The selection of civil engineering

-This section presents what experience has shown to be the best and, therefore the recommended
procedure for the engagement of a Civil engineer.

Basis of selection

Some of the factors that should be considered in the selection process are:

1. The professional and ethical reputation of the civil engineer and his staff as determined by
inquiries to previous clients and other references.
2. Responsible civil engineers and its employees must be registered professional civil engineer.
3. Civil engineers should have demonstrated qualifications and expertise in performing the services
required for the project.
4. Civil engineer should be able to assign qualified engineering staff who will be in responsible
charge of the project and will be able to provide and complete the required services within the
time allotted.
5. The civil engineer should have the necessary financial and business resources to accomplish the
assignment and provide continuing sevices.

CLIENT’S SELECTION COMMITTEE

Within the client’s organization, there should be an established administrative policy for
designating the persons authorized to select or recommend selection of civil engineers for
specific assignments. The persons appointed should be familiar with the project requirements
and should be kept free of internal or external pressure during the selection process.
One satisfactory procedure is to utilize a selection committee of three or more individuals, at
least one of whom is a professional engineer of the appropriate discipline. For public projects,
the client must choose individuals who demonstrate objectively in order to avoid the
appearance of conflict of interest in the selection of the civil engineer. At least one of the
individuals should be thoroughly familiar with the civil engineering practices. The committee is
responsible for making recommendations after conducting appropriate investigations,
interviews and inquiries. The final selection is then based upon the selection committee’s
recommendation.

Qualifications-based selection procedure

The selection procedure is considerably enhanced when the client is fully familiar with the
purpose and nature of the proposed and nature of the proposed project, can be describe the
project in detail, and can prepare a project scope and outline of services expected of the civil
engineer. In some case the client may not have professional staff available to define the project
scope and describe the required services , the client should still be familiar enough with the
project requirements to understand what is expected of the civil engineer. The selection
procedure, however, can be modified to sit the circumstances.
The client’s usual steps in the selection procedure are presented below. If the client has had
satisfactory experience with one or more civil engineers, it may not be necessary tp follow all of
the steps outlined.
1. By invitation or by public notice, state the general nature of the project the services
required, and request statements of qualifications and experience from civil engineer who
appear to be capable of meeting the project requirements. The client may issue a “Request
for qualification”(RFQ) or “Request for Proposal” (RFP). RFQs are normally used to ascertain
the general qualifications in a selected area of expertise while RFPs are used to seek civil
engineers for creating “short list” for selecting a civil engineer for a specific project.
2. Prepare a budget for the staff time and costs that can be expected from potential civil
engineer prior to receipt of the RFQs or RFPs.
3. Evaluate the statements of qualifications received. Select at qualified for the specific
project. It should be noted that often more than three civil engineers or firms may appear to
be equally qualified- in which case more civil engineers or firms may be considered.
However, in fairness to those not selected it is usually best to make a consideration for
realistic minimum in view of the cost and time required to prepare competent proposals.
4. Write a letter to each civil engineer or firm selected for further consideration describing the
proposed project in detail, including a project scope and outline of services required, and
asking for a proposal describing in detail the civil engineer’s plan for managing and
performing the required services, the personnel to be assigned, the proposed schedule,
experience with similar projects, office location n which services are to be performed,
financial standing, present workload, and references. Each civil engineer or firm should have
an opportunity to visit the site, review all pertinent data and obtain clarification of any items
are required. For major or complex projects are pre-proposal conference may be desirable
to explain details of the proposed scope of services and to answer questions.
5. On receipt of proposals, invite the civil engineers or firms to meet individually with the
selection committee for interviews and discussions of the desired end results of the project
and the engineering services required. These interviews may be held at the civil engineer’s
office. The client may consider supplementing the selection committee with personnel who
have specialized expertise to advise the committee, when appropriate. During each
interview the selection committee should review the qualifications and experience of each
civil engineer or fir, the capability to provide the services within the time allotted, and the
key personnel to be assigned to the project.
6. Check with recent clients of each civil engineer or firm to determine the quality of their
performance. The check need not be limited to references listed by the civil engineer.
7. List the civil engineer or firms in the order of preference, taking into account their approach
and understanding of the project, reputation, experience, financia standing, size personnel
available, quality or references , workload, location, and other factors pertinent to the
project being considered.
8. Invite the civil engineer considered to be best qualified to develop a detailed scope, list of
deliverables and schedule, and to negotiate fair compensation for the services.
9. The compensation proposed by the civil engineer should be evaluated on the basis of the
clients experience and budget estimate, taking account of the range of charges reported in
section 4 herein; giving consideration to the project’s special characteristics and the scope
of services agreed upon. Fair and reasonable compensation to the civil engineer is vital to
the success of the project since it will enable the consultant’s expertise to be fully utilized.
10. If satisfactory agreement is not reached with the first civil engineer, the negotiation should
be terminated and the civil engineer or firm be notified in writing to that effect, similar
negotiations should then be held with the second civil engineer or fir and, if necessary, with
the third civil engineer or firm. If no accord is reached, the client should seek outside
assistance before continuing with the selection process. Such a procedure will usually result
in development of satisfactory contract. All such negotiations should be on a strictly
confidential discussed with one civil engineer be disclosed to another.
11. When agreement has been reached on scope , schedule and compensation, the client and
selected civil engineer should formalize their agreement in a written contract.

SELECTION PROCEDURE FOR “ LEVEL OF EFFORT” CONTRACTS

A “level of effort “type of contract for engineering services is a contract procedure used to
supplement a client staff, either by providing an extension to existing disciplines and
capabilities already on board or by adding special disciplines not available on the client’s
staff.

As applied to level “ level of effort “ contracts, the QBS procedure sets forth the general
nature of services to be rendered, the types of specialist required and the estimated
number of hours required during the contract period for each type and grade of specialist,
and then requests proposal from qualified firms. Proposals usually state the experience of
the firm as it pertains to the given scope of services, and the backgrounds of the specialists
available to work on the project. After narrowing the proposals to those which best meet
experience qualifications, the client negotiates an agreement as described in paragraph 9-11
above.

Bidding
Professional engineering and architectural societies, recognize QBS as the preferred method
for procurement of professional services in fact the NEDA guidelines require the
procurement of professional engineering and architectural services only by a process similar
to that described in “ Qualification-Based Selection Procedure.” Above

Selection of civil engineer and related service professionals, including consultants and sub-
consultants on construction project, should result from competition based on the
qualification and resources best suited to complete a project successfully in terms of
performance quality and cost effectiveness. Qualification and resources, including training,
professional licensing experience , skills , capabilities , special expertise personnel , and
 workloads , are paramount consideration in engaging engineering services. Cost of these
services, while important and meriting careful negotiations and performance accountability
, are small portion of overall project costs and should ne subordinate to professional
qualifications and experience

There are many reasons why bidding for consulting civil engineering services often produces
unsatisfactory results for the client. Principal among these are:
1. Bidding does not recognize professional judgemnent, which is the key differences between
professional services and the furnishing or products. Judgment is an essential ingredient in
quality engineering services.
2. It is virtually impossible to completely detail in advance the scope of service required for an
engineering project especially for the study and preliminary phases, without lenghtly
discussion and negotiations with the selected firm. Lacking specifics, the bidding firms must,
in order competitive, submit a price for the least effort envisioned. The resulting service a
performed is likely to be tailored to fit the minimal requirements of the bid documents and
will not necessarily suit the client’s needs or expectation
3. In- depth studies and analyses by the consulting civil engineer are not likely to be
performed. The consulting civil engineer selected by lowest bid will often provide only the
minimum services necessary to satisfy the client’s scope of services.
4. The consulting civil engineer’s ability to be flexible and creative in meeting the client’s
requirements is severely limited.
5. The engineering design are likely to be minimal in completeness with the details left to the
contractor. This produces a lower first cost design but tends to add to the cost of the
completed projects. The lack of design- details also can and frequently does, lead to a
greater number of change orders during construction and to contractor claims at a later
date.
For these reasons, bidding for professional services is not recommended.

TWO- ENVELOPE SYSTEM

The two envelope system involves submission of a technical proposal in one envelope and a
price proposal in a second envelope. The client then evaluates the technical proposals and
selects the best qualified civil engineer based on that consulting civil engineer’s technical
proposal. At this point in the selection procedure, the client opens the price proposal
submitted in the second envelope and uses this as a basis for negotiation of contractual
scope and fess. The second envelopes submitted by the unsuccessful proposers are
returned unopened.
If the client follows this procedure, the net effect is as outlined in “ qualifications-based
selection procedure”, provided that the client and the best qualified consulting civil
engineer have extensive discussions to reach full agreement on the scope of services. This
allows the client to utilize the knowledge and experience of the consulting civil engineer in
establishing the scope of services. Upon agreement of scope, the price of services should be
negotiated to reflect changes from the original scope used for obtaining proposals.
If both envelopes of all proposers are opened at the same time a bidding process, as
discussed in the section on “ bidding “ is initiated with attendant disadvantages. Procedures
should be established to provide confirmation that the second envelope is opened for only
the successful proposal.
The two-envelope system is not recommended. If used as intended, it is similar to the
recommended QBS procedure except that the added cost to prepare a proper price
proposal are considerate to the firms not selected, which increases the overall business
costs of consulting civil engineering and ultimately of the clients.