The Selection of the Civil Engineer

Engr. Eden M. Cuanan

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 CEs have the same training,

experience, capabilities, personnel,
workloads, and particular abilities.
Selecting a CE
Selection of the most qualified CE Experience
for a specific project will result in a Capabilities
well-planned and designed, Training
economical, and successful project.
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Basis for Selection
Factors to be considered in the selection process:

1. The professional and ethical

reputation of the CE and his staff
as determined by inquiries to
previous clients and other
references.
2. Responsible CEs and its employee
and must be registered
professional Civil Engineers.
3. CEs should have demonstrated
qualifications and expertise,
performing the services required.
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Basis for Selection
Factors to be considered in the selection process:

4. CE 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 CE should have the
necessary financial and business
resources to accomplish the
assignment and provide
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 Client’s Selection Committee
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.

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 The selection is based on
qualifications and competence in
relation to the scope and needs
Qualifications- of a particular project.

Based
Selection (QBS) Under the QBS method, the
procuring agency reviews the
qualifications submitted by
interested individuals and firms,
Procedure ranks respondents, and then
negotiates with the most
qualified respondent for a
mutually agreeable contract.

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Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) Procedure

By invitation or by
Prepare a budget for Invite the Civil
public notice, state
the staff time and Write a letter to each Engineers or firms to
the general nature of
costs that can be Evaluate the Civil Engineer or
the project, the meet individually
expected from statements of selected for further
services required, with the selection
potential Civil qualifications consideration
and request committee for
Engineer prior to received. describing the
statements of interviews and
receipt of the RFQs proposed project in discussions of the
qualifications and
and RFPs. detail. engineering services
experience from Civil
Engineers. required.

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RFQ (Request for Qualifications)

-used to ascertain the general qualifications in a selected area of
expertise
RFP (Request for Proposals)
-are used to seek CE for creating short list for selecting a CE
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 Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) Procedure

When
Evaluate the If satisfactory agreement has
compensation agreement is not been reached on
Check with the List the Civil Invite the Civil scope, schedule
proposed by the reached with the
recent clients of Engineer or firms in Engineer and
Civil Engineer on first CE, the
each Civil Engineer the order of considered to be compensation,
the basis of the negotiations should
or firm to preference. best qualified to the client and
clients experience be terminated and
determine the develop a detailed selected CE
and budget the CE should be
quality of their scope. should formalize
estimate. notified in writing
performance.
to that effect until their agreement
the 3rd CE. in a written
contract.

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If no accord is reached, the

client should seek outside
assistance before
continuing with the
selection process.
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 Qualifications-Based
Selection (QBS)
Procedure

Professional engineering and In fact, the NEDA Guidelines require the

architectural societies recognize QBS as procurement of professional
the preferred method for procurement engineering and architectural services
of professional services. only by a process similar to that
described in QBS procedure.

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 A “Level of Effort” type of
Selection Procedure contract for engineering
services is a contract
for procedure used to
“Level of Effort” supplement a client staff,
either by providing an
Contracts extension to existing
disciplines not available
o n t h e c l i e n t ’s s t a f f.

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“Level of Effort”
Selection Procedure
Selection of Civil Engineer 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.
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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.
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 Bidding is an offer
(o f t e n c o m p e t i t i v e) t o
set a price tag by an
individual or business
for a product or service
or a demand that
something be done. BIDDING
Level of Effort Selection Procedure

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Level of Effort Procedure: BIDDING
Reasons why bidding for consulting Civil Engineering Services often produces unsatisfactory results for the client:
1. Bidding does not recognize professional judgment
which is the key difference between professional
services and the furnishing of products. Judgement
is an essential ingredient in quality engineering
services.
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. Lacking
specifics, the bidding firms must, in order to be
competitive, submit a price for the least effort
envisioned. The resulting service 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 expectations.
3. In-depth studies and analyses by the consulting CE
are not likely to be performed. The consulting CE
selected by lowest bid will often provide only the
minimum services necessary to satisfy the client’s
scope of services.
4. The consulting CE’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. 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.
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 T h e Tw o E n v e l o p e
System is a tender
process where
suppliers' bid proposals
are submitted and
e v a l u a t e d s e p a r a t e l y. TWO-ENVELOPE
This system separates
the technical and SYSTEM
pricing proposals.
Level of Effort Selection Procedure

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Level of Effort Procedure: 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 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 QBS procedure, provided that the client and
the best qualified consulting Civil Engineer have
extensive discussions to reach full agreement on 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 is initiated with attendant
disadvantages. Procedures should be established to
provide confirmation that the second envelope is
opened for only the successful proposal.
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Level of Effort Procedure: TWO-ENVELOPE SYSTEM

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.

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ThankYou

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