Options for Evaluating Design-Builder Proposals - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 214

exhaustive analysis of its algorithm to ensure that it will produce the mathematically unbi-
ased, reliable output needed to truly make a best-value award.
EVALUATION RATING SYSTEMS
Once an owner has determined the appropriate evaluation criteria for its DB project, the
owner must then identify a system for rating, or scoring, the technical proposals based on
the evaluation criteria. Rating systems can be categorized in one of four types of systems:
satisficing, modified satisficing, adjectival rating, and direct point scoring.
Satisficing
The simplest and easiest evaluation rating system is satisficing , where the owner estab-
lishes a minimum standard for each and every evaluation criteria. The technical propos-
als are then evaluated against the minimum standards and rated as either satisfying or
not satisfying the criteria. Any proposal that does not satisfy all criteria is not considered
further. Satisficing is easy to use for noncost criteria, such as qualifications and techni-
cal designs. The process allows owners to quickly identify proposals as acceptable or not
acceptable and can be used to reduce the number of proposals to be carried forward for
price consideration.
Modified Satisficing
With modified satisficing , owners can assign degrees of responsiveness to the different
evaluation criteria. This can be done by allowing evaluators to choose from a range of
ratings for each evaluation criterion. The advantage with modified satisficing is that a
proposal that is considered to be nearly responsive is not dropped altogether. In addition,
a proposal that greatly exceeds the criteria can be rewarded through the rating scores.
Modified satisficing usually distinguishes between minor discrepancies with any criterion
and major, or fatal, deficiencies. In its simplest form, a three-tier rating system can be
used such as green (fully responsive), yellow (not responsive, but deficiency is minor), and
red (not responsive, fatal deficiency). After the initial evaluation of all criteria, the ratings
must be combined into an overall rating for each proposal.
Adjectival Rating
Adjectival rating is an extension of the modified satisficing system. For adjectival rating
systems, a set of adjectives are used to describe a proposal's conformance with the evalu-
ation criteria. The adjectives are specific to each criterion, thus providing a more descrip-
tive rating system. Examples of adjectival ratings are shown in Table 17-1.
There are three required elements of an adjectival rating system: definitions, per-
formance indicators, and differentiations. The definitions clearly identify the evaluation
criteria and what needs to be rated for each criterion. The performance indicators are the
adjectives used to describe conformance with each of the criterion. The differentiations
provide further definition of the indicators to allow evaluators to distinguish between