On Tuesday, June 9, 2020, the division of purchases advised suppliers of a business process change to align the award of Architect and Engineering (A&E) services with all other competitive solicitations.
Metro will now award A&E contracts based solely upon the recommendation of the solicitation review panel. The Mayor will no longer make final firm selection.
This is consistent with the manner in which every other competitive solicitation is awarded and is aligned with industry best practice. The approach has been welcomed by the administration, industry groups, state regulatory authorities, and the procurement standards board—all of which were consulted in advance.
Previous Practice
A&E solicitations have always been scored by a review panel. However, past practice reserved the ultimate decision on award for the Mayor. Generally, a review panel selected the top three (3) offers and sent those to the Mayor for consideration.
This was inconsistent with the manner in which other competitive solicitations were awarded and was not aligned with industry best practice. It also had no basis in either the procurement code or regulations.
This change will promote transparency in awards, while also aligning Metro’s internal processes for all competitive solicitations.
Questions should be directed to the purchasing agent, Michelle Lane.