American Council of Engineering Companies
of Kansas

Qualifications Based Selection Materials

1. Policy Manual

2. Guide to the Procurement of E&A Services

3. Selection and Use of E, A, & PCs

4. CEC-MO

5. A-E Performance Evaluation

6. NSPE QBS Nomination Form

7. Guide to QB Selection of Design Profs-A Key to Quality

Qualifications Based Selection Guidelines

Do Public Owners Have to Use Qualifications Based Selection?

No, you, the public owner has the right to choose any selection process you wish. Likewise, the design professional has freedom of choice as to participation. For example:

Situation #1

• You have an existing relationship with a design professional.
• Your needs are met, and the firm you are working with has the qualifications needed for the new project.

The recommended method for you is to continue the current relationship by jointly developing the new project scope, contract form, and fee.

Situation #2

• You do not have a relationship with a design professional.
• You have a project requiring the attention of a competent technical professional.

The recommended method for you is to use Qualifications Based Selection.

Situation #3

• You may or may not have an existing relationship with a design professional.
• You have to (or want to) go through a competitive selection process.

Why Would a Public Owner Want to Use Qualifications Based Selection?

QBS is advantageous for these reasons:

• High quality consultant services are only a small percentage of the project cost yet affect and influence the entire project cost and outcome.
• It promotes improved quality by assuring that the client clearly understands the scope of work required.
• It leads to realistic construction bids based upon a definitive scope of work.
• Studies have shown that use of Qualifications Based Selection for public projects is more efficient and less costly than use of a selection process that uses price as a primary criterion.
• Qualifications Based Selection avoids the situation where the greatest benefit of the design professional's innovation and creativity is lost because its importance was not recognized at the fee proposal stage.

What Precedents Exist for Qualifications Based Selection?

• It has been in use since the Civil War.
• Public Law 92-582 (Brooks Bill) confirms it is in the nation's interest in federal procurement on civilian agency projects.
• Public Law 100-464 reaffirms 92-582 and add specific services covered by the law.
• Kansas Law 75-5801 confirms it is in the state's best interest in state procurement.
• The American Bar Association's Model Procurement Code for State and Local Governments specifies it as the preferred method of procuring design professional services.
• The American Public Works Association endorses it in a strongly worded policy statement.
• Experience. Maryland adopted price-based selection in 1974, which in 1985 was overwhelmingly replaced with a qualifications based selection types procurement method because of its efficiency and benefits to the state.

  WHY? Because Maryland's research and experience clearly showed that meaningful price-based comparisons are quite difficult to make at the time the selection is made. Price-based selection increased the design phase cost by approximately 94% and resulted in major construction cost increases. The cost increase resulted from the time and effort it took Maryland to prepared a scope of work that could be used to obtain bids from design professionals.

What About Price-Based Selection?

An RFP that requests fee proposals requires the design professional to determine the lowest fee at which the tasks for the project can be accomplished. A fee proposal can only be as precise and accurate as the public owner's statement of scope of work. For some projects it may be possible to state in advance a comprehensive scope of work on which proposals can be based, but many public projects are complex, often more so than they first appear.

Who Defines this Scope? - At What Cost?

You, as the public owner, must define the scope of design services you expect. This is a difficult task and is best accomplished jointly with the highest rated firm as determined using Qualifications Based Selection.

"How to Engage Design Professionals* to achieve quality and cost effectiveness in public projects using Qualifications Based Selection" is based on (1) Federal Law PL 92-582, (2) Federal Law PL 100-464, (3) State Law KSA 75-5801, and (4) Common practice in public projects.

(* The following professionals can be included in this process: registered architects, engineers, surveyors, and landscape architects.)