III. Engagement of Design Professionals
A. Consultant Selection Procedures
Prior to entering into an agreement with an architect or engineer the provisions of the
following Board Policies must be satisfied:
730.2
Selection of Design Professionals…for Major Capital Projects (Appendix 2)
740.1
Procedure for Selection of Architects or Engineers (Appendix 6)
740.2
Procedure for Selection of On-Call Architects or Engineers (Appendix 7)
These policies governing the selection process for design professionals are in
accordance with the Arkansas State Accounting Procedures
Manual, Part II: Construction (Appendix 8).
B. Consultant Contract Types: There are several kinds of contracts for
design professional services that can be utilized by U of A institutions as listed below:
C A
Contract for a specific project. The fee is normally established as a percentage of the
construction costs plus an allowance for reimbursables. The contract often will include a
single agreement to provide all consultant services i.e.: Planning/Programming,
Architectural Design, Interior Design, Civil and Mechanical Engineering. Campuses may wish
to contract with each discipline individually, requiring separate contract documents.
C An
On-Call Contract or a requirements contract. Under this type of contract, labor and
material rates are established in the basic contract. The basic contract does not
authorize a consultant to work, but when a requirement for services arises, a price is
negotiated based upon the rates negotiated for the base contract, and the contractor
proceeds with the work.
C. Process for Obtaining Architect/Engineer Contracts: Once approval has
been obtained by the Board of Trustees to select an architect or engineer, the advertising
and interview process may begin.
C Advertisement/Synopsis in the local
newspapers (Appendix 9): The requirement for architect/engineer services is
synopsized in a newspaper of general circulation for three (3) consecutive days. The
synopsis briefly states the scope of required services, the project location and selection
criteria in order of importance. In addition, it will advise interested firms of necessary
forms to submit, closing date of responses and address of the office to receive
submissions.
C
Responses: Interested firms respond to the synopsis by submitting their intention to
participate, a corporate resume that details their pertinent experience and
qualifications.
C
Selection Committee: The selection committee is made up of campus personnel selected by
the Chancellor. The board reviews the A-E submissions and rates them against a locally
established evaluation criterion. Some of the attributes that may be used for evaluation
are listed below:
o
Professional Qualifications
o
Specialized Experience and Technical Competence
o
Capacity
of the firm to Accomplish the Required Services on Schedule
o
Past
Performance
o
Knowledge of the Campus and Surrounding Area
o
Ability
to Meet CADD Requirements
The selection comimittee chair then contacts the top three firms for telephone or in
person interviews to determine if the firms qualifications have changed or if they would
like to add any information to that already submitted.
C
Notification: All firms are notified of their selection status and that they were among
the top three firms to be submitted to the Board of Trustees for final selection.
C Once
the Board of Trustees has selected architect or engineer for the project, the award
process may begin.
D. Award:
- The selected firm is invited to submit a price proposal and enter into final
negotiations with the Campus. If agreement on price is reached, a contract will be
awarded. If not, the Board of Trustees may select another from those submitted for review.
- Specific aspects of the working agreement should be discussed, documented and
implemented. At a minimum, the following tenants of the team should be delineated:
o
Senior
contact persons for the Campus and the Consulting Firm should be designated.
o
Channels
of communication for each side should be established.
o
Develop
of a roster of all participants that lists their contact information, project
responsibilities and their authority levels.
o
Publish
a proposed schedule for all design development meetings.
o
The
establishment of a conflict resolution process
E. Contract Documents: The relationship with the selected firm must be finalized
utilizing contract forms approved by the University’s Office of the General Counsel.
F. Design Process Management: To insure the design process is conducted
successfully, a design development management plan should be developed and followed. The
management plan should have at least the following elements:
C A
clear definition of the project scope
C A
budget that identifies the funds available for each phase of the design process.
C A
design schedule that identifies all critical path elements
C
Change order process to manage unanticipated deviations from scope, budget or schedule
C The
scheduling of design meeting and the process for recording and distributing meeting
minutes
C
Periodic milestone review process where the progress of the project can be reviewed for
results according to plan
G: Plan Review: Based upon cost and complexity of project, outside plan review
services may be utilized. Based upon review of the Capital Project Proposal, the President
may discuss utilization of an independent plan review service. Cost of such review shall
be considered in fee negotiations with the design professional.