Price Is Right? The Qualifications Should Be Too
The procurement process known as qualifications-based selection is under attack in several states and at the federal level (see a recent example from Syracuse, New York). In the arguments I hear against QBS, it strikes me how little opponents really understand the concept and why we need to use QBS for the procurement of professional services.
In 1972, the enactment of the Brooks Act codified the longstanding federal practice of selecting architects and engineers based on qualifications rather than solely on the lowest price. It is a competitive contract procurement process where consulting firms submit qualifications to a procuring entity (owner) who evaluates and selects the most qualified firm. They then negotiate the project scope of work, schedule, budget and consultant fees. The price of services only comes into play if the procuring entity (owner) cannot reach a satisfactory negotiated fee with the selected firm.
Most opponents of QBS infer that it isn’t competitive, isn’t fair, inflates fees, and results in lesser services. None of these inferences are true, but we as professional engineers are slow to defend QBS. As a professional engineer in private practice, my firm is frequently compared competitively (through qualifications) with other firms for projects. In some cases price is a consideration in selection, after the initial screening of qualifications. Rarely is price the deciding factor and we rarely propose on projects where it is the deciding factor, but sometimes we do submit a “bid.”
What owners fail to understand in these cases, and what we sometimes fail to explain to them, is that engineering services are not simply a commodity, like a fire truck or a health care plan, where you can compare features against price and make an economic decision. Every engineer approaches problems in a different way. A hundred engineers will come up with a hundred different solutions for a complex engineering problem. The smart owner will select the engineer who, through experience, has the best qualifications, not simply take the solution from the “lowest bidder.” When you have a serious medical issue, you seek out the most qualified doctor, and when you have a serious legal issue, you seek out the most qualified lawyer. After you find the most qualified, you then make an economic decision concerning affordability. Professional engineering is no different.
NSPE has aggressively defended QBS at the federal level and assisted its state societies in defense of QBS at the state level. Every engineer needs to take an active role in defending QBS and “practicing what we preach” in our business and professional lives.
