Chapter 4 - § 4.4 • PROCUREMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 4.4 • PROCUREMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Procurement of professional services by the state is governed by several statutes that apply to different types of services. Procurement of the "professional services" of architects, engineers, land surveyors, industrial hygienists, and landscape architects is governed by C.R.S. §§ 24-30-1401, et seq. This statute governs the employment of design professionals. It requires submission of qualifications and proposals and permits the state and its agencies to negotiate contracts for professional services based upon competence, qualifications, and a fair and reasonable fee.⁸³ Any person wanting to provide such professional services to the state must submit each year a statement of qualifications and performance data.⁸⁴ Although professional services listings are maintained by the state, public notice is still required for a project estimated to be more than $1 million, or involving a fee for professional services estimated to exceed $100,000.⁸⁵ The requirements for the public notice are set forth in the statute.⁸⁶

The selection of the person to provide professional services for a specific project is made by the principal representative of the state entity involved. "Principal representative" means the governing board of a state department, institution, or agency, or if there is no governing board, the executive head of a state department, institution, or agency.⁸⁷ For each proposed project, the principal representative evaluates the statements of qualifications and selects no less than three persons ranked in order and deemed the most highly qualified to perform the particular work.⁸⁸ This selection is based upon factors such as ability, past performance, willingness to meet time and budget requirements, location, current and projected work loads, volume of work previously awarded to the person by the principal representative, and the extent to which persons seeking to provide professional services will involve minority subcontractors.⁸⁹ The objective is to effect an "equitable distribution of contracts among qualified persons," providing this does not violate the principle of selecting the most highly qualified person.⁹⁰ All other factors being equal, Colorado firms are to be given preference.⁹¹

The principal representative begins negotiation with the highest qualified person.⁹² The objective is to negotiate a contract with "fair and reasonable" compensation.⁹³...