The Facilities Management Branch is responsible for the maintenance, repair, and security of County-owned and leased buildings, telecommunications, utilities, capital lease management, space needs planning, and oversight of capital improvement and renovation projects.

Design and Construction Administration Team (DCAT):  The mission of DCAT is to support the Escambia County Board of Commissioners and other County agencies in the development, design, and construction of new facilities and/or the renovations of existing facilities.  This division is responsible for the planning and development of County projects in scope development; space needs planning; project budgeting; and the selection and negotiations for Architects, Engineers, and General Contractors and the administration of their services.

Maintenance:  This division is responsible for the maintenance and repair of all County-owned and leased facilities and structures located throughout 657 square miles of Escambia County, Florida.  The current building inventory for 2008/2009 consists of 208 facilities totaling 2,493,522 square feet.  Diversity in construction, age, and usage presents a unique challenge in maintaining the variety of facilities to an industry standard. 

Numerous County buildings function as customer oriented service facilities; however, there are also many special purpose facilities, such as the Sheriff’s administrative and correctional facilities, fire departments, emergency management sites, community centers, and the Civic Center.

The cyclical preventative maintenance and controlled facility inspections continue to be the mainstay of the division.  The benefits of these programs are evident by the operational efficiency and present condition of most mechanical infrastructure components.  Through software program upgrades and mission-oriented refinements, our computerized maintenance program (Infor) delivers on demand reports for scheduling and tracking of all preventive maintenance and repair activities under our responsibility.  This program also allows the Division to accurately report labor and material expenditures and identify inefficiencies within a particular facility.   

Telecommunications: This section is responsible for the maintenance and service for approximately 2,800 telephone lines, diverse telephone systems, equipment and communications cabling systems for the Escambia County Board of Commissioners, County Attorney, Court Administrator, Supervisor of Elections, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Sheriff’s Office, State Attorney, and Public Defender.  This section is also responsible for the management of all water, power, and gas utilities servicing County facilities throughout Escambia County.  Support is provided to agencies during planning, construction, renovations and relocation of offices.

Custodial:  This section is responsible for custodial activities associated with County owned or leased buildings.  The section ensures a clean, comfortable, and healthy environment for the employees and citizens that utilize our service centers.  The M.C. Blanchard Judicial Center is the largest building in our inventory, and due to the function of this facility, it is maintained by in-house custodial staff.  This section also performs quality assurance and daily interaction with our custodial contractor that currently cleans 54 other County owned or leased facilities.