This article is excerpted from a new book, The Non-Architect’s Guide to Major Capital Projects: Planning, Designing, and Delivering New Buildings, and is reprinted with permission by its publisher, the Society for College and University Planning. Author Phillip Waite is assistant professor of horticulture and landscape architecture at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, and is a member of SCUP’s Sustainability Advice & Review Panel; he can be reached at pswaite@wsu.edu. This is his first article for Facilities Manager.

After you have completed the pre-design phase of any new construction process, you will need to select a consultant to assist you through the design process. The first step in securing design services is usually issuing a Request for Proposal, or RFP. The other option is to issue an RFQ or Request for Qualifications. Though they are technically different, most institutions and design firms treat them the same. The consultant’s response to an RFP or RFQ is called an SOQ (Statement of Qualifications) or simply the “Proposal.” Most states regulate what must be included in RFPs published by state agencies and institutions. Private institutions don’t have the same requirements, but the following information is useful for both. A good RFP will include the following elements:

• Institutional and Project Background
• Project Scope Description
• Minimum Qualifications of Consultants
• Fee Basis
• Project Schedule
• Proposal Evaluation Background

revenue, or a combination of the above). Remember, where a project’s funding originates often defines, or at least influences, how it is delivered. If it is known, what you think the project budget amount may be should also be included.

Scope Description

This is a description of what type or kind of facility it is, and its size and “flavor,” if you know it. This can include information like the targeted gross square feet, style of architecture, building type, and any applicable institutional design guidelines and standards.

Minimum Qualifications

What are the minimum qualifications that you want the consultants to have? Do you want them to have had project experience with this specific building type? Do you want them to have done at least five projects of this kind? Do you want the team to include not just engineers but also landscape architects, interior designers, and an audiovisual consultant? Shall the consultant team be led by an architect? Or shall a landscape architect or urban planner lead the team? If it’s a laboratory facility, will a lab planning specialist lead the team? Will the successful candidate be a local or in-state architect, or can an out-of-state architect submit an SOQ?

Fee Basis

Is the institution going to propose paying a percentage of construction or a stipulated fee? Let them know up front how you plan to do business. Consultant selection should never be based on a proposed or potential fee, but rather on the basis of the consultant’s qualifications. Fees are dynamic and can be negotiated; qualifications are fairly constant. I have spoken with many architects about this and they all agree. Leslie Loudon, project manager for Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, said it best: “Firms selected for their low fees often have to take a less ‘hands-on’ approach to serving their clients and are much more likely to need to charge additional service fees for small changes during the design process. This can bog down the design schedule and cost the client more money in the end.”

Schedule

What is the timeline, not just for when the proposal is due, but for the evaluation of the proposals, the interviews, the design process, and construction of the project? Are there  “drop-dead” dates that the consultant should know about up front? For instance, if the project is financed by bond revenues, what is the date by which all funds must be expended before arbitrage begins? If the funds are from a grant, is there a date at which all funds have to be committed or expended? Does the construction have to be completed before the start of a particular academic term?

Proposal Evaluation

It is only fair to the consultants submitting on the project (and in some states it’s required by law) to let them know how you are planning to evaluate their proposals. In many cases, proposal evaluation looks to consultants like “black-box decision-making”—the proposal disappears into the institutional black box and what goes on in there is hidden until someone emerges with a decision.

One simple way to make the evaluation process faster and easier is to limit the number of pages in the consultant proposal. This forces the consultants to really think through what should be in their proposals. You should also let the consultant know what counts against the page limit and what doesn’t. Résumés should not be counted against the word or page limit, but included in an appendix to the proposal. I would also suggest that reference letters be included in the proposal but not counted against the page limit.

Other Considerations

There are a variety of ways to solicit proposals:

• You can advertise in local newspapers, trade journals, and periodicals.
• You can send general announcements to your state or regional American Institute of Architects (AIA) membership.
• You can send targeted solicitations to just a few firms. Most public institutions would be unable to do this unless the firms had been pre-qualified. One difficulty in sending targeted solicitations is deciding how many firms to solicit. You want to send enough to generate responses, but not so many as to overwhelm the process.

Selecting A Consultant

What to Look For in a Consultant

One of your most important decisions will be what kind of firm you want to design your project. Do you want a “starchitect” (an architectural “star” )? Do you want a smaller local firm or a large national one? There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to each of these options.

Large firms have the wider technical and support resources. Although they may have fewer resources, small firms and sole proprietors tend to be “hungrier” and generally provide more of themselves and their talents to the client. Lynette Jones, a senior facilities planner at West Virginia University, suggests that what matters isn’t so much the size of the firm as its location. She says it “works best if the architect is located within a two-hour drive of campus.” This proximity enhances communication. Although you’ll pay more for a large firm coming from a greater distance, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the local firm is a “deal,” either.

My personal preference is for small, hungry firms with design talent. I would rather ratchet back a talented designer than try to goad a mediocre one to excellence. To quote the Roman orator Quintilian, “Exuberance is easily corrected; dullness is incurable.” What’s more, I would rather pay for and get a small firm’s first string than pay a large firm’s first-string prices and get their second-string talent, or sometimes even their third string.

If your project is, for instance, a student recreation center, you would obviously look for a firm that has experience with recreation centers, but maybe not a firm that’s done 25 of them. If you select a firm that’s never done your building type, you will pay for their learning curve. But if they’ve done 25 buildings similar to yours, you risk getting an architect who’s bored with the building type and delivers a “rubber stamp” project. In my opinion, the ideal firm is one that is well along the learning curve, but not over it yet.

The Consultant’s Viewpoint

Consider these points:

• When they call you or visit you, they are always looking for work, always “on,” always marketing. Don’t be offended by that. They’re trying to put food on the table, just like you.
• They’re looking for as much information as they can get to prepare their proposal and/or for an interview. If you give information to one potential proposer, you must give it to all proposers. The Golden Rule applies in this situation: be fair to all. The best policy is to not give out any information beyond that already specified in the RFP. However, talented architects ask better questions and will look for information that was, perhaps inadvertently, left out of the RFP.
• The fairest solution is to have what is called a “pre-proposal conference,” to which all potential proposers are invited. At that time, the institution or agency can make a thorough presentation about the project and answer all questions. Everyone in attendance gets to hear the same information. Just make sure that the pre-proposal conference is held at least three weeks in advance of the RFP due date so that information learned in the conference can be reflected in the SOQ. An alternative to the pre-proposal conference, or in conjunction with it, is to make the RFP and addenda available as a PDF on your website. This option gives all consultants the same access to pertinent information, even if they can’t attend the pre-proposal conference.
• Architects and designers will pursue every project they have a reasonable chance to get, but it isn’t cheap to prepare proposals. Don’t ask for material that you’re not going to read or review. All too often, consultants prepare proposals that cost thousands of dollars but go unread and unreviewed, because the selection process had a foregone conclusion.

Shortlisting Firms

After reviewing and evaluating proposals, it is customary to create a “shortlist” of firms to interview for the work. You should be convinced that any firm on the shortlist would be able to accomplish your project. How many firms should be shortlisted? Most consultants will tell you the fewer the better; every consultant I surveyed suggested a shortlist of no more than four firms. I’ve seen shortlists that had as many as eight firms.

My preference is for a shortlist of three to five: the smaller the project, the shorter the shortlist. The interview process isn’t cheap for either the consultant or the institutional members of the selection committee. Many firms will invest tens of thousands of dollars to prepare for an interview. If they really don’t have a chance, don’t shortlist them.

Another step that should be accomplished prior to completing a shortlist is the checking of references. Doing this after the interviews is a mistake. Checking references can help you create the shortlist. This important step is too often neglected altogether.

Interviews

All firms that submitted proposals should be notified of who made the shortlist. The firms on the shortlist should be notified of the time and place for interviews. Give them a minimum of three weeks’ lead-time so they can make travel arrangements, if necessary, and prepare materials, which may include reports, drawings, models, and/or computer presentations.

Several considerations should be taken into account in establishing the time and place for the interview:

• Every member of the selection committee should be in attendance at every interview. It isn’t fair to the consultants and it skews the results if any selection committee members are absent. Any committee member who can’t make it to every interview should excuse himself or herself from the process.
• If possible, hold all interviews in the same room. This levels the playing field and eliminates the risk that the environment might unduly influence the selection committee or give one team an unfair advantage.
• If possible, hold all interviews on the same day, or at least within a two-day period. This allows the selection committee to compare presentations that are fresh in their minds.
• Establishing interview order is a thankless job. Most firms want to go either first or last. No one wants to be buried in the middle. One reasonable way to establish interview order is to allow the firm that is traveling the farthest to choose the time that will work best with its travel needs.
• A truly fair method for scheduling the order is with a random drawing of firm names from a coffee cup. Just remember that however the interview order is established, someone will be displeased.
• Make sure that the interview room is large enough for the firms to set up display boards, and that all selection committee members have clear sight lines to the presentations. Most firms will appreciate the opportunity to see the room prior to the interview in order to better plan their presentation.
• Some firms will make their entire presentation with audiovisual equipment—laptop computers and projectors, or even slide projectors. This means the room should have, or have access to, a screen or other audiovisual equipment. If the room has windows, they should have the capability of being darkened.
• Most firms will appreciate the opportunity to rearrange the room for their presentation. If you allow one firm that opportunity, allow all firms to do it. Simply provide sufficient time between interviews for the room to be set up and tell the consultants how much time they will have. John White, director of capital planning at the University of California, Merced, suggests keeping the consultants separated so they don’t run into each other, thus avoiding potential awkwardness.
• Provide refreshments for the selection committee and the interviewees. Sometimes firms bring refreshments with them in an effort to influence the process. If the institution or agency conducting the interviews provides the refreshments, it obviates any advantage sought by the firms.
• Handle campus logistics for the consultant teams. Even for a consultant team familiar with your campus, providing a map of the campus, directions for parking and finding the interview room, and a visitor’s parking pass well in advance of the visit is extremely helpful. (Think about it: you would do the same for a person you were interviewing for a staff position in your department. In this case, you’re interviewing someone for a “temporary” position with your institution—so be nice to them.)

the longer the better; I like two-hour interviews. (Long interviews are another justification for smaller shortlists.) The reason for long interviews is that you’re going to be working with these consultants for at least three to four years, and much longer with some projects. The interview is your chance to see what kind of chemistry your team will have with their team. Let the consultants have plenty of time to make their presentation, and reserve plenty of time for questions and answers.

Watch group dynamics before and after the interview. Do their team members relate well with each other? Does the consultant team interact well with your team? One informal way to measure interaction chemistry is what I call the “humor index.” I have participated in dozens of interviews and often would count the number of times a firm would make jokes during the presentation. Sometimes the jokes were at their expense, sometimes at the institution’s expense. I found that the firm that made us laugh the most won the job 98 percent of the time. While not a scientific or unbiased study, it does illustrate that humor is a measure of the firm’s communication skills, relational skills, and general amiability.

Consider options other than a traditional interview, such as conducting the interview in the consultant’s office, touring some of their completed facilities, and interviewing their previous clients. Bruce Blackmer, CEO of Northwest Architectural Company, with offices in Spokane and Seattle, Washington, offers this wisdom on the subject of interviews:

Once firm credentials and capabilities have been reviewed and a shortlist of qualified firms established, the ‘people fit’ becomes the most important consideration. A short interview is the typical mode of making a selection, but it is very difficult to truly evaluate the likelihood of a long, successful relationship in the 30- to 60-minute interview held by most institutions. A successful method has been to visit the architects’ office and tour one or more of their relevant projects with the architect and preferably the owner present. You are establishing a partnership . . . don’t shortchange yourself of a thorough evaluation. Allow adequate time for questions, answers, and discussion during the interview. Remember you are evaluating the potentials of a relationship, so tailor the interview to seek out how that relationship will work, not just to have a ‘dog & pony’ show.

Recognize that an interview is an ‘artificial situation’ created in an attempt to predict future performance. The skill set primarily needed for future project success has little in common with the ‘theater arts’ that have become so typical in many interviews. Don’t be afraid to limit the formal aspects of the interview in particular and look for ways in which you can really get to know the team.

Post-Interview Debriefing

Once the selection committee has completed its deliberations and a winning team has been selected, it is usually appropriate to notify institutional leadership of the decision before notifying the teams. All teams, not just the winners, should be notified of the outcome. While it’s always fun to call the winning team, notifying the losers can be awkward. Sometimes it’s done with a call, often with a letter. Some institutions never notify the losing teams; the absence of the “winning” call is the de facto notification. I find that rude and unprofessional. If you thought enough of the team’s qualifications to shortlist them and interview them, they likewise deserve the consideration of a phone call notifying them of the outcome of the interviews.

The firms that aren’t successful in the interview process often will seek a debriefing to ascertain why they weren’t selected. Losing a job is a painful experience, but seeking to learn from the failure is an admirable and necessary aspect of both personal and professional growth. Sometimes state or institutional regulations prohibit post-interview debriefings, but if it is allowed and you do choose to do it, there are several points to keep in mind:

• Be aware of potential legal pitfalls. Even if the debriefing process is allowed, make sure your legal counsel is aware that you’re going to do it and find out what guidelines they have for you.
• Be as honest as you can. Sugarcoating issues won’t help the team on their next interview.
• Be aware that even though it can be painful for everyone involved, most consultants would rather go through a negative debriefing than continue to lose jobs.

Negotiating Contracts

In addition to the call that notifies the winning team, an official letter of notification is sent as well, outlining the next steps. The first “next step” is to define the scope of work and negotiate the contract. This will take longer than you think. Don’t scrimp on consultant compensation—you get what you pay for. As mentioned previously, some states prescribe the amount of compensation allowed. Remember, too, that the AIA’s contract formulas define “basic services” as well as “special” or “additional” services. Be sure that all the services you need, basic or special, are included in the contract.

For instance, creating artist’s renderings or models of the proposed facility for use in marketing and fundraising is not a basic service.

If you determine that these are needed, include them in the contract negotiation as a special service. Always engage qualified institutional legal representation when negotiating and signing any contract.