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CASE # DISCUSSION OF CONSULTANT SELECTION By: Steve Jankowski, City Engineer Background: At the workshop meeting, on January 28, 1995, Council members expressed interest in reviewing the procedure for professional engineering consultant selection on City projects. The following is a list of firms which have expressed an interest in providing consulting engineering services to the City of Ramsey over the past several years: Ban- Engineering Co. Bolton & Menk, Inc. Bonestroo, Rosene, Andeflik & Assocs, Inc. BRW, Inc. Clark Engineering Corporation Comstock & Davis, Inc. McCombs Frank Roos Associates, Inc. MSA Consulting Engineers Orr-Schelen-Mayeron & Associates, Inc. Hakanson Anderson Associates, Inc. RLK Associates Rieke Carroll Muller Associates, Inc. Robert Yourzak & Associates RUST Enviromnent & Infrastructure Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. Strgar-Roscoe-Fausch, Inc. Toltz, King, Duvall, Anderson & Assocs, Inc. Ulteig Engineers, Inc. Widseth Smith Nolting & Associates, Inc. Edwards &Kelcey John Oliver & Associates Merila & Associates Sunde Engineering Inc. Progressive Consulting Engineers All but one or two are full service fu'ms, which could submit proposals on most projects the City would encounter. Having this myriad of qualified firms readily available in the metro area makes it difficult to select a particular consultant for a particular project. Most communities address this dilemma by creating a short list of consultants who are considered for projects. The City of Ramsey currently has such a short list, which evolved from the f'mns which submitted the lowest cost proposals on several projects over the last several years. Currently, this short list consists of: Hakanson Anderson Associates, Inc.: many projects RLK Associates: 153rd/155th Avenue N.W. project; the Comprehensive Plan update Bonestroo Associates: Water System study BRW, Inc.: City's Comprehensive Plan Update At the present time, each project has a scope of work defined in a request for proposals and selection has been based upon the lowest not-to-exceed cost quoted in the proposal. The American Public Works Association does not endorse this method of consultant selection. I will have information available at the meeting showing the bid amounts for projects in the City. Discussion: The issues involved are twofold. First, how should a short list of consultants be determined, and, secondly, how should selection be made for a specific project and how should they be compensated. Many communities develop a short list of consultants similar to Ramsey -- they consider lb'ms which have done previous work in their community. Periodically, a new firm is added to the list. The addition can be based on firm interest and reputation. It may also be possible to go through a formal interview process to consider candidate consultants to be added to the short list, however, this process is somewhat more time consuming.