Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)

The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) is a six-year plan that identifies project budgets per fiscal year. The CIP includes projects from DCPS and all other agencies that require Capital funding for projects. DCPS’s portion of the CIP includes funds for: 

• Modernization 

• Small Capital Construction 

• Labor 

• Swing Space 

• Information Technology (IT) 

• New Initiatives 

Most of the Capital funding is obtained through low-interest General Obligation (GO) bonds. 

• Mayor Submits to Council (March/April) 

• Council “Marks Up” (Late May) 

• Budget approved and submitted to Congress (July) 

• Funds disbursed for the upcoming fiscal year (October) 

For Modernizations, the CIP is drafted using the following steps: 

• Rank schools in order of priority 

• Identify swing space 

• Develop a cost estimate, disaggregated per project 

• Ensure that cost estimates fit within the allocated budget for their respective fiscal years 

For Small Capital Stabilization Projects, the CIP is drafted using a combination of: 

• Building maintenance work order data from DGS’s Salesforce system

• Reports from a third party roofing consultant (BlueFin) 

• Reports from 4TELL – asset management software. The data pulled from 4tell is derived from Facility Condition Assessments (FCAs). FCAs provide essential analysis of the condition of a facility such as: age, design, construction methods, and materials to help us plan projects 

• Site visits to schools with school administration. Getting insight from the end-users has helped us also establish trust from a central office/school-based level. 

How we estimate cost:

• Utilizing the Master Facility Plan (MFP) enrollment projections, we develop an Educational Specification (EdSpec) for the future of the school. This tells us the building size needed to accommodate the program and enrollment.  

• Based on the EdSpec, we develop a concept, which helps us refine our cost estimate. 

• We calculate in today’s dollar the hard cost of the demolition, renovation, and new construction per square foot as outlined in the concept. 

• The hard cost is escalated to the mid-point of construction and then a soft cost percentage for design, permits, and site is added. 

• Taking the total cost escalated to the mid-point of construction, we separate the funds over the three years: 10% for design in year 1, 50% for construction in year 2, and the remaining 40% for year 3. 

Helpful Links

• Master Facility Plan (MFP)

• Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)