NMC announces RFP for its flagship Student Center Building

Northern Marianas College has reached another milestone in its efforts to build a new campus: the college announced yesterday its Request for Proposal for the new NMC Student Center. 

Prior to the announcement of the RFP, the college launched and completed the comprehensive facilities master planning process. Super Typhoon Yutu had destroyed approximately 80% of all the buildings and facilities on campus.

The new Facilities Master Plan, which was earlier approved by the NMC Board of Regents, establishes the framework for the long-term growth and development of all capital improvement projects on NMC’s three campuses. Also aligned with the college’s new strategic priority to take care of resources, the FMP was completed with input from different stakeholders, including students, faculty, administrators, and other community members. 

The new Student Center building, which will be the college’s flagship building, will be funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education Emergency Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education Program. 

The college will also be using funds from reimbursements through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s alternate projects program that is facilitated through the CNMI Public Assistance Office. 

Resilience against future storms, highly integrated technological features, energy savings, and heightened accessibility will be key elements of the new building.

The RFP announcement can be accessed on NMC’s website and is also being advertised in newspapers.

“This is an important step forward to build state-of-the-art facilities for our students and our community,” said NMC Board of Regents chair Charles Cepeda. “On behalf of the board, I want to thank [NMC] president Dr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero and his NMC team, and the Board of Regents committee, for their countless hours of work put into the project, as well as vice president Frankie Eliptico who was key in the process while he was interim president.”

“The NMC Board of Regents’ Facilities Committee is working with the college staff to announce other RFPs and [break ground] on several projects in 2023,” said NMC regent Michelle Sablan. “It’s an exciting time as we undertake some of the biggest projects in the CNMI.”

“There’s much more work ahead of us, but announcing the RFP for the college’s new Student Center is indeed an important milestone toward our larger goal of building a brand new campus for our students and for the CNMI community,” Deleon Guerrero said. “Extensive collaborative effort has gone into many other steps leading to the RFP, and I want to acknowledge all the individuals, including the governor, the U.S. Department of Education, CNMI Public Assistance Office, the NMC Board of Regents, and the college’s Facilities Planning team. 

In addition to the NMC Student Center, the college has also secured funds for new classroom buildings, its workforce development building, the new building that will house NMC CREES research and extension work, and other facilities. (NMC)