I received a call from a local government agency, requesting a subdivision of a small apartment complex that was built on a 20 acre tract (6.5 acres out of the 20), but was never submitted for subdivision or to planning and zoning department. They evidently bypassed the system because they were "the gub'ment".
I provided the agent I was dealing with, 3 options and fees commensurate with our services. The most expensive being an ALTA/subdivision combination, explaining the pros and cons for each option. I expected the agent to hem & haw about the fees and shop the prices with my competitors.
Low & behold, I received a call this morning, giving the green light for the most expensive option. It turn out that the agent had some experience dealing with the engineering and surveying community, and knew that he was getting a fair price for the amount of work that would go into his project, and that he didn't even bother requesting quotes from other surveyors.
Not that its unheard of, but it is rare that we have the opportunity to deal with an individual or agency that knows that the value isn't always from the lowest bidder!
Now that this feel good story is out, I hope you all have similar success today and enjoy a safe weekend!
> Not that its unheard of, but it is rare that we have the opportunity to deal with an individual or agency that knows that the value isn't always from the lowest bidder!
I do a LOT of public sector work and it is always qualifications based.
Mississippi is supposed to be "qualification" based, but more often than not, it comes down to who can save me the most money.
We do about 75% of our work in the public sector and we've found that it depends on the size of the contract and of the agency requesting the proposal. Most smaller projects and municipalities only go on price (usually through the town/city/village engineer). That said the list of proposers is usually vetted by the engineer to people they know can do the work. Most of the larger state projects are qualification based and actual price for services is negotiated afterwords.
Tom
New York is supposed to be qualification based, they cop out by saying everyone is equally qualified so price is the deciding factor. Government at its laziest, whoops, I meant best.