Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) Scope Definition Worksheet and Guide

When school districts issue a poorly defined Request for Proposals (RFPs) for Facility Condition Assessments (FCAs), they set themselves up for inconsistent proposals, cost surprises, and FCA data that doesn’t serve their actual needs — and the root cause is almost always a scope problem.

The FCA Scope Definition Worksheet, developed by James Hand, former Facilities Director at Fargo Public Schools, is a free tool designed to be completed before an RFP is drafted. The tool walks users through 14 structured sections that help define and compile information on assessment objectives, inspection depth, deliverable formats, and budget expectations with precision. 

The companion guidance document, Improving Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) Outcomes: A Guide to the FCA Scope Definition Worksheet, explains how each section of the worksheet contributes to building a clearly-scoped RFP. 

A well-scoped RFP has multiple benefits: it helps ensure that FCA proposals from different consultants can be compared and evaluated on similar criteria and that the FCA itself suits local context and aligns with capital planning, funding, asset management, and/or maintenance goals. 

While the FCA Scope Definition Worksheet was designed for local school districts, the guidance document makes the case that its widespread adoption yields dividends at the state level — consistent scope definitions produce comparable data across districts, enabling defensible statewide infrastructure assessments and data-informed funding decisions. State facility directors are invited to share these resources with every district planning an FCA and encourage their use as standard practice.