Design of E. E. Smith High School Replacement Project

The Cumberland County Board of Education in Fayetteville, North Carolina is requesting qualifications for design and construction administration services for the E.E. Smith High School Replacement Project, with proposals due August 13, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EST. The scope includes demolition of the existing campus and turnkey construction of a replacement high school on the current 27-acre site, with students temporarily relocated to an off-site swing campus during construction. The selected firm will serve as prime design professional and manage educational programming, master planning, architectural and engineering design, cost control, stakeholder engagement, permitting coordination, and construction administration.

Mandatory minimum qualifications include fifteen years of continuous K-12 architectural and engineering experience; completion of at least two public high school projects within the past ten years; completion of at least three public educational projects exceeding $80 million in construction value; completion of at least one project exceeding $100 million; and completion of at least one public high school replacement project involving structural demolition and ground-up reconstruction. Firms must maintain active professional licenses in North Carolina, operate a fully staffed physical office within the state, and demonstrate zero contract defaults, terminations for cause, debarments, or unresolved licensing sanctions within the preceding five years.

Joint ventures or teams of partnering firms may respond provided experience thresholds are demonstrated collectively and the prime or lead entity is clearly identified and accepts overall contractual responsibility. Key personnel must include a Project Manager, Lead Architect, and Lead Educational Planner with specific experience in North Carolina public school projects. Respondents must demonstrate experience with educational programming for at least three North Carolina K-12 public-school projects and Local Government Commission financed projects.

Submissions are limited to thirty-five single-sided pages and must include ten bound hard copies plus one indexed PDF on a secure USB drive, delivered to Cumberland County Schools Operations Department at 810 Gillespie Street, Fayetteville. The evaluation matrix awards maximum points for high school replacement experience (30 points), educational design experience (20 points), key personnel qualifications (20 points), complex demolition and redevelopment experience (10 points), community and alumni engagement experience (10 points), past performance history (5 points), and personnel continuity commitment (5 points).