The University of Arkansas at Little Rock construction engineering team took third place at the TEXO/Associated Schools of Construction Region 5 competition on Feb. 19 in Dallas.
The team, led by Larry Blackmon, faculty coach, represented the UA Little Rock Department of Construction Management and Civil and Construction Engineering.
UA Little Rock students Casey Baker of Benton, John Coleman of Malvern, David Greenwood of Benton, Jonathan Henderson of China, Texas, Johnny Picking of Hot Springs, and Julie Sanders of Saltillo represented UA Little Rock in the Heavy Civil category.
The construction problem involved delivering a budget, schedule, and proposal for a rehabilitation and upgrade for the Dallas County Park Municipal Water Treatment Plant.
Archer Western, the sponsoring company, originally bid the project for $33.7 million in 2010. Archer Western played the role of the customer while teams from Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas took the role of construction manager at risk.
The competition took place over three days. Teams from each school received documents in advance from Archer Western on Saturday, Feb. 17, and had only 16 hours to complete them and finalize their bidding estimate, worth 70 percent of their overall score. On Sunday, Feb. 18, the team traveled to Dallas to prepare their presentations, worth 30 percent of the final score, which they delivered on Monday, Feb. 19.
The team earned third place with a bid of $33.1 million.
In the upper right photo, the team (L to R) includes John Coleman, Jonathan Henderson, Julie Sanders, Casey Baker, Jonathan Picking, and David Greenwood.