Columbia County commissioners direct staff to rework engineering continuing-service contracts and RFQ process

Columbia County commissioners on Wednesday directed staff to prepare a proposed request-for-qualifications (RFQ) and a review of the county’s continuing-service engineering contracts after public discussion about transparency, pricing and the composition of ranking committees.

Commissioner Rocky Ford led the push, saying the county has too few engineers on continuing-service contracts and that the current process leaves no room to negotiate project prices. "If it's an engineering service and we're paying over $30,000 for it, it should come before the board for approval," Ford said during the meeting. He asked staff to reopen solicitation for continuing-service contracts and to consider using a broader, randomly selected ranking committee drawn from planning, economic development and business groups to reduce the appearance of favoritism.

Why it matters: continuing-service contracts are used to quickly assign engineering on projects under state thresholds. Commissioners said the county has relied on a small set of local firms for many projects and some constituents have questioned whether that limits competition or transparency. The board asked staff to balance the county’s need for quick response on emergencies with public oversight over larger or unusual contracts.

County attorney–level and procurement staff described the legal framework and practical purpose of continuing-service contracts. Joel (staff) explained the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act process the county uses: firms are evaluated on qualifications first and price is discussed only with the top-ranked firm. "The CCNA actually says don't ask about price until you get past the selection phase," Joel said. He added that once a continuing-service contract is in place, the county may select a contractor "off the shelf" for qualifying projects and does not have the authority to force those contractors to re-bid against one another for each project.

County staff and commissioners debated how often to re-solicit: the county's last broad solicitation for some contracts appeared to be in 2015. Staff noted the practical advantages of local firms: on-site availability, institutional knowledge on multi-year projects such as the landfill, and rapid response during construction problems. "We can pick up the phone and the engineer of record was on the job the next morning. Problem solved," an operations staffer said when describing recent field incidents.

Staff proposed a compromise to increase transparency without slowing emergency response: continue to use continuing-service contracts for routine, time-sensitive work but provide quarterly or quarterly-capital-project updates that list the projects, their engineering firms and engineering fees. Kevin (staff) suggested lowering the threshold for routine use of continuing-service contracts from the state ceiling and requiring board review for larger or nonstandard contracts: "If you want anything outside of day-to-day projects, vulnerability studies or that weird stuff, I don't think staff should hire an engineer firm without coming from this board."

Board direction and next steps: the board asked staff to draft an RFQ for continuing-service engineering contracts and to prepare a report listing all continuing-service agreements and recommended candidates for rebid. Commissioners discussed rules for ranking committees and asked staff to propose a selection/pool process (volunteer pool randomized for each solicitation with at least one subject-matter expert on each committee).

The discussion included representatives of local engineering firms. Greg Bailey of NFPS, a local firm frequently used by the county, defended current work and said his office employs about 55 people, most of them Columbia County residents: "We've done a great job for the county. We've done an economic job for the county. Columbia County is home to all of us." He and others said market conditions and construction cost inflation also explain why some projects came in higher than initial estimates.

The board did not adopt a formal policy at the meeting; instead commissioners directed staff to draft the RFQ and the contract-review report and return with a recommendation on which continuing-service contracts should be rebid or updated.