Selecting a Consulting Engineer

Selecting a consultant is one of the most important decisions an owner or client can make.

The success of any project often depends upon obtaining the most able, experienced and reputable consultant available. There are two key points to consider when deciding what method of selection to employ:

Inadequate fees lead to the reduction of the scope and quality of the service by spending less time on the project or assigning lower paid and usually less qualified personnel to the project.

The method of selection that best meets all factors is quality-based selection. Choose the consultant on the basis of professional competence, managerial ability, available resources, professional independence, professional integrity, and quality assurance.

Advantages of Quality-Based Selection (QBS)

• Selecting a consultant based on quality ultimately provides the best value for the client. Top-quality consultants bring best practices to the project. This translates into the best possible solutions for the client and the end user.

Fairer Fees

• Fees will be fairer to both the client and the consultant when they are negotiated after the parameters of the assignment are fully established. This will ensure a more sustainable project and one that will be more efficient, cheaper to build and more economical to operate over its life cycle.