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The George Washington University Honored With Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting

December 1, 2020

Gordian, the leading provider of facility and construction cost data, software and expertise, announced that the George Washington University (GW) received the 2019 Harry H. Mellon Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting (JOC) for interior renovations to Mitchell Hall. The honor for exemplary use of JOC included recognition of both GW and Centennial Contractors, Inc. due to the special circumstances surrounding this project which was identified, scoped and completed within 35 days.

“It’s an honor to present the Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting to the George Washington University and Centennial,” said William Pollak, President of Gordian, during a virtual presentation of the award on Thursday, November 19. “Gordian evaluated submissions for the 2019 Harry H. Mellon Awards. GW’s renovation project was selected as the winner based on innovation, use of Job Order Contracting principles, scope of work, special circumstances and time savings.”

The project began in the Spring of 2019, when GW recognized the condition of the highly trafficked Mitchell Hall corridors needed urgent upgrades and decided to use some of its deferred maintenance budget to make necessary improvements before the fall semester. With less than 45 days before the new fall semester began, and the hall fully occupied by summer program students, GW turned to Job Order Contracting for this time sensitive project. JOC is an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) construction delivery method that allows many projects to be completed through a single, competitively awarded contract. The awarded JOC contractor, Centennial, was able to complete the renovations to all nine floors, which included replacing fluorescent lighting with energy-efficient LED lighting, upgrading interior finishes and unexpected mold remediation, in just 35 days.

In addition to awarding GW with the Award of Excellence, the following Award of Merit Winners have been recognized for demonstrating Job Order Contracting best practices:

Tri-C’s Winter Break Touch Screen Swap Out
Agency: Cuyahoga Community College
Contractor: FOTI Contracting

To provide an interactive classroom experience for students and better teaching functionality for instructors, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C)’s Media department initiated a project to swap out existing audiovisual equipment over winter break. Due to the project’s unique scope of work and expedited timeline, the College decided to utilize Job Order Contracting to complete the project. Tri-C purchased all the equipment, but the awarded contractor, FOTI Contracting, was responsible for storage, transportation and installation, in addition to providing all connections, installing new whiteboards and all wall touch-ups. Due to continuous coordination and the collaborative nature of JOC, the project was completed on time and the classrooms were ready for use when was the students and teachers returned from winter break.

Environmental Field Operations Office Space and Garage
Agency: Indiana National Guard – Camp Atterbury
Contractor: Wilhelm Construction

Camp Atterbury provides multi-domain military and law enforcement training opportunities for the Indiana National Guard and associated agencies. In the summer of 2019, the Environmental Field Operations department needed a new administrative building and a maintenance garage due to developments on the Himsel Army Airfield. This project was identified near the end of the fiscal calendar, so the project needed to be designed and priced and purchase orders issued within 42 working days. However, traditional construction procurement methods were taking up to nine months. The Indiana National Guard decided to utilize Job Order Contracting to simplify and expedite the procurement process, the project was designed and priced in six weeks and completed within seven months.

Reroute Storm Sewer Around Historic Post Cemetery
Agency: U.S. Army Garrison Fort Riley
Contractor: Olgoonik Diversified Services

Fort Riley needed to reroute the storm sewer around the historic Main Post Cemetery to accommodate stormwater runoff and modernize the drainage system for future sustainment. Original project estimates were nearly $5 million, so Fort Riley needed to figure out a more economical alternative. By leveraging in-house ingenuity and experience, Fort Riley was able to rescope the project and utilized their Job Order Contracting (known as SABER for the U.S. Air Force) program for transparent pricing and access to awarded contractor, Olgoonik Diversified Services. The collaborative partnership between Fort Riley, Gordian and Olgoonik Diversified Services reduced the project cost to just under $700,000, a savings of more than $4 million from original estimates.

About the Awards
The Harry H. Mellon Award of Excellence in Job Order Contracting is an annual award recognizing innovative uses of Job Order Contracting. Judging was conducted by a panel of Job Order Contracting experts and past award winners from all facets of the industry. Projects were judged on their adherence to Job Order Contracting principles, innovation, complexity, special circumstances and overall time and cost savings. In order to be eligible, projects had to be completed during 2019, and nominations were submitted by agency owners or contractors.

The award program is named for Harry H. Mellon, the creator of Job Order Contracting and co-founder of Gordian. Job Order Contracting is a competitively-bid construction procurement process used by building and infrastructure owners to save time and money by fast-tracking repair, renovation and alteration projects based on locally priced construction tasks and competitively awarded contracts.