The Selection

of the Civil
Engineer

JOSE MIGUEL B. MAULION

 THE SELECTION OF CIVIL ENGINEER

3.1 GENERAL

The selection and engagement of a Civil Engineer is one of the most important
decisions to be made during the development of an engineering project. No two Civil
Engineer have the same training, experience, capabilities, personnel, workloads, and
particular abilities. Selection of the most qualified Civil Engineer for a specific project
will result in a well-planned and designed, economical, and successful project.

This section presents what experience has shown to be the best and, therefore, the
recommended procedure for the engagement of a Civil Engineer.
 3.2 BASIS FOR SELECTION
The client should establish administrative policy and criteria for
the selection of qualified Civil Engineers for particular projects. The
client’s first step is to define the proposed scope of the project. In some
cases, this may be a general statement of the performance requirements
of the project. At other times, the task to be performed maybe
individually identified and defined. By clearly defining the services which
the Civil Engineer is to furnish, the client can accurately judge whether
or not the Civil Engineer is best equipped to provide them.
Some of the factors that should be considered in the selection
process are:
Some of the factors that should be considered in the selection process are:

1. The professional and ethical reputation of the Civil Engineer and his staff as
determined by inquiries to previous clients and other references.
2. Responsible Civil Engineers and its employee must be registered professional Civil
Engineers.
3. Civil Engineers should have demonstrated qualifications and expertise, performing
the services required for the project.
4. Civil Engineer should be able to assign qualified engineering staff who will be in
responsible charge of the project and will be able to provide and complete the
required services within the time allotted.
5. The Civil Engineer should have the necessary financial and business resources to
accomplish the assignment and provide continuing service.
The selection procedures described in this manual apply to projects of the private sector.
For government projects, E.O 164 and PD 1594 as amended apply to procurement of
consulting services and selection of contractor for construction, respectively.
 3.3 CLIENT’S SELECTION COMMITTEE

Within the client’s organization there should be an established

administrative policy for designating the persons authorized to select or recommend
selection of Civil Engineers for specific assignments. The persons appointed should be
familiar with the project requirements and should be kept free of internal or eternal
pressure during the selection process.
One satisfactory procedure is to utilize a selection committee of three or
more individuals, at least one whom is a professional engineer of the appropriate
discipline. For public projects, the client must choose individuals who demonstrate
objectivity in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest in the selection of
the Civil Engineer. A least one of the individuals should be thoroughly familiar with the
civil engineering practices. The committee is responsible for making recommendations
after conducting appropriate investigations, interviews, and inquiries. The final
selection is then based upon the selection committee’s recommendations.
 3.4 QUALIFICATION BASED SELECTION (QBS) PROCEDURES

The selection procedure is considerably enhanced when the client is fully

familiar with the purpose and nature of the proposed project, can describe
the project in detail, and can prepare a project scope and outline of services
expected of the Civil Engineer.

The client’s usual steps in the selection procedure are presented below. If the
client has had satisfactory experience with one or more Civil Engineers, it may
not be necessary to follow all of the steps outlined.
1. By invitation or by public notice, state the general nature of the project, the services required, and
request statements of qualifications and experience from Civil Engineers whoa appear to be
capable of meeting the project requirements. The client may issue a “Request for qualification”
(RFQ) or “Request for proposals” (RFP). RFQs are normally used to ascertain the general
qualifications in a selected area of expertise while RFPs are used to seek Civil Engineers for creating
“short lists” for selecting a Civil Engineer for a specific project.
2. Prepare a budget for the staff time and costs can be expected from potential Civil Engineer prior to
receipt of the RFQs or RFPs.
3. Evaluate the statements of qualifications received. Select at least three Civil Engineers or firms that
may appear to be best qualified for the specific project. However, in fairness to those not selected
it is usually best to make a conscientious effort to keep the number selected for further
consideration for realistic minimum in view of the cost and time required to prepare competent
proposals.
4. Write a letter to each Civil Engineer or selected for further consideration describing the proposed
project in details, including a project scope and outline of services required, and asking for a
proposal describing in detail the Civil Engineer’s plan for managing and performing the required
services, the personnel to be assigned, the proposed schedule, experience with similar projects,
office location in which services are to be performed, financial standing, present workload, and
references.
5. On receipt of proposals, invite the Civil Engineers or firms to meet individually with the selection
committee for interviews and discussions of the desired end results of the project and the
engineering services required.
6. Check with recent clients of each Civil Engineer or firm to determine the quality of their
performance. This check need to be limited to references listed by the Civil Engineer.
7. List the Civil Engineer or firms in the order of preference, taking into account their
approach and understanding of the project, reputation, experience, financial standing,
size, personnel available, quality of references, workload, location, and other factors
pertinent to the project being considered.
8. Invite the Civil Engineer considered to be best qualified to develop a detailed scope. List
of deliverables and schedules, and to negotiate fair compensation for the services.
9. The compensation proposed by the Civil Engineer should be evaluated on the basis of
the clients experience and budget estimate, taking account of the range of charges
reported in Section 4 herein; giving consideration to the project’s special characteristics
and the scope of services agreed upon. Fair and reasonable compensation to the Civil
Engineer is vital to the success of the project since it will enable the consultant’s
expertise to be fully utilized.
10. If satisfactory agreement is not reached with the first Civil Engineer, the negotiations
should be terminated and the Civil Engineer or firm be notified in writing to that effect.
11. When agreement has been reached on scope, schedule and compensation, the client
and selected Civil Engineer should formalize their agreement in a written contract.
3.5 SELECTION PROCEDURE FOR “LEVEL OF EFFORT” CONTRACTS

A “level of effort” type of contract for engineering service is a contract

procedure used to supplement a client staff, either by providing and extension
to existing disciplines and capabilities already on board or by adding special
disciplines not available on the client’s staff.
As applied to “level of effort” contracts, the QBS procedure sets forth the
general nature of services to be rendered, the types of specialists required
and the estimated number of hours required during the contract period for
each type and grade specialist, and the requests proposals from qualified
firms.
 3.5.1 Bidding
Professional engineering and architectural societies, recognize QBS as the preferred method for procurement of
professional services. In fact the NEDA Guidelines require the procurement of professional engineering and
architectural services only by a process similar to that described in “Qualification-Based Selection Procedure”,
above.

Selection of Civil Engineers and the related service professionals, including consultants and sub consultants on
construction projects, should result from competition based on the qualifications and resources best suited to
complete a project successfully in terms of performance quality and cost-effectiveness.
There are many reasons why bidding for consulting Civil Engineering services often produces unsatisfactory results for
the client. Principal among these are:
1. Bidding does not recognize professional judgement, which is the key difference between professional services and
the furnishing of products. Judgement is an essential ingredient in quality engineering services.
2. It is virtually impossible to completely detail in advance the scope of services required for an engineering project
especially for the study and preliminary phases, without lengthy discussions and negotiations with the selected
firm. Lacking specifics, the bidding firms must, in order to be competitive, submit a price for the least effort
envisioned.
3. In-depth studies and analyses by the consulting Civil Engineer are not likely to be performed. The consulting Civil
Engineer selected by lowest bid will often provide only the minimum services necessary to satisfy the client’s scope
and services.
4. The consulting Civil Engineer’s ability to be flexible and creative in meeting the client’s requirements is severely
limited.
5. The engineering designs are likely to be minimal in completeness with the details left to the contractor. This
produces a lower first cost design but tends to add to the cost of the completed project. The lack of design-details
also can and frequently does, lead to a greater number of change orders during construction and to contractor
claims at a later date.
For these reasons, bidding for professional services is not recommended.
 3.5.2 Two-Envelope System
The two-envelope system involves submission of a technical proposal in one envelope and a price in a second
envelope. The client then evaluates the technical proposals and selects the best qualified Civil Engineer based
on that consulting Civil Engineer’s technical proposal. At this point in the selection procedure, the client opens
the price proposal submitted in the second envelope and uses this as basis for negotiation of contractual scope
and fees. The second envelope submitter by the unsuccessful proposers are returned unopened.
If the client follows this procedure, the net effect is as outlined in “Qualification-Based Selection procedure,”
provided that the client and the best qualified consulting Civil Engineer have extensive discussions to reach full
agreement on the scope of services.
If both envelopes of all proposers are opened at the same time, a bidding process, as discussed in the section
on “Bidding,” is initiated with attendant disadvantages. Procedures should be established to provide
confirmation that the second envelope is opened for only the successful proposal.
The two-envelope system is not recommended. If used as intended, it is similar to the recommended QBS
procedure except that the added cost to prepare a comprehensive scope and price discourages some consulting
Civil Engineers from participating. The cost to prepare a proper price proposal are considerable to the firms not
selected, which increases the overall business costs of consulting civil engineering and ultimately of the clients.