Qualifications Based Selection
IL QBS is a collaboration among the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers, the American Council of Engineering Companies – Illinois, and the Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association. Its goal is to provide design professionals, contractors, and government officials with information regarding Qualifications Based Selection to ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal laws.
Price has no meaning except in terms of the quality of the product.
Dr. W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993)
What is Qualifications Based Selection?
Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) is a process for the selection of design professionals, including engineers, architects and land surveyors. It is a negotiated procurement process for selection based on qualifications and competence in relation to the work to be performed. Quality begins with qualifications-based selection. The members of IL QBS can help you gain a better understanding of the process of selecting an engineer, an architect or a land surveyor. From the pre-proposal stage through proposals and interviews, we can help you streamline and improve each step. The QBS process is required by state and federal law for public projects in Illinois.
Establish evaluation criteria and select the best qualified firm.
Establish evaluation criteria
Solicit statements of qualifications
Develop a short list of firms
Interview and rank firms
Jointly define scope and contract terms.
Define scope of work with assistance of selected firm
Establish contract terms
Reach agreement
If no agreement is reached, work with the next firm on the short list
Retain the firm on the basis of an acceptable proposal.
Ask for fee proposal
Reach agreement
If no agreement is reached, work with the next firm on the short list