Construction Management – Selection of CM and Contractor Services

This information is not intended to assess the use of Construction Management but is offered as guidance to making the selection process for these services fair, open and transparent as possible. The BCCA policy for the use of Construction Management can be found on-line at http://bccassn.com/industry-priorities/policy-statements/

Regardless of whether the AIT applies or not, sole source selection of Construction Management services without a competitive process of some kind is not an open and transparent process for publicly funded projects. A pure qualification based selection process for Construction Management services, which does not take price into account at all, is also questionably a fair process.

The selection decision should be based strictly on the criteria and methodology set out in the RFP. No additional subjective factors that were not disclosed to the proponents should be considered. The evaluation should be performed by an evaluation team comprised of at least three people. It may also be desirable to have an independent fairness monitor to evaluate the entire process to ensure that no bias has played a part in the selection process. The use of an independent fairness monitor is a process that has been used by the Ministry of Transportation in British Columbia, when they are selecting the successful proponent in a subjective analysis environment.

Once a Construction Manager has been chosen, a clear and transparent process should also be followed in contracting with trade contractors (an independent fairness monitor should also be considered during this process). This should include the following:

• Any pre-qualification of trade contractors be completed based on objective evaluation of criteria.
• The use of Bid Depository.
• A local public tender opening.
• When the Construction Manager is bidding own forces to compete with the trade contractors for any trade packages, that are put out for bidding, then it must be clearly identified during the bidding process that the CM is a competitor. A transparent process for evaluation and selection of the successful contractor are imperative.
• The recommended use of standard contract CCA #17: Stipulated Price Contract for Trade Contractors on Construction Management Projects.
• All separate/alternate prices that are acceptable for consideration should be documented in the specifications or addenda.
• For the tender to be considered valid, it should be submitted as per plans specifications and addenda with no qualifications on the face of the tender.
• The awarding of contracts should be based on the lowest base bid or, if specified in the bid documents, on the lowest combination of base bid and acceptable alternative prices. Unsolicited alternatives should not be considered in the contract award.