Bidders to Present Plans for Air-Conditioning L.A. Schools

The massive job of installing air-conditioning in the Los Angeles Unified School District has attracted 11 new bidders, setting up a showdown today with the consortium of three energy companies that is pressing the district to let it begin work immediately.

The consortium--the Energy Alliance, which includes the Los Angeles Department of Water andPower in an unusual partnership with two private concerns--is scheduled to present its formal proposal today to the citizens committee overseeing expenditures from Proposition BB.

The proposition, approved by voters in April, authorized $2.4 billion to shore up poorly maintained schools and created the citizens committee to monitor spending priorities.

Because the Energy Alliance announced its proposal before the district asked for bids, other firms are now scrambling to catch up, and some are criticizing the process, which they say does not appear to give them a level playing field.

“My concern is I don’t understand the bidding process,” said Gary Brimmag, regional vice president for Honeywell Homes and Building Controls, which has asked for more time to evaluate the job.

Energy Alliance has completed a 30-day “due diligence” evaluation of the nearly 300 schools that will have air-conditioning installed, and has concluded that it can do the work for $31 million less than the district’s estimate of $190 million and complete the job one-third faster than the district could dealing directly with contractors.

The proposal also includes a $1.5-million energy credit to the district and a three-year maintenance contract for the equipment.

Michael Dochterman, program manager for Energy Alliance, told The Times that the consortium will push hard to be awarded the contract immediately.

“We know what needs to be done. We have a plan. We can do it faster, cheaper and create better value than anyone else. We’re ready to start today,” Dochterman said.

Saying he considered it important that the new proposals “not be considered in a closed-door environment,” oversight committee Chairman Steve Soboroff sent invitations early this week asking each of the firms to make a five-minute presentation today summarizing their experience, project approach, scope of work and price.

But Honeywell’s Brimmag said that he did not plan to attend and that he will instead ask school district officials to submit a letter on his behalf, asking for an extension to allow the firm to make a proper evaluation of its own.

“I don’t consider this receiving an invitation,” Brimmag said of the letter from Soboroff that arrived at his desk Tuesday. “We’re expected to be at a meeting to present our proposal the following day at 11:30. So, my point is we haven’t had the opportunity to put a proposal together in a quality fashion.”

An engineer at Viron, another of the bidders, said the company would make a brief presentation Wednesday of its proposal to design and manage air-conditioning projects at 40 to 100 schools.

“We frankly didn’t think it was practical to do all of them,” said the employee, who asked not to be named. “We don’t think any one company could do that many.”

Times education writer Amy Pyle contributed to this story.