Selection of Civil Engineer

3.1 GENERAL

The selection and engagement of a Civil Engineer is one of the most important
decisions to be made during the development of an engineering project. No two Civil
Engineers have the same training, experience, capabilities, personnel, workloads, and
particular abilities. Selection of the most qualified Civil Engineer for a specific project will
result in a well-planned and designed, economical, and successful project.

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

3.2 BASIS FOR SELECTION

The client should establish administrative policy and criteria for the selection of
qualified Civil Engineers for particular projects. The client’s first step is to define the
proposed scope of the project. In some cases, this may be a general statement of the
performance requirements of the project. At other times, the tasks to be performed may be
individually identified and defined. By clearly defining the services which the Civil Engineer is
to furnish, the client can accurately judge whether or not the Civil Engineer is best equipped
to provide them.

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 employee and must be registered professional
Civil Engineers.

3. Civil Engineers should have demonstrated qualifications and expertise, 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 service.

The selection procedures described in this manual apply to projects of the private
sector. For government projects, E.O 164 and PD 1594 as amended apply to procurement of
consulting services and selection of contractor for construction, respectively.
3.3 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 eternal 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 objectivity in order to
avoid the appearance of a 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 recommendations.

3.4 QUALIFICATIONS-BASED (QBS) PROCEDURE

The selection procedure is considerably enhanced when the client is fully familiar with the
purpose and nature of the proposed project, and outline of services expected of the Civil
Engineer. In some cases 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 suit 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 to follow
all 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
Engineers who appear to be capable of meeting the project requirements. The client
may issue a "Request for qualifications'' (RFQ) or "Request for proposals (RFP).
RFQ's are normally used to ascertain the general qualifications in a selected area of
expertise while RFP's are used to seek Civil Engineers for creating "short lists'' 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 Engineers prior to receipt of the RFQ's or RFP's.

3. Evaluate the statements of qualifications received. Select at least three Civil

Engineers or firms that may appear to be best 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 conscientious
 effort to keep the number selected for further 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 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 in 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 as required. For major or complex projects, a
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 firm, 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 Engineering or firm to determine the quality of
their performance. This check needs to 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, financial
standing, size 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 and 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 negotiations
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 firm and, if
necessary, with the third Civil Engineers 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 a satisfactory contract. All such
 negotiations should be on a strictly confidential basis, and in no case should the
compensation 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 written
contract.

3.5 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's 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 of effort" contracts, the QBS procedure sets forth the general
nature of services to be rendered, the types of specialists required and the estimated
number of hours required during the contract period for each type and grade of specialist,
and then requests proposals 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 meets experience qualifications, the client
negotiates an agreement as described in paragraphs 9-11 above.

3.5.1 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 "Qualifications-Based Selection Procedure", above.

Selection of Civil Engineers and related service professionals, including consultants

and sub consultants on construction projects, should result from competition based on the
qualifications and resources best suited to complete a project successfully in terms of
performance quality and cost effectiveness.

Qualifications and resources, including training, professional licensing experience,

skills, capabilities, special expertise personnel, and workloads, are paramount
considerations in engaging engineering services.

Costs of these services, while important and meriting careful negotiations and
performance accountability, are a small portion of overall project costs and should be
subordinate to professional qualifications and experience.

3.5.1 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 judgment, which is the key difference
between professional services and the furnishing of products.

2. It is virtually impossible to completely detail in advance the scope of services

required for an engineering project especially for the study and preliminary phases,
without lengthy discussions and negotiations with the selected firm.

3. 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 designs 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 project.

For these reasons, bidding for professional services is not recommended.

3.5.2 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 fees 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
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, 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 comprehensive
scope and price discourages some consulting Civil Engineers from participating. The costs
to prepare a proper price proposal are considerable to the firms not selected, which
increases the overall business costs of consulting civil engineering and ultimately of the
clients.