How to request and select professional services

The true cost of a service is determined not by the fee paid, but rather by the results achieved. What you pay for is the results - the accuracy and reliability of the information used - and results depend on the quality of the services you receive.

Undeniably, the education, training, experience and talent of the consultant are primary quality determinants. Often, however, the most important factor in the product quality is the consultant's attitude toward you as a customer. When they really want to make you happy, your consultant will respond quickly to your unanticipated needs and consistently apply the time, dedication, creativity and ingenuity needed to meet your goals

Two Ways to Select a Professional Consultant

The method used to select and retain professionals has a crucial effect on their attitudes. Frequently, one of two methods is used: bidding and qualification-based selection (QBS).

Bidding: interested firms make a variety of assumptions about your requirements, develop a scope of service that allows them to fulfill your assumed needs as cheaply as possible and submit their bids. The lowest bidder typically wins the contract.

QBS: interested firms tell you about their qualifications and you determine which one is best suited for your organization and project. You collaborate with the consultant's project team to develop a mutually agreeable scope of service, and the firm submits its fee proposal. Assuming the project team and the proposed fee are acceptable, you retain the firm.

Bidding and QBS are traditional purchasing methods used for a variety of professional services. In general, QBS makes identification of the most qualified firm and establishment of fee sequential events. Assuming that identification of the most qualified firm is even a concern, bidding makes the two procedures simultaneous. This difference can have profound consequences. Bidding makes the service a commodity: it presupposes that whatever you're buying will be the same no matter who provides it, so low price is an appropriate criterion. It encourages all bidders to do the work as cheaply as they can, under the assumption that all firms and project teams being considered have the same qualifications and will apply the same amount of time, dedication, creativity and ingenuity to please you. This is a dangerous assumption! Professionals are not commodities; they're people. It's unrealistic to expect people to do their best no matter what crises they encounter if their main motivation is to save money.

QBS, on the other hand, presupposes that the lowest fee is not an appropriate selection factor when professional services are involved, because so many other factors take precedence: experience, knowledge, skill, talent and availability, to name a few. QBS also assumes that in-depth discussion of the project and mutual development of the scope of service will optimize delivery of the service and the results it achieves. By clarifying the precise requirements for the level of service to be provided, the client can lower costs by eliminating uncertainty.

One criticism of QBS is the amount of time the selection process supposedly takes. This belief is 180 degrees off the mark. In fact, QBS is open to a number of acceptable shortcuts, especially when a client/consultant relationship already exists. For example, the first QBS element can be abbreviated to a telephone call, a short meeting or a request for qualifications in which you advise your group of consultants, "I have a project and need to check on your availability and interest." Given your professional's familiarity with your preferences and procedures, the scope and fee can often be agreed to within hours.

Using QBS

How do you establish such a strong client/consultant relationship? By using "full-blown" QBS at least once to establish a level of familiarity with a variety of firms. A great deal of work is required to implement procedures that screen out unqualified firms and limit bidding to qualified firms, developing a "level playing field" scope on which all firms can bid.

The basic QBS process is very straightforward: discuss the project in detail, agree on a scope of work, collect proposals and contract for the work. However, a little more time spent in the early part of the selection process can save both parties dramatic amounts of time and money. A more detailed process might look like this:

Initiate QBS by soliciting statements of qualifications.

Interested firms respond by submitting statements of qualifications, client references and similar background materials.

Evaluate the general and project-specific experience of each firm and the experience and capabilities of the personnel.

Select the three, four, or five firms you consider best suited for the project.

Speak with others who have relied on these firms, preferably for similar projects, to determine the quality of past services.

• Did they keep their clients informed?
• Did they respond quickly to questions and concerns?
• Were their "deliverables" of acceptable quality?
• Was the cost of implementation as expected?
• Did they deal well with the unanticipated?
• Did they earn respect and trust?

Meet via e-mail, phone or in person with each firm still "in the running" to gain more knowledge about each firm's qualifications and insight into the personalities of those who would be working together.

Personality factors cannot be overemphasized. Clients and their technical professionals must work closely together to produce a high-quality result; they need trust and confidence in one another to do so. To a very real extent, work on the project begins while you're negotiating with your preferred firm: you're working to establish a shared vision of your intended outcome and to clarify ambiguities, undo misunderstandings, eliminate assumptions, and set realistic expectations about issues such as schedule and budget.

The selected firms prepare a comprehensive scope of service and establish the fee for implementing it. If the fee is reasonable and within your budget, you would formally retain the most qualified firm and so advise the other, "short-listed" firms. Should the proposed fee exceed budget, you would work with the firm to develop a revised scope and a corresponding budget you both could live with. If you could not come to terms (a genuine rarity that usually stems more from contract issues than fee), you would formally conclude discussions with your top-ranked firm and then initiate talks with the firm you consider next-best qualified.

Mutual scope of service development is an extremely important element of the procurement process. No other technique permits clients and consultants to develop such an intimate understanding of one another's goals, objectives, needs, preferences, risk tolerances and similar concerns before striking an agreement. Mutual scope development helps ensure that the scope of service and fee encompass your desired result in light of the firm's and project team's experience and capabilities.

Astute design and environmental professionals understand that the first QBS project they perform for a client gives them an opportunity to create a client for life.