Don’t delay in development of joint government campus
Great civic buildings are community landmarks and should express the best qualities of the agency they represent and the people they serve. Here in Broward and Downtown Fort Lauderdale, the same cannot be said for the existing County and City administration buildings, located blocks apart on Andrews Avenue.
Not only are these buildings in urgent need of replacement, but their current maintenance costs exceed annual budget allocations and the structures no longer meet security, technology, and energy-efficiency needs.
The good news is, instead of moving forward with construction on two separate buildings, both the Broward County Commission and the
Fort Lauderdale Commission have smartly recognized that their mutual need creates an opportunity. They have agreed to build one new combined structure to serve as a central hub for government operations in the county seat.
The benefits of a joint government building are numerous: less upfront building costs, new state-of-the-art technology to enhance energy-efficiency and improve security, and improved building performance, all leading to reduced long-term operational costs. One new building will also make it easier for the public seeking government services and an improve the working environment for City and County employees.
This joint campus concept has now been discussed for many years. The City and County, serving as a joint procurement authority, have selected where the building will be built and are in the process of hiring a consultant to plan their space needs. But time is of the essence.
Rather than following a traditional process that takes years to solicit a development partner, our elected leaders can fast-track construction of the joint campus by moving forward with a publicprivate partnership (P3) project.
Not only does this save time, but unlike a traditional designbid-build approach where the County and City would assume all financial risks in the project, a P3 moves the bulk of the risk to the private sector making it a smart investment for taxpayers.
This is because the private sector is incentivized to get a return on their investment by meeting certain building performance standards that are negotiated upfront and spelled out in contracts. Without the use of private finance, the government’s ability to keep up long-term maintenance of a new building would be greatly reduced. This approach has proved successful across the country and throughout South Florida. Here in Broward, the private sector has already come to the table. This summer, a development team submitted an unsolicited bid to build the joint campus. Public officials would be well served to accept the proposal for further review and consideration. By state law, accepting this proposal would kick off a competitive bidding process, giving other groups the chance to submit proposals. The City and County can even use their newly hired design consultants to review the P3 projects, speeding up the process by at least a year.
Broward and Fort Lauderdale have an unprecedented opportunity to prove that collaboration between governments is possible and that private sector investment can achieve their vision of a new joint campus. By accepting the unsolicited proposal to advance this groundbreaking project for our community’s future, our elected officials also show great leadership.
The City and County, serving as a joint procurement authority, have selected where the building will be built and are in the process of hiring a consultant to plan their space needs. But time is of the essence.