WEST virginia Legislature
2018 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 314
By Senators Romano, Baldwin, Clements, Facemire, Karnes, Ojeda, Swope, Trump, Woelfel, Stollings, and Cline
[Introduced January
18, 2018; Referred
to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; and then to the
Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §5G-1-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to modifying the procedure certain public agencies must take in order to contract for certain architectural and engineering services; requiring joint discussions with prospective architectural or engineering firms in certain situations; permitting contract proposals with a fee for service from the firms; replacing the single entity negotiations with a competitive low bid process; and allowing for the public agency to reject all proposed contracts and seek proposals from additional firms.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 1. PROCUREMENT OF ARCHITECT-ENGINEER SERVICES.
§5G-1-3. Contracts for architectural and engineering services; selection process where total project costs are estimated to cost $250,000 or more.
(a) In the procurement of architectural and engineering
services for projects estimated to cost $250,000 or more, the director of purchasing
shall encourage firms engaged in the lawful practice of the profession to
submit an expression of interest, which shall include a statement of
qualifications and performance data, and may include anticipated concepts and
proposed methods of approach to the project. All jobs shall be announced by
public notice published as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with
the provisions of §59-3-1 et seq. of this code. A committee of three to
five representatives of the agency initiating the request shall evaluate the
statements of qualifications and performance data and other material submitted
by interested firms and select three firms which, in their opinion, are best
qualified to perform the desired service: Provided, That on projects
funded wholly or in part by School Building Authority moneys, in accordance
with §18-9D-15 and §18-9D-16 of this code, two of said three firms shall have
had offices within this state for a period of at least one year prior to
submitting an expression of interest regarding a project funded by School
Building Authority moneys. Interviews with each firm selected shall be
conducted and the committee shall conduct discussions regarding anticipated
concepts and proposed methods of approach to the assignment. The committee
shall then rank, in order of preference, no less than three professional firms
deemed to be the most highly qualified to provide the services required, and
shall commence scope of service and price negotiations with the highest
qualified professional firm for architectural or engineering services or both.
Should the agency be unable to negotiate a satisfactory contract with the
professional firm considered to be the most qualified, at a fee determined to
be fair and reasonable, price negotiations with the firm of second choice shall
commence. Failing accord with the second most qualified professional firm, the
committee shall undertake price negotiations with the third most qualified
professional firm. Should the agency be unable to negotiate a satisfactory
contract with any of the selected professional firms, it shall
(b) Following the selection of the three firms, the committee shall conduct joint discussions regarding anticipated concepts and proposed methods of approach to the assignment with representatives from each of the three firms. The joint discussions are an opportunity to allow all three firms to hear the same details, parameters, and expectations for the project. All three firms are permitted to ask questions openly during the joint discussions and answers shall be provided by the committee orally to all three firms during the joint discussions or by writing to all three firms as soon as practical thereafter. Upon conclusion of the meeting, and any required written follow-up, all three firms will have the same information upon which to structure and calculate their fee for services and present a proposed contract.
(c) Following the joint
discussions, the three firms shall each submit a proposed contract, including
estimated costs to the agency and the agency will use that information,
together with the qualifications, in order to select the lowest, qualified firm
from the three options. Should the agency not be satisfied with the results of
proposed contract submissions from the three firms, the agency may select three additional professional firms from the original submissions in order of their
competence and qualifications and it shall may continue negotiations
joint discussions with those three firms in accordance with this section
until the agency is satisfied with a proposed contract submission and an
agreement is reached. As an alternative, the agency may initiate the
advertising selection process again and follow all the requirements of this
section in order to obtain a new pool of potential firms. Provided,
however, That county boards of education may either elect to start
the selection process over in the original order of preference or it may select
additional professional firms in order of their competence and qualifications
and it shall continue negotiations in accordance with this section until an
agreement is reached: Provided further, That for
(d) For any water or wastewater construction project the engineering design and construction inspection costs may not exceed the amount calculated pursuant to the compensation curves for consulting engineering services based upon project construction costs published by the American Society of Civil Engineers manual of practice, unless granted a variance by the Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council established pursuant to §31-15A-1 et seq. of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to modify the procedure certain public agencies must take in order to contract for certain architectural and engineering services. The bill requires joint discussions with prospective architectural or engineering firms in certain situations. The bill permits contract proposals with a fee for service from the firms. The bill replaces the single entity negotiations with a competitive low bid process. The bill allows for the public agency to reject all proposed contracts and seek proposals from additional firms.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.