Georgia committee approves bill to require qualification-based selection for architects and engineers

The House Governmental Affairs Committee on [date not specified] passed Senate Bill 51, extending a qualification-based selection process to state and local procurements of architects and engineers.

Senator Cecil, who presented the bill to the committee, said the change would align local procurement practices with the method the state and the Board of Regents already use and with federal procurement law. “The architect engineer is the trusted advisor for the owner,” Cecil said, and selecting firms on qualifications, rather than letting low fee dominate the selection, “aligns the architect engineer’s scope and direction with the government so they serve as that trusted advisor throughout the entire process.”

Supporters said the process, commonly called QBS, is designed to have public…