House Local Government Committee took testimony on HB 5238 but no vote was taken and the bill will need to be reintroduced next year. This bill would have required all cities and villages to use a Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) procurement process when acquiring architectural and engineering services.

UBS is a competitive procurement process in which engineering firms submit qualifications to the community. The Community would then assess the expertise of the competing firms and select the most qualified firm. Once selected the community would negotiate the project scope and associated fee. If the community and the most qualified firm cannot reach an agreement on project scope, schedule and budget, the community then negotiates with the next most qualified firm.

While there are many communities in Michigan that utilize a QBS process, The League feels that mandating this process on communities is not appropriate. While saving are possible the use of this process cannot guarantee those savings will actually occur. We oppose this legislation and are pleased it will not see action during lame-duck this year.

The League firmly believes that communities should have local control when procuring architectural and engineering services and should not be mandated to follow any one specific process.

John LaMacchia is the Assistant Director of State and Federal Affairs for the League handling transportation, infrastructure, energy and environment issues. He can be reached at [email protected] or 517-908-0303.