Facility Condition Assessment Overview
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) contracted with an independent engineering firm, Bureau Veritas, to conduct comprehensive facility assessments for schools, offices, and holding centers that were built prior to 2023. An initial batch of schools were assessed at the end of the 2024–2025 school year, with the remaining schools and facilities to be assessed over the 2025–2026 school year. All reports will be completed and shared publicly by the end of Summer 2026.
These assessments will establish a detailed baseline for each facility, covering all major systems and site features. MCPS will be using the Facility Condition Index (FCI) Depleted Value as the primary metric used to evaluate a building’s overall condition. The FCI will also provide detailed evaluations of major building systems such as roofs, heating, air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical. The data collected is vital to understand the current needs of our schools and strategically target resources to address those needs. It will also inform our educational facility planning work, allow us to proactively address aging infrastructure, and protect our assets and our ongoing efforts to sustain the useful life of our schools. The FCI data alone does not dictate or sequence specific construction projects.
Understanding the Facility Condition Index (FCI) Depleted Value
The Facility Condition Index (FCI) Depleted Value quantifies the depleted life and value of a facility’s primary building assets, systems and components such as roofs, windows, walls, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems. FCI Depleted Value metrics are useful for estimating the levels of spending necessary to achieve and maintain a specific level of physical condition. Lower scores, closer to 0, are in better condition, as facilities with lower FCI scores have fewer building-system deficiencies, are more reliable, and will require less maintenance spending on systems replacement and mission-critical emergencies. Higher scores, closer to 1, suggest a building is in poorer condition, where the cost to address deficiencies is a significant portion of the replacement cost.
