Fabre responds to Chimes Way award

From: Frank J. Fabre, P.E., P.S.M.
Fabre Engineering & Surveying

RE: Chimes Way Park Design and
Selection of Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors

Chimes Way Park Design

To set the record straight, I wrote a letter to the County Staff requesting a review of the proposed award to a firm that was not then qualified to respond to the County solicitation for “Chimes Way Park Design”. The County solicitation stated: “Only those firms with a signed contract at the time of advertisement may submit on these projects”. One such project in the solicitation was Chimes Way.

My letter was not a “formal protest”, but only a request directed to Staff. In fact, we did not contact any of the Commissioners regarding this matter and were told by Staff that the firm was inadvertently invited to submit their qualifications. We have worked with the County Staff for many years and have the greatest respect for all of them especially Mr. Paul Nobles, hence we believe that it was an honest mistake and nothing else. Nevertheless, the economy being as it is and the level of competition (the County has over 60 civil engineering firms under continuing contracts) being as it is, we strongly believe that established policy should be followed especially since we were found by the selection committee to be equally qualified as the out-of-state firm.

I was contacted by a Commissioner last week and asked to confirm the above and did so. I did not request the Board intervene in the matter.

Selection of Professional Engineers, Architects and Land Surveyors

The State and State agencies including counties, cities and special districts such as ECUA are required to select “professional architectural, engineering, landscape architectural, or surveying and mapping services” in accordance with Chapter 287 Florida Statutes, specifically 287.055 known as the “Consultants Competitive Negotiation Act” or CCNA. I am not an attorney but the following is my understanding of CCNA based on my training by attorneys over the past 36 years of professional engineering and surveying practice in Florida; hence I believe it to be accurate.

Selection under CCNA must be based on qualifications and other factors such as location, projected workloads, and the value of work previously awarded, for projects with a construction cost of greater than $250,000 or for a planning or study activity when the fee for professional services is greater than $25,000. A “continuing contract” is allowed under 287.055(2)(g) for projects in which construction costs do not exceed $1 million, for study activity when the fee does not exceed $50,000, or “for work of a specified nature”.

When selection is based on firm qualifications, fee proposals cannot be requested until the top ranked firm is selected. If fee negotiations with the top ranked firm fail, then fee negotiations with the second ranked firm can commerce and so on.

Clearly this is a complex Statute and has caused much consternation for “Policy Makers” for many years.

Selection of professional consultants is often made by staffs of agencies which recommend approval to elected or appointed officials (Policy Makers) who establish policy regarding selection criteria.

I was asked by a number of Policy Makers, concerned about the economy and local jobs, to review selection criteria and did so. My recommendations are in the attached document.

To summarize the document:

Selection of professional services should be based first and foremost on the qualifications, experience, and past performance of the individuals (not the firm) who will actually perform the work. A firm with 10 local employees may have no local, qualified individuals and may have to outsource the work to a remote office.

Second, the current and projected workload of those qualified individuals should be evaluated. A firm with 100 local employees may have to outsource work to another office due to a heavy, local workload.

If concern is about the local economy and local jobs (a valid concern today), the location where the work will be accomplished should be considered. Fees going out of the area, out of the State or out of the Country will not save local jobs or flow down to other businesses and their local employees.

Firms with a corporate headquarters out of the area will ship from 3 percent to 30 percent (average 16.5 percent) of gross fees paid to that remote corporate headquarters. (Source: PSMJ Resources, Inc. an international A/E/C consulting firm)

According to Rick Harper of the Hass Center at UWF, dollars spent locally have a multiplier of 2.5 in positive impact on the local economy. Spreading of work among firms that may be pre-qualified for work for the agency should not be criteria for selection until after attempts are made to obtain local expertise thereby keeping fees paid in the local economy.