Colorado Public Works Journal 9

In The Best InterestQBSColorado Promotes Quality, Value In ProfessionalDesign Services For Municipal Construction Projects

Procurement

Public works projects improve the infrastructure oflife by delivering three primary objectives: function,permanence and character. These goals are each a

product of design, though they seldom exist in equalproportion. A wastewater treatment plant doesn’t haveto be pretty, but it sure better function reliably for manydecades. Other facilities depend more on unique designsthat create community landmarks, provide a sense ofidentification and instill local pride while functionallyserving the public.

While a structure’s aesthetics are spawned from visionand inspiration, its function and permanence requiresincorporation of demonstrated mechanical principles.Just as architects understand their designs must first bebuildable, engineers understand their functional designsshould complement the surrounding environment.

Understanding that desirable qualities of publicfacilities must work in harmony, US Congress passed theBrooks Act in 1972 to establish Federal policy concerningthe selection of firms and individuals to perform architec-tural, engineering and related services for the govern-ment. The Act declares Federal Government policy to be“to negotiate contracts for architectural and engineeringservices on the basis of demonstrated competence andqualification for the type of professional services requiredand at fair and reasonable prices.” The procurementprocess is commonly referred to as “Qualifications-BasedSelection,” or simply, QBS.

QBS is a competitive contract procurement processwhereby consulting firms submit qualifications to aprocuring entity – owner – who evaluates and selects themost qualified firm, then negotiates the project scope ofwork, schedule, budget and consultant fee. While costsare not considered when making the initial selection ofthe best or most appropriate provider of the professionalservices required, they are discussed with the selectedfirm and negotiated before contracting.

Many states have adopted their own versions of theBrooks Act, commonly referred to as "Little” or “Mini-”Brooks Acts. Projects funded by State of Colorado arerequired to use QBS under its “mini-Brooks” Bill CRS 24-30-1401 et. seq., 1988. Local governments across the Statehave followed suit and adopted similar legal resolutions –or non-legal precedents – that allow them to make con-tracting decisions based on QBS principles. Price will betaken into consideration under QBS, but not for thepurposes of determining the most suitable and qualified

provider. “QBS is accepted protocol that allows public owners

to govern procurements for which price is not the deter-mining factor in selection,” explains Carl Hole, AIA, aprincipal with Denver-based RNL and 2012 Chairman ofQBSColorado. “We believe that a professional and con-structive relationship between the government client anddesign professional is paramount to a project’s success.By nature, design professionals desire to find the best,most economic and creative solutions to achieve thelong-term goals of a project, and QBS allows this. Theclient, in return, is able to tap the full scope of servicesconsultants offer.”

QBS was developed because public owners lackedprocurement tools for services for which price compe-tition made no sense. Services simply cannot be fairlypriced before negotiations have taken place. Further,lowest cost is widely recognized as the poorest criterionfor service selection when quality and professionalcreativity are sought. Whereas private owners can pro-cure services based upon what they desire, public owners,under political scrutiny, have been too often bound to thepresumed objectivity of selections based on lowest price.Such situations have often led to unintended conse-quences – including poor service and quality, excessiveand expensive change orders and, eventually, litigationover disputes.

Adapting to political reality, known abuses, tight budg-ets, and increasing expectations on the part of taxpayersfor quality with integrity, the public owner has developedselection procedures consciously intended to enhancethe probability of value while guarding against unfairnessand abuse.

Crucial to QBS is the methodology and documentationthe public owner uses to ensure competition withoutconsideration of price. An essential element is the use ofa selection committee, comprising a number of knowl-edgeable people of unquestioned integrity, to make theevaluations. The selection committee is charged by the

Price is taken into consideration under QBS,

but not for the purposes of the public owner's

determination of the most suitable and

qualified provider of construction services.

Colorado Public Works Journal10

owner with fairly evaluating the qualifications and, often,the ideas for project execution offered by competingfirms.

Typically under QBS, the owner publicly advertises aproject and describes it in significant detail in a "Requestfor Qualifications.” The RFQ should contain explicitselection criteria so that firms can judge their likelihoodof being selected. The owner invites firms to submit theirqualifications for evaluation by the selection committee,which must then rank-order the firms using the publishedselection criteria in making their evaluations.

Commonly, the initial evaluation of qualificationssubmittals will lead to a shortlist of three to five firms thatthe selection committee judges to be well qualified toperform the work. Through a "Request for Proposal,”these short-listed firms may be invited to submit – oftenin person – more detailed ideas about the specificproject at hand along with a fee proposal.

Ultimately, the selection committee will provide theowner with a final rank-ordering of the short-listed firms.The owner then invites the top-ranked firm to enterinto negotiations to establish compensation and othercontractual terms. If negotiations are not successful andthe parties cannot agree to a contract, the owner woulddismiss the top-ranked firm and invite the second-rankedfirm to negotiate, and so on until a contract is concluded.

“QBS creates partnerships,” Hole continues. “Commongoals are determined from the free flow of ideas expressedduring the collaborative process. Creativity is fostered –or it might be more accurate to say that it’s not stifled.”

The nation’s first law governing procurement of A/E

selection was enacted in 1939 – prior to that, governmentemployees designed public projects. The 1939 law, in fact,directed Federal government agencies to contract withprivate firms. A/E contracts were negotiated and feeswere limited to 6 percent of estimated construction cost.Needless to say, many agencies found creative ways toexceed the 6 percent limit.

A 1967 government report revealed a muddled andcomplex Federal A/E procurement process that neededstandardization. The report suggested that Congressclarify whether A/E services were subject to price com-petition. In April 1967, the Controller General of the UnitedStates issued a report to Congress entitled, A Government-Wide Review of the Administration of Certain Statutoryand Regulatory Requirements Relating to Architect/Engineering Fees. The report criticized Federal constructionagencies for paying fees in excess of the statutory limita-tion of 6 percent of the estimated construction cost;exposed that the Federal government was not utilizingprice competition in contracting for architectural andengineering services as required by law; and provided themotivation for the formation of one of the most durableand effective coalitions in Washington – the Council onFederal Procurement of Architectural and EngineeringServices.

The main advantage of a QBS system is that

the design professional and the client are

working in a collaborative, sustainable spirit to

maximize the quality, value, cost effectiveness

and usefulness of the final product.

QBSColorado 2012 Directors, from left, Linda Waterhouse, AIA; Carl Hole, AIA; Ben Wilking, AIA; Ed Kammerer, AIA; BennySiljenberg, PE; Dave DiFulvio, PE; Dan Akin, PE; Ceila Rethamel, PE and Coordinator Sue Bertram. Not pictured: Wyatt Popp, PEand Colin Haggerty, PE.

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Colorado Public Works Journal 11

Founded in 1859 and incorporated in 1903, City of Foun-tain is one of the oldest incorporated municipalities in

the Pikes Peak region. With nearly 26,000 residents, theCity is a full-service municipality with its own electric andwater utilities. Both utilities – the Electrical Transmissionand Distribution Utility serving approximately 16,000customers and the Water Utility serving around 7400 –are operated as Municipal Enterprises. Because mostprofessional designs for larger projects are performedby private engineering firms, procurement standardsadopted by the City require Fountain Utilities to obtainprofessional services competitively. To satisfy this pro-curement standard, the department has adopted the QBSmethodology.

“In 2007,” explains Fountain Utilities Water ResourcesEngineer Michael Fink, PE, “the Water Utility advertisedfor professional engineering design services and six firmssubmitted their Statement of Qualifications. Over thefollowing two years, we assigned design projects to eachof these six firms and were very satisfied with the results.In 2009, we expanded the procurement process to includeservices for Professional Land Surveying and for Soils/Testing/Geotechnical Engineering. We receivedand reviewed 26 SOQs for Design Engineers, 13SOQs for Land Surveyors and 11 SOQs for SoilsEngineering firms.”

Fountain Utilities assigned Task OrderContracts to two Land Surveying firms and twoSoils/ Geotechnical firms, respectively. Thesefour firms have responded to assigned tasks forline-and-grade surveys, easement descriptionpreparation and ALTA surveys, as well as forconstruction testing, soils investigation andPhase 1 Environmental Investigation, over thepast several years. In addition to providingthese services to the two Utilities, other divi-sions of the City have utilized these firms for

similar services.“We specifically chose professional design firms with

different areas of specialization for the types of projectswe anticipated in the 2009 Capital Improvements Plan,”continues Fink. “We pre-qualified 10 design engineeringfirms – some of which were large, multi-disciplinary firmswhile others were smaller local firms. This year, we arefinishing the assignments of unique projects to each ofthese 10 firms.”

Fink anticipates that Fountain Utilities will requestStatements of Qualifications from professional firms againin 2013 to “refresh” consultant listings.

“Fountain Utilities will certainly continue using theQualifications Based Selection methodology in our nextprocurement for professional services,” he concludes.“The process has proven to yield partnerships that servethe best interests of the City and our residents.”

City of Fountain Utilities was recipient of the 2009 QBSColorado Award for its continued dedication to the QBSprocess. The QBSColorado awards program recognizespublic and private entities that make exemplary use ofthe QBS selection process at State and local levels. ●

QBS Methodology Has Proven Itself For Fountain Utilities

Michael Fink, right, receives the 2009 QBSColorado award on behalf ofFountain Utilities from Dave Krenek, left, and Rick Coldsnow.

Fountain Utilities’ Bandley Road Water Main Project to connect City of Fountain and SecurityWater District water systems was completed in 2011. Construction cost was awarded at$805,000 and final construction amount paid at $724,000. The project was designed, bid andconstructed within seven months and included a trenchless crossing of Fountain Creek,installation of a metering and pressure control structure to connect the two water systems,and installation of 3850 L.F. of 12-inch-diameter water main. Frazee Construction of ColoradoSprings was the General Contractor and Obering, Wurth & Associates of Colorado Springs theDesign Engineer. Not only was the engineer chosen using QBS methodology, the construction

contract was awarded on the combined basis of Bid Price and Qualifications. The contractors bid on 65% documentation andparticipated in the final design and permit preparation before confirming their Contract Amount.

Colorado Public Works Journal12

COFPAES was organized in anticipation of the resultsof the GAO research summarized in the 1967 report. Then,as now, the major organizations representing designprofessionals realized that a common effort was neededto educate Congress and the public on the design profes-sions and the need to place the emphasis on quality andcompetence by procuring professional services througha qualifications-based selection process. In 1966, fourorganizations – American Society of Civil Engineers,American Consulting Engineers Council, ProfessionalEngineers in Private Practice division of National Societyof Professional Engineers and American Institute ofArchitects formed COFPAES. Later, the Planning andDesign Division of American Road and TransportationBuilders Association, American Congress on Surveyingand Mapping, and American Society of Landscape Archi-tects became active members in COFPAES.

Because in the GAO report the controller generalasked Congress to clarify whether Federal A/E selectionwas subject to existing procurement laws requiring pricecompetition, the first COFPAES project was to provideCongress with an understanding of the nature of thedesign professions. With the combined strength of theCOFPAES organizations, a recognition of the profession-alism of architectural and engineering services finally wassigned into law in October of 1972 (Public Law 92-582, theBrooks Act.)

But the enactment and defense of the Brooks Actis not the only reason for the continued existence ofCOFPAES. The goal of the coalition always has been thepromotion of sound A/E procurement practices. Throughthe years, COFPAES has provided the stimulus for

advancements and has served as an informal soundingboard for new developments in Federal procurementprocedures, policies and regulations.

In addition, COFPAES has organized courses forprivate sector design professionals and Federal, state andmunicipal procurement personnel, sponsored conferenceson Federal programs and procedures and published guidesto contracting with the Federal government. COFPAESalso works with construction-related Federal agencies toconduct an annual Federal Programs Conference whichoffers information to design professionals on fundinglevels and new project starts, provides opportunities fordesign professionals to meet agency officials and shareinformation on their common needs and problems, andserves as a forum for Federal officials to exchange ideasand concerns with their peers in government service.

Since its inception in 1966, COFPAES has provided thedesign community with a common voice on the narrowfocus of Federal procurement law and regulations.COFPAES continues to serve the American public as awell-known and respected forum for the consideration ofpolicy and operational changes in the selection proceduresof design professionals. Because of its emphasis on profes-sionalism in the procurement process, COFPAES assiststhe Federal government in assuring that the design ofprojects to satisfy the building and infrastructure needs ofthe nation is conducted in an efficient and quality manner.

“QBS Colorado was established by multiple profes-sional organizations as a way to raise awareness aroundqualifications based selection,” concludes Hole. “Ourprimary goal is to help public owners be successful withtheir public works projects. Implementing a QBS processfor procuring professional design services for thoseprojects is the first step.” ●

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