Project Selection Criteria

Overview

Facilities Management maintains Dickinson’s buildings and grounds to protect and preserve physical assets, and to provide for the following:

Admissions Appeal Modernity

Programmatic Viability Design Appeal

Positive Student Experience Sustainability and Efficiency

Safety and Code Compliance Quality and Durability

With 120 buildings, more than 1.8 million square feet of space and over 200 acres of land -- allocating available funds towards these maintenance efforts represents an annual budgeting challenge.

In short, Dickinson’s annual allocation towards facility renewal and modernization is unable to keep pace with the needs and requests associated with cycle maintenance, deferred maintenance, deferred modernization and new construction. With high priority deferred maintenance backlog surpassing $20 million dollars and annual cycle maintenance requirements that surpasses $5 million dollars at a minimum, the College is faced with a difficult project selection process each year.

There are many factors that are taken into account as repair and renovation requests are considered. In an effort to ‘de-mystify’ the selection and scheduling process, these factors are identified below. The selection process adheres to the following principles and guidelines:

First Priority

Safety and Security Code Compliance System Failure

Projects that affect the safety and security, that will remediate systems that are not in compliance with local, state and/or national building codes, or projects that are required to avoid system failure are given the highest priority.

Second Priority

Program Viability Strategic Priority Deferred Maintenance

Projects that are required for academic and administrative programs to remain competitive and viable and projects that are directly related to strategic objectives, such as projects that will advance admissions and retention objectives, receive the highest priority possible, and are therefore in the second priority category. Also, deferred maintenance projects are prioritized in this category, with the objective of eliminating deferred maintenance backlog.

Third Priority

Sustainability and Efficiency Cycle Maintenance and Preventative Maintenance

With the goal of preserving college assets and to avoid deferred maintenance accrual, cycle maintenance projects receive the highest priority possible each year, but are typically prioritized below those objectives listed in the categories above.

Also, projects that advance the college’s objectives associated with sustainability and operational efficiency are prioritized to the highest degree possible. Many of these projects fall into the second priority when they are considered to be of strategic priority for the college.

It should be noted that projects that will result in immediate or short term payback and return on investment are given a high priority – because they should ultimately pay for themselves within a short period of time.

Gifts and Grants:

The Development office works with Associate V.P. For Campus Operations Ken Shultes and Facilities Management to identify projects that have the potential to receive funding from donors or from other non-operating fund sources such as grants. When projects are identified to have the high potential to receive outside funding, operating resources are generally channeled in other directions. Consequently, the ‘gifts and grants’ factor is important when prioritizing and scheduling project requests which fall into this category, giving these types of requests a lower priority in terms of completion with annual operating funds.

Project Request Process:

Project requests can also be made at any time during the year by requesting a meeting or simply sending an email or phoning in the request to our Customer Service center at x1700.

Requests are considered, prioritized, and ultimately scheduled into one of the next three fiscal years – or into the “beyond” category - simply meaning that the schedule is uncertain and that it does not appear to be possible to entertain the project request within the next three fiscal years.

Questions and concerns relating to the project request process or the status/schedule of a request are always welcome, and should be made to Ken Shultes, Associate VP for Campus Operations.