Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Engineering Services

Notice to Architects and Engineers

Request for Qualifications

Maine School Administrative District No. 33 (RSU 33/MSAD 33), wishes to procure architectural/

engineering services for the preliminary analysis and planning through construction for a comprehensive PreK-12 Educational Facility in the St. John Valley in northern Maine.

The vision is to develop a project that would deliver enhanced educational opportunities to students on a regional scale. The project will result in a comprehensive PreK-12 for the communities of Frenchville, St. Agatha and Madawaska. This facility will also support industry training programs leading to recognized licensure and certification, and may include other related work in the region.

The scope of services to be provided includes, but is not limited to;

• Preliminary analysis of critical elements including infrastructure, regulations, demographics and other key components associated with the project
• Analysis of existing buildings and sites
• Site analysis leading to Site Selection and State Board of Education approval
• Support and integration of the Educational Visioning process
• Space allocation analysis and program development
• Development of Concept Design and budget leading to State Board of Education and referendum approval
• Preparation of construction documents and construction administration

The firm will work under the direction of the districts involved in the project and the Department of Education and will be required to coordinate with other consultants contracted by the Owner.

Interested firms should submit six paper copies and one electronic copy of a Letter of Interest with a Statement of Qualifications which includes the firm's:

1. qualifications to undertake this project;
2. list of projects that demonstrate the firm's capabilities;
3. list of recently completed work of similar type and size projects, with client contact information for each project;
4. experience with budgets and project cost control, with some results of the firm's activities;
5. profiles of key personnel who will be involved in the project;
6. statement of current workload and ability to absorb the project; and
7. list of business references other than those listed above, including contact information.

If the submitting firm plans to undertake the project with the assistance of additional engineering and design professionals, information should be provided as listed above on all firms and individuals.

The paper copies of the Letter of Interest and Statement of Qualifications should be sent to Benjamin Sirois, Executive Director, Valley Unified Regional Service Center, 84 Pleasant Street, Suite 1, Ft. Kent, ME 04743 to be received no later than 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 13, 2026 .  The electronic copy of the Letter of Interest and Statement of Qualifications should be sent as an attachment to an email addressed to bsirois@vuesc.org to meet the deadline noted above.

Firms interested in making a submittal are directed to not make personal contact with the Executive Director or other members of either MSAD33 or Madawaska Public Schools. Any contact may constitute grounds for disqualification of consideration.

Firms responding will be screened and interviewed on the basis of qualifications only. Project fees and specific design solutions for this project will not be discussed at the interview. Specific program information will not be available before the screening of qualification packages. The selection committee will rank all firms and negotiate terms with the highest ranked firm.

Madawaska votes to send Grades PreK-12

A collaborative meeting of the MSAD33 Board of Directors and the Madawaska School Committee was rescheduled for February 4, 2026.  This meeting was attended by Maine DOE Director of School Construction, Scott Brown who presented information about school construction and answered questions. 

After originally voting to only send grades 6-12 to the proposed regional school with MSAD33, the Madawaska School Committee revisited the vote later in the meeting, finally approving sending all students PreK-12 by a unanimous vote.   Both votes came after the Madawaska School committee was presented with results from a parent and public survey to gauge the public's preference on grade level combinations.   

Public comments from the Madawaska finance committee member and local business owner Vincent Frallicciardi, as well as MSAD33 board chairman Joshua Desjardins both urged the Madawaska School Committee to reconsider their vote, stating that this collaboration has to be "all or nothing".  

Madawaska Town Manager David Daigle was also available to answer questions that the Madawaska School committee members had about property valuation related to school closures.  

The school units will look to form a School Construction Committee in the upcoming weeks to oversee key next steps in this process.  The first step will be selecting an engineering firm.  An RFQ for engineering services has been posted at https://bit.ly/RSU33. 

Tonight's Meeting Postponed

 Due to the winter storm that hit Maine last night and this morning, the DOE construction team could not make the trip to Frenchville for tonight's meeting.  Intermittent internet outages also makes a Zoom meeting unreliable.  

We are therefore postponing tonight's meeting and looking to reschedule for next week.  Once that has been confirmed we will update the public. 

Sorry for the late notice. 

Collaborative School Board/Committee Meeting: January 26, 2026

The MSAD33 Board and the Madawaska School Committee will be holding a collaborative/joint meeting the evening of January 26, 2026 at the St. John Valley Technology Center in Frenchville.  The purpose of this meeting is to have representatives of the Maine Department of Education School Construction Committee present to answer questions about the Major Capital Improvement program for school construction, specific to the project awarded to MSAD33, which has invited Madawaska to participate in.  

The Madawaska School Committee will start with their own meeting at 5:00pm to take care of items of business.  The collaborative/joint meeting will then start at 5:30pm.  Finally, MSAD33 will have their own meeting following the collaborative meeting to take care of their own items of business, beginning approximately at 6:00pm. 

It is likely that both school boards/committees will agree to start the school construction process shortly by forming a school construction committee made up of stakeholders from each community.  If any members of the Frenchville, Madawaska, or St. Agatha communities wish to serve on such a committee, please reach out to members of your school board/committee or send an email to the superintendent at bsirois@vuesc.org. 

Proposed Regional School: Grade Level Configuration Determinations

The MSAD33 board of directors has already determined that all PreK-12 students will attend the proposed regional school.  The Madawaska School Committee however, is still considering what grade levels would be best to attend this school.   A survey for the Madawaska Community has been sent out: https://forms.gle/Vc7MMCh6zSG9pDvg9 

If Madawaska decides that all their students, PreK-12, would also attend this school, then Madawaska School Department would join MSAD33, forming a Regional School Unit (RSU) with Frenchville and St. Agatha.  If however Madawaska decides to only send middle and/or high school students, (eg. grades 6-12), then only those grade levels would become part of the new RSU and the Madawaska School Department would remain a PreK-5 school department. 

Here are some facts for community members to consider:

1. Madawaska Middle/High School was constructed in 1948. (77 years old). 

2. Wisdom Middle/High School was constructed in 1965. (60 years old)

3. Madawaska Elementary School was constructed in 1995. (30 years old). 

4. The current student population at Madawaska Schools is 344.   

5. The current student population at MSAD33 is 229 students. 

6. Combined 6-12 enrollment of MSAD33 and Madawaska would be 300. 

7. Combined PreK-12 enrollment of MSAD33 and Madawaska would be 573. 

8. Realistic completion of a regional school would be 6- 8 years from now. (Possibly longer.)

MSAD33 has the 2nd Approved School Construction Project

On November 13, the Maine State Board of Education approved 2 school construction projects.  One of those projects is the RSU33/MSAD33 project, approved to reconstruct a school lost to the Dr. Levesque Elementary Fire and to replace Wisdom Middle/High School.  

Because Madawaska is looking to join RSU33/MSAD33, they too can participate in the project, assuming that reorganization is successful and Madawaska joins RSU33/MSAD33.  There is no longer a need to wait for the Regional Consolidated School Application that was submitted in October.  

Soon, both local school boards (MSAD33 and Madawaska) will need to determine their preferred grade levels to attend the proposed school, and form a school construction committee, made of of stakeholders from each community (Frenchville, Madawaska, and St. Agatha) to begin the planning process.  

One of the first steps will be to advertise for engineering firms to lead this process and then the fun begins! 

Updates on this process will be added to this blog on a weekly basis. 

Meeting #2 of the Reorganization Committee tonight - Monday, November 17, 2025

Public Meeting Notice

MSAD33 and Madawaska Schools Reorganization Committee Meeting

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Date: Monday, November 17, 2025

Location: Madawaska Middle/High School Library 

Time: 6:30pm

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Agenda

• Committee Responsibilities and overview  

• Governing Board size and voting protocol

• Disposition of real and personal school property

• Disposition of existing school indebtedness and lease purchase obligations

• The assignment of school personnel  contracts, school collective bargaining agreements and other school contractual obligations

• Other

• Set December meeting date

MSAD33 and Madawaska Apply for Part 1 of Regional School Program

As part of the Maine Department of Education's Major School Construction Programs, MSAD33 and Madawaska Schools have applied for the Integrated, Consolidated 9-16 Educational Facility school construction program together.  This is the same program the two school units were previously approved for with MSAD27 back in 2018.  Now, the application allows for only two school administrative unit partners instead of three.  

• Note 1: This is a different and separate school construction application than the one that MSAD33 has already been ranked #2 on the 2024-25 Final Priority List. 

• Note 2: Periods of public input will begin ONLY IF a project is awarded to the school districts.  This is a competitive process that will take over a year to determine who is awarded the project. 

• Note 3: Grade level configurations for a potential school have not been determined and will be done so ONLY IF a project is awarded to the school districts and ONLY AFTER the public has had time to provide their feedback. 

• Note 4: Site selection of a proposed school is part of the process and will be determined ONLY IF the project is awarded to the region.  Site selection will be done in accordance with Maine law and a site selection committee of stakeholders will be appointed for this purpose.  

The part 1 application was turned in prior to the October 31, 2025 due date and the part 2 application will begin upon receipt of the part 1 score.  Part 2 is due on October 31, 2026.  

Updates to this application will be posted on this blog as they are received. 

Notice of Intent to join an RSU

The Maine Department of Education will not allow different school districts to operate one consolidated school; therefore, Madawaska and MSAD33/RSU33 would need to begin discussions on having Madawaska join MSAD33/RSU33 in the event that those school districts are ever selected for a regional school project, similar to the Valley Unified School project they were approved for with MSAD27 in 2018.  

As part of this process, the two school districts must file a notice of intent to begin examining a possible RSU.  This notice was filed in August of 2025 and was approved on September 3, 2025.  Under Maine law, a reorganization committee must be formed and must represent stakeholders from each municipality looking to reorganize.  

At the beginning of October 2025, the following committee members were appointed to this committee:

Frenchville:

• Jeremy Pelletier (Business Stakeholder)
• Adam Paradis (Town Selectman)
• Erica Albert (Community Member at Large)

St. Agatha:

• Doug Lerman (Business Stakeholder)
• Mark Chamberland (Town Selectman)
• Gerard Castonguay (Community Member at Large and Former Board Member):

Madawaska:

• Keith Cyr (Business Stakeholder): 
• Jenney Dionne (Town Select person): 
• Louis Dugal (Community Member at Large and Former Board Member):

It should be noted that this committee has a very specific task to examine what a combined RSU would look like, not discuss a possible regional school.  That is a different process that will be handled by different committees.   Specifically, this committee is charged with:

• Governing Board size and voting protocol
• Disposition of real and personal school property
• Disposition of existing school indebtedness and lease purchase obligations
• The assignment of school personnel contracts, school collective bargaining agreements and other school contractual obligations

It should also be noted that Madawaska, Frenchville, and St. Agatha do not intent to form an RSU together unless they are selected as a recipient of a regional school construction
project. 

Madawaska Finance Committee tasks Madawaska School Committee with action...

 During the regular board meeting of the Madawaska School Committee on November 4, 2024, then chairman of the town Finance Committee, Tom Kent, asked (on behalf of the finance committee) to consider one of two plans:

1. A plan to close one Madawaska School and move all students to one building. 
2. A plan to apply for a new school with MSAD33. 

Based on this feedback, the Madawaska School Committee proceeded with having an engineering firm estimate the cost to engineer moving students from Madawaska Elementary to Madawaska Middle/High School.  The committee also opened dialog with the MSAD33 board about the possibility of applying for a regional school.

The estimate plan from WBRC Engineers and Architects to conduct a facility review and concept design service for the Madawaska School Department specific to consolidating in to one school ranged from $45,000 - $49,000.  This fee does not include the actual costs to retrofit MMHS classrooms to occupy MES students.  

Conversations between the Madawaska School Department chair and vice chair, and the MSAD33 chair and vice chair began in the winter of 2025. 

Click here or the image above for WBRC estimate.