's interests, but he supports openinging the position to a public bidding process as soon as possible.

"If we're comparing apples to apples and all elements as well as cost, SIM would still rise to the top," Goodman said.

The district will continue to pay SIM Architects $500 a day for work performed.