Clarification on 5 Year Plan Summary
Since the requirement to submit an Executive Summary of the Five-Year Plan with each project submission became effective July 1, 2004, we have had numerous questions regarding exactly what information is required. This document will attempt to clearly define how to present appropriate information in that regard.
The format for the Five-Year Plan, released in September 2003, required several documents including an Executive Summary. The format states: This section shall include a list of all of the District or Board’s facilities and a brief narrative on the general condition and goals for each facility. This Section shall also include lists of the people who prepared the plan and of the resources used.
Therefore, the intent is that the district will have completed research necessary to complete the Five-Year Plan (research information such as Building Condition Survey, Annual inspections, Fire inspections, capital improvement studies, etc, is already available). The Five-Year Plan is intended to be a tool utilized by the district to actively manage its capital needs. Needs and priorities change regularly as projects are completed or deferred capital items further deteriorate. An up-to-date Five-Year Plan will identify the current condition of the district’s facilities and prioritize the necessary improvements for each facility.
The Executive Summary should therefore be a concise description of the current state of the district’s facilities and the prioritized work necessary to maintain each facility in good working order. Simply put, SED expects available funding to be spent on the highest priority health and safety items within each facility first. This does not mean that work not identified in the Executive Summary cannot be included in a capital project. Obvious departures from the identified need will simply cause a further conversation and discussion between SED project managers and the district about their capital planning needs. The Executive Summary should clearly identify those priorities such that our projects managers can determine that the work proposed in the submitted project is a priority in the district’s Five-Year Plan. We expect the Executive Summary to be based on a current Five-Year Plan; therefore the Executive Summary should not be uniquely crafted for each project submission, but should be a current representation of the status and needs of each of the district’s facilities.
Carl Thurnau, P.E.
Coordinator, Facilities Planning