Design of E.E. Smith High School Replacement Project

The Cumberland County Board of Education is soliciting qualified architectural and engineering firms to provide integrated design and construction administration services for the complete demolition of the existing E.E. Smith High School campus and the turnkey construction of a new replacement high school on the same 27-acre site in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This procurement follows North Carolina’s Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) process, meaning award will be based solely on technical merit and experience, not price. The contract requires a comprehensive scope including civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, IT infrastructure, audio-visual systems, and high-security design, along with educational programming, master planning, cost control, stakeholder coordination, permitting, and construction administration. All deliverables must align with North Carolina Department of Public Instruction guidelines, State Fire Marshal standards, ADA provisions, and Local Government Commission financing protocols. The selected firm must demonstrate direct experience with public high school replacement projects involving demolition and reconstruction exceeding $100 million in hard construction value, with the proposed Project Manager and Lead Architect having personally led at least one such project. Key personnel must remain committed throughout all phases of the project, and any substitution requires prior written approval and equivalent qualifications. Proposals must be submitted in strict compliance with a twelve-tab format, limited to 35 pages excluding exempt documentation such as SF-330 and resumes. Mandatory tabs include firm qualifications, project experience matrices, key personnel resumes, community engagement portfolios, litigation and integrity disclosures, and personnel commitment certifications. Offerors must affirmatively disclose any prior contract defaults, terminations for cause, suspensions, debarments, or legal actions within the past decade; failure to disclose will result in automatic disqualification. A strict no-contact policy prohibits communication with school board members or staff from solicitation issuance until contract award. Submissions require ten bound hard copies and one high-resolution PDF on a secure USB drive delivered in sealed packages to the designated address by August 13, 2026, at 2:00 PM EST; electronic submissions or deviations from the format will be rejected. Evaluation focuses on experience with high school replacement (30 points), educational design (20 points), key personnel qualifications (20 points), community engagement (10 points), demolition and redevelopment experience (10 points), past performance (5 points), and personnel continuity (5 points), for a total of 100 points. The contract does not include pricing, line items, or cost data, consistent with QBS procurement for professional