Construction reform could help prevent tuition increases
Recently the University of Pittsburgh announced it approved a tuition increase for incoming students, joining Penn State University and Temple University in raising tuition. As families continue moving from a pandemic towards normalcy, I am sure the last thing they wanted, or expected, was to see the price tag of education increase for their students.
A lot of factors go into the background of the high costs of college. Facilities management and maintenance are important components. If construction procurement reform had been put in place, to put us in line with the rest of the country, I wonder if this tuition increase could have been avoided.
As one of the last few states requiring the use of multiple prime contractors on each public construction project, and enforcing it more strictly than other states, Pennsylvania is stuck with an archaic business practice. Referred to in Pennsylvania as the Separations Act, this requirement was enacted in 1913.
So, what exactly is the Separations Act? And why should students at state-related universities care?
In essence, the Separations Act forces the public owner, like the state-related universities, to serve as the general contractor for a project and each of the multiple primes contracts directly with the public owner. Without a single entity directing the project and plenty of finger-pointing, this is an inefficient contract delivery method fraught with problems such as delays and claims, which are the norms and culprits leading to public projects being over-budget.
This multiple prime contractor delivery system is virtually nonexistence in the federal, private, residential and commercial markets — and in fact when Pitt and the other staterelated universities spend their own money for construction projects they never use multiple prime contractor delivery because they want their money spent efficiently.
The state-related universities only use the multiple prime contractor delivery system when it is building projects funded by the state (they are forced to use it).
On average, a multiple prime contractor project costs 10% more so it makes sense for these schools to avoid it when spending money from alums and other contributors. One would think our state Legislature would have that same sentiment about taxpayers that these colleges have for their donors.
By no means am I saying that modernizing the Separations Act is the be-all end solution to stop tuition inflation, but when Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that mandates a costly, inefficient process to each public construction project, I feel inclined to speak up for my neighbors that are paying this tuition increase at our fine staterelated universities.
Now is the ideal time to address inefficiencies in our procurement process on behalf of current and future college students.