The View From the Trenches
Ever wonder why someone else got that design contract and not you? Or maybe that Construction Manager at Risk? Have you submitted unsuccessful statements of qualifications and wondered how to improve your chances?
Over the last year, the County has increasingly moved in the direction of Alternative Project Delivery Methods such as Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) or Job Order Contracting (JOC). One of the major differences between these methods and the traditional low bid method is that contractor selection is qualifications-based, a process long familiar to the design community but relatively new to public construction.
Statements of Qualifications are distributed to an evaluation panel that reads and scores the statements using the evaluation criteria in the solicitation. As part of the evaluation, of each statement, the panel is also required to provide narrative comments identifying the statement's strengths, weaknesses and deficiences associated with each individual score.
The narrative evaluation comments serve several purposes, one of the most important of which is to provide feedback to firms seeking to improve their responses to solicitations for qualifications. The comments will tell you a great deal about how your proposal was perceived and will identify shortcomings to be addressed in your responses to future solicitations.
You can review comments on your statement of qualifications by requesting a debriefing from the Contracts Officer for the solicitation. Debriefings are available after the contract is executed.
Would you like to know more about the County evaluation process? Consider volunteering to serve on an evaluation panel. Contact any Design and Construction Contracts Officer.
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