Qualifications-Based Selection Processes Incorporated into New Ordinance
Fort Wayne, Ind. – Mayor Tom Henry and Fort Wayne City Councilmember at-Large John Crawford today announced the advancement of joint efforts to ensure that expectations for best value and responsiveness are met by the City of Fort Wayne in its procurement of professional services.
A cooperatively developed ordinance that blends the ability to evaluate the qualifications of potential professional services' providers along with the competitiveness of their pricing will be introduced to Fort Wayne City Council during its meeting this evening.
As detailed, the ordinance will be used in the selection of all professional services including accounting, architectural, engineering, legal, surveying and other consulting services.
"When it comes to professional services, our goal is an innovative procurement process that combines 'best price' with 'best qualifications' to ensure 'best value' for the people of Fort Wayne," said Mayor Henry. "It's all part of a Fort Wayne built for success."
"This new ordinance boosts transparency and injects fresh competition into the process to secure the professional services our City needs," stated Councilman Crawford. "I am convinced it will lead to more bidders, better prices and better ideas."
The new professional services approach, dubbed qualifications-base selection, is a competitive contract procurement method that affords flexibility, promotes opportunity and adds significant value. A distinguishing feature of the practice is the initial determination of the suppliers' qualifications and competencies followed by negotiation of price in the second phase.
To explain further, firms first submit qualifications to the City. The City, in turn, assesses and identifies the most eligible firms. The firms chosen then put forward competitive sealed proposals that are opened in public.
In an effort to enhance the proposals both in terms of value for the City and pertinent evaluation factors, the City next negotiates with the qualified sources on such items as scope of work, schedule, budget, fees or performance measures until final offers are presented. Based upon these final offers, a recommendation is then made on the most advantageous proposal.
Due to the unique nature of professional services, low bid as a sole project benchmark may not yield the best provider, the most competent or the most beneficial vendor.
Exploration of a qualifications-based selection method by the administration began over a year and a half ago when the issue of professional services contracts was also being considered by City Council. A City working team was formed at that time to investigate options, resulting in a draft ordinance that was readied for submission last fall. The effort was eventually put on hold.
The Mayor's commitment to this issue remained high, however, and together with the championship of newly elected Councilman Crawford, the team pressed forward in recent months to craft the current legislation.
"In these tough economic times, I am more determined than ever to transform City government, making it more open and effective – a better partner in serving our citizens and in our job creation efforts," noted Mayor Henry. "I want to thank Councilman Crawford for his leadership on this important issue."
The ordinance reconciles the processes already in use within the City with Indiana Code and the federal guidelines that many departments must follow, and applies them across the entire City. Additionally, it broadens the criteria for selection, strengthening the City's capacity to secure the best professional services at fair and reasonable costs.
State law requires competitive bidding for construction projects and the purchase of commodities, but does not stipulate competitive bidding for professional services, although the approach is not prohibited.
The ordinance will apply to all relevant professional services contracts in excess of $100,000. The bill also specifies a one-year review of the new procedure to gauge its impact.