May/June 2017

PE Report
NSPE, Florida Society: ‘Best Value’ Isn’t

An effort to gut Florida’s qualifications-based selection process for professional design services is facing major opposition from NSPE and the Florida Engineering Society.

The bill (H.B. 789) would amend the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act by adding a “best value selection process.” The process would require firms selected as most qualified to submit compensation proposals that can’t exceed 50% of the total weight of the published evaluation criteria.

The Florida Society believes that the CCNA ensures that agencies and state taxpayers will receive highly technical architectural and engineering services from the most experienced and most qualified firms at a fair and reasonable cost. This view aligns with NSPE’s belief that qualifications-based selection is the best method to procure professional design services because it protects the public welfare and taxpayers, benefits small firms, and promotes technical innovation.

NSPE President Kodi Verhalen, P.E., Esq., F.NSPE, issued a public comment in March to the chair of the House Oversight, Transparency, and Administration Sub-
committee stating that the “best value selection process” would create a procurement system in which price is given priority over the competence and qualifications of the provider in making procurement commitments. Verhalen also pointed out that the Florida Department of Transportation’s analysis of the bill showed that passage of the legislation would mean that all new FDOT professional services contracts would become ineligible for federal funding in the absence of qual-ifications-based selection procurement, which conforms with federal law.

The bill passed out of committee on March 28 with an amendment to exempt transportation projects to ensure continued federal funding. The legislation, however, would still apply to non-transportation projects.

NSPE is keeping a close eye on legislation and regulations that affect QBS procurement.

As more states tinker with the procurement of engineering services, the Society is highlighting the legislative and regulatory threats on an online map. NSPE believes that all engineering services should be performed by qualified professional engineers based on design ability, experience, integrity, and judgment. To implement this principle, NSPE supports a qualifications-based selection procedure for all engineering services procurement.

Learn more about NSPE’s action on qualifications-based selection of engineering services and other issues.