NYSQBS Home Page
Qualifications Based Selection
NYSQBS Council
14 N. Marvine Ave.
Auburn, NY 13021
Sponsors
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Real World Testimonials
Roof Collapse
On April 23, 1987, shortly after the official opening of the new mega Sav-On Foods Store at Station Square in Burnaby, British Columbia, an area of the building roof-top parking lot of approximately 6400 square feet collapsed into the food store, injuring 20 people. A Commissioner's Inquiry by the Canadian Government determined that one of the major factors that led to the ultimate collapse of the structure was the selection of the Structural Engineer on the basis of competitive bidding …
Skyway Collapse
In July of 1981, two elevated walkways over the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a party, killing 111 people and injuring 188 others. The engineering services on this structure had been awarded on the basis of low bid, and the design professional services were limited by contract …
Kaye Henderson Memo
Memo from Kaye Henderson, Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation from 1987-1990. "As Secretary, I inherited a system of selecting design professionals on the basis of competitive bidding. The results were uniformly negative. Price-based selections for design services don’t work. It didn’t work for the public, the agency administrators, contract managers or even office holders."
Real World
In July of 1981, two elevated walkways over the lobby of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed during a party, killing 111 people and injuring 188 others. The engineering services on this structure had been awarded on the basis of low bid, and the design professional services were limited by contract …
Quotables
It is unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything becvause the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.

The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done.
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
Just the Faqs
Q. How are architectural and engineering firms retained?
A. The traditional method of hiring engineering and architectural firms for public work is through a process known as negotiated procurement or qualifications-based selection. The basic goal of this selection procedure is finding the best qualified firm or individual to perform the work. There are six major elements ot this procurement procedure: public notice, submittals of qualifications, review of submittals, interviews, ranking respondents, and negotiation of a contract.