Posted on: February 15, 2018
It all comes back to design.
Design is the foundation – the starting point. In any kind of project, everything hinges upon the design.
Without an effective one, everything can figuratively – and sometimes literally – fall apart.
This is one of the main reasons that Congress passed the Brooks Act (Public Law 92-582) in 1972: to enact a Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) process to ensure that architecture and engineering (A/E) contracts are awarded based on expertise, not price.
So, at the onset, the design is completed by a highly-qualified A/E firm.
QBS is the procurement process that federal, state, and local agencies use to select architects and engineers for design contracts.
In this process, A/E contracts are negotiated based on proven expertise and qualifications.
This is done at a fair and reasonable price, and price quotations are not even considered during the QBS process.
In summary, QBS is easy to implement, unbiased, fair, well-documented, and effective.
Per the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), QBS is currently used by all federal agencies, 46 state governments (including Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio), and numerous other localities throughout the U.S.
The American Public Works Association (APWA) endorses QBS, and the American Bar Association recommends QBS in its Model Procurement Code for State and Local Governments.
*Source: http://www.acecohio.org/aws/ACEC/asset_manager/get_file/90945?ver=6103
The ACEC estimates that the QBS process can take anywhere from one week to five months.
Here are a few reasons why QBS is beneficial for you:
Want further proof?
In 2009, Paul S. Chinowsky, PhD and Gordon A. Kingsley, PhD developed a national study that analyzed QBS at the request of the ACEC, in collaboration with the APWA.
Their key findings only continue to attest to the effectiveness of this process: