09.04.04 – Maintenance Project Evaluation Committee

Section: Facilities

Area: Facilities Management and Maintenance
Information

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I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE

This document defines the roles and responsibilities of the Maintenance Project Evaluation Committee (MPEC). This committee receives a portion of monies from the Higher Education Assistance Fund (HEAF) defined in MAPP 11.02.01. The committee is charged with prioritizing projects based on:

A. Repair needs,

B. Replacement or enhancements of existing infrastructure due to disrepair,

C. Inability to function,

D. Inadequacy for current operational needs,

E. Safety, or

F. Possible energy savings.

II. POLICY

The MPEC is committed to providing the campus with facilities that are in well-working order. The committee relies on Facilities Condition Assessments, Capital Improvement plans, user needs surveys, work requests, utility infrastructure planning, and infrastructure assessments to determine applicable projects. All projects will be approved in accordance with University of Houston System Board of Regents policies.

III. DEFINITIONS

A. AVC/AVP – Senior Associate Vice Chancellor/Associate Vice President

B. Capital Improvement - A process that enhances the operation, reduces the operating costs, or materially extends the service life of a facility. Facilities re-adaptations and energy efficiency retrofits are examples of a Capital Improvement project.

C. Current Replacement Value - The amount that an owner or insurer would have to pay to replace an asset at the present time, according to its current worth.

D. Education & General (E&G) Facilities - Buildings that are used for instruction, research, public service, or other activities that derive from and support the University's primary role and mission.

E. Facilities Condition Index (FCI) - The sum of the identified deficiencies (in dollars) divided by the estimated Current Replacement Value of the building. The Facility Condition Index (FCI) is used to establish priorities for project funding based on relative index value between facilities and to project the amount of reinvestment that will be required to maintain a building's FCI at its baseline level, or to reach a target index value over a prescribed investment period. It may also be used to determine if reinvestment should occur at all.

F. Facility Condition Assessment - A process which assesses a building's structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems condition and assigns a condition baseline.

G. Facilities/Construction Management (F/CM) - A department of the Administration and Finance division that includes Minor In-House Construction, Facilities Services, and Facilities Planning & Construction.

H. Facilities Services (FS) - An area of the Facilities/Construction Management department (713-743-4948).

I. Facilities Planning (FP) - An area of the Facilities/Construction Management department.

J. Review Subcommittee (RSC) - A subcommittee of the Maintenance Project Evaluation Committee.

IV. MPEC ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

A. MPEC will meet monthly with the agenda containing the following items. All monthly MPEC meeting minutes and annual plans are available to the campus community through the web site http://www.uh.edu/facilities-services/programs/MPEC/ . If a meeting is not required for the month an update is sent electronically.

1. Review current fiscal year planned budget and project overview.

2. Review notifications of approved projects under $50K.

3. Review action items for campus requests over $50K.

4. Review proposed projects for the next fiscal year.

B. Full MPEC Structure

1. Perennial voting committee members:

a. Executive Director, Facilities Planning or designee as approved by AVC/AVP of F/CM

b. Executive Director, Facilities Services or designee as approved by AVC/AVP of F/CM

2. Two-year appointed voting committee members representing areas across campus:

a. At-Large Representative appointed by AVC/AVP of F/CM

b. Academic Representative appointed by Faculty Senate

c. Division of Research Representative appointed by Vice President of Research

d. Provost Representative appointed by Provost

3. Supporting Ex-Officio committee members:

a. Facilities Business Services Representative

b. Facilities Planning Representative

c. Others as Needed (e.g., UH Public Safety, UH Information Technology)

4. The chair person will be appointed by AVC/AVP of F/CM.

C. Review Subcommittee (RSC) of MPEC will meet bi-weekly to review requests. Urgent requests that fall between scheduled meetings will be sent electronically for approval on a case by case basis.

1. RSC will review project requests that are not on the preapproved MPEC fiscal budget.

2. Requests under $50K will be considered by the RSC with a recommendation of action given directly to AVC/AVP of F/CM with monthly informational updates to MPEC.

3. Requests over $50K will be reviewed by the RSC and AVC/AVP of F/CM with a recommendation of action given to MPEC for the next scheduled monthly meeting.

4. RSC is also responsible for reviewing the annual list of deferred maintenance-related projects and presenting the list to MPEC.

D. RSC Structure:

1. Perennial voting committee members:

a. Executive Director, Facilities Planning or designee as approved by AVC/AVP of F/CM

b. Executive Director, Facilities Services or designee as approved by AVC/AVP of F/CM

c. Executive Director, Facilities Project Management or designee as approved by AVC/AVP of F/CM

2. Supporting Ex-Officio committee members

a. Facilities Business Services Representative

b. Facilities Planning Representative

3. The following Evaluation Criteria Table explains how the specified criteria will be used when weighting project requests.

EVALUATION CRITERIA TABLE

V. IDENTIFICATION OF MPEC PROJECTS

A. MPEC Guideline Summary

1. MPEC coordinates project requests with regards to maintenance and repairs to Education & General (E&G) use space and grounds. This includes, but is not limited to, repairing Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, plumbing systems, electrical systems, elevators, fire alarms, roofs, window replacements, masonry work, painting, plazas, road/sidewalk repair, etc.

2. A portion of annual funding may be held at the discretion of the committee for allocation to campus requests that are presented throughout the year.

3. Funds can be used for items that are a permanent part of the facilities that fall into one or more of the following categories.

a. Building envelope projects (roof, windows, foundation, and exterior walls)

b. Improvements in the reliability or restoration of the central HVAC, vertical transportation, plumbing and electrical building systems.

c. Electrical, potable water, natural gas, sanitary sewer, and storm water systems.

d. Interior finishes (ceiling, painting and replacement of flooring) in public spaces, such as entry ways, hallways, restrooms and stairwells.

e. Interior finishes and upgrades to classrooms.

f. Accessibility projects.

g. Life Safety systems.

h. Code upgrade and modernizations to major building.

4. Projects that are exclusive to one particular space may not qualify for MPEC funding. An example of this might be an exhaust system that only supports one research lab.

B. Annual Project Planning

1. Prior to the start of the fiscal year, Facilities Planning (FP) will present a list of the previous year's phased projects, potential new projects and the fiscal budget for review by MPEC.

2. Projects on the list will be comprised of work requests, master plan, utility infrastructure plan, FCAs, and F/CM staff recommendations. The potential fiscal project list will be accumulative and presented as an information item at each monthly MPEC meeting.

3. MPEC will review, prioritize and approve the project list to align with the current FCI deficiency criteria that was approved by the University Board of Regents.

4. MPEC will provide the final approved fiscal project list to the AVC/AVP of F/CM.

C. Campus Project Requests

1. Requests coming from campus will be submitted as work orders through http://www.uh.edu/fixit and reviewed by a designated F/CM triage team. If proposed projects are deemed potential projects for MPEC funds, they will be routed to FP.

2. After gathering more information from the original submitter, the F/CM representative submits the funding request to the RSC for approval.

D. Committee Approval Process

1. Review Process for Requests Under $50K

a. An F/CM representative will present the project to RSC.

b. RSC reviews and scores the project based on the Evaluation Criteria.

c. If the project is approved, it goes to AVC/AVP of F/CM for approval.

d. If approved, the project is placed on the MPEC project list to inform the MPEC of the approved decision at the next scheduled meeting.

e. Projects not approved for the current fiscal year MPEC budget but are deemed suitable for MPEC funds will be held for annual re-evaluation.

2. Review Process for Requests Over $50K

a. An F/CM representative will present the project to RSC.

b. RSC reviews and scores the project based on the Evaluation Criteria Table.

c. If approved by the RSC, the project is placed on the MPEC project list for approval recommendation with a vote at the next scheduled meeting. Funding request supporting documentation will be made available to the committee as requested.

d. Emergency requests will be expedited via electronic vote or at a monthly meeting as needed.

e. Projects not approved for the current fiscal year MPEC budget but are deemed suitable for MPEC funds will be held for annual re-evaluation.

3. Voting Information

a. When a vote during a meeting is taken, a quorum (2/3 of the members) is the minimum number of committee members that must be present.

b. If an email voting process is needed for a non-emergency request, the voting committee members have ten days to respond. In the event a committee member does not cast a vote in the allotted time, then concurrence is assumed.

c. If an email voting process is needed for an emergency request, the voting committee members have three days to respond with a vote. In the event a committee member does not cast a vote in the allotted time, then concurrence is assumed.

d. AVC/AVP of F/CM will act as the tie-breaking vote if needed.

REFERENCES

MAPP 11.02.01 – Higher Education Assistance Funds
Facilities Web site: http://www.uh.edu/facilities
FIXIT Web Site: http://www.uh.edu/fixit

Issued: 03/30/2018
Last Reviewed/Revised: 05/12/2022
Responsible Office(s): Facilities/Construction Management