Civil Engineering Reference
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influence the selection of evaluation criteria and help determine which award algorithm
is most appropriate. Market characteristics involve the attributes of the DB firms that
are available at the time of procurement. Characteristics include the number of design-
builders available, their level of interest, the state of the market (i.e., how much work is
available), and the experience level of the design-builders.
The market can have a significant impact on the selection of procurement methods.
For example, when the market is saturated with projects, owners must design procurement
methods that require minimal effort from design-builders if they wish to attract a large
amount of competition. When work is scarce, they can expect more effort from design-
builders and can design procurement approaches to leverage design-builder creativity.
Qualifications-Based Selection
As its name implies, a QBS considers only the qualifications of the design-builder. This
method can consist of one or two steps. In a two-step process, the owner first issues an
RFQ. Interested DB teams submit a statement of qualifications (SOQ), which the owner
uses to prepare a short list of qualified teams. The DB teams on the short list are then
invited to submit a proposal in response to an owner's Request for Proposals (RFP). The
one-step process differs only in that the RFQ/SOQ stage is eliminated.
The evaluation criteria for a QBS are primarily team qualifications, performance,
and project approach. The key difference between QBS and the other two procurement
methods, which are described in the following sections, is that price is not considered. As
a result of not having price as a selection criteria, QBS represents one end of the procure-
ment spectrum illustrated in Figure 17-1.
Price
Only
Consideration
Qualifications
Only
Consideration
“Low-Bid”
Best-Value
Qualifications-Based
Figure 17-1. Spectrum of selection methods
Low-Bid Procurement
The low-bid (i.e., priced-based) procurement method calls for selection of the design-
builder with the lowest reasonable and responsible bid. It allows for an open procurement
process that makes it relatively easy for new design-builders to enter the market. Under
this procurement, only price is considered (see Figure 17-1). While there may be some
minimal prequalification requirements (i.e., proof of the ability to obtain project bond-
ing), no qualifications are considered during the DB team selection.
Price-based procurement is commonly required for selecting construction firms
under the DBB project delivery method in the public sector, which means that many
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