Evaluation of design-builder qualifications through the analysis of requests for qualifications

The two-phase best-value process has been widely used by public agencies for Design and Build (DB) procurement, with a key issue in the first phase of prequalification the determination of evaluation criteria. This study identified a set of general qualification criteria for design-builders and compares their relative importance by a thorough content analysis of 97 Requests for Qualification (RFQ) for public DB projects advertised between 2000 and 2011 in various regions of the United States. The thirty-nine qualification criteria found are summarized and classified into eight categories comprising: experience; project understanding, and approach; organizational structure and capacity; past performance record; professional qualifications; responsiveness to RFQs, office location, and familiarity with local environment; and legal status in descending order of their relative importance. A comparative analysis of different types of projects shows that the relative weightings of the qualification criteria vary according to different characteristics of the DB projects involved.