Blog W4/Hamed AL Foori- Methods of Evaluating Supervisory Consultants for the Project Implementation Department

Problem Statement:

For every new project (Independent Water or Independent Power Project) , there is the process of hiring technical supervisory consultants to support the Implementation Team starting the execution of the project until commercial operation. Because OPWP is dealing with large-scale, multi-million projects and ensuring safe and reliable operation of the plants for the term of the contract, it is extremely important to award the supervisory services contract to the highly qualified and competent engineering firm. This blog will examine the selection criteria of the bids.

Feasible Alternative:

Evaluation of an advisory consultant can be done based on the following methods:
1) Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS).
2) Quality-Based Selection (QBS).
3) Fixed-Budget Selection (FBS).
4) Least-Cost Selection (LCS). 

Outcomes of the Alternatives:

Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS). This method is used when quality and budget are important, but with different ratios assigned to each category. This approach is used when the scope of work is clear and different budget can be allocated. Depending on the nature of the assigned project, this method allows flexible distribution of weights between the technical evaluation and the commercial evaluation.
Quality-Based Selection (QBS). This approach is highly dependent on the technical submission of the consultants. QBS is normally used when the scope is not that clear and the assigned project is technically complex. After short listing of highly ranked bids, financial negotiation is then taking place.
Fixed-Budget Selection (FBS). FBS is used when the technical scope is clearly defined with no additional requests to be expected later. Selection of the bids is subject to the assigned fixed (budget constrains).
 Least-Cost Selection (LCS).  After successful bidders have been shortlisted (technical evaluation), the bid with the lowest cost service gets the project. This approach is normally used in small projects.

Acceptance Criteria:

The acceptance criteria will be the selection criteria used in the evaluation of supervisory consultant services. These criteria will be compared between the alternatives mentioned earlier.

Table 1: Acceptance Criteria of Supervisory Consultant Services

Evaluation Categories
Selection Criteria



Technical Proposal

Quality of submission 
Compliance with requirements
Plan of Work
Methodology
Schedule
Completeness

Personal Profile
Project Manager's Profile
Team's Profile
Qualification

Firm Profile
Relevant Projects
Omanisation
Reputation
Financial Proposal
Cost of services
                            $

           
Comparison of the outcomes against the acceptance criteria.

Evaluation Alternatives
Quality
Compliance with requirements
Methodology
Schedule
Completeness
Project Manager
Team
Relevant Projects
Total
Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS).
4
3
3
4
3
4
4
3
33
Quality-Based Selection (QBS).
4
4
4
4
4
4
3
4
31
 Fixed-Budget Selection (FBS).
3
2
3
2
3
3
3
3
21
 Least-Cost Selection (LCS). 
3
2
3
2
2
3
2
2
19

Evaluation Alternatives
Omanisation
Reputation
$
Final Total
Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS).
2
3
2

38
Quality-Based Selection (QBS).
1
2
1
39
 Fixed-Budget Selection (FBS).
0
2
4
30
 Least-Cost Selection (LCS). 
0
1
4
26

Scores
Prioritization
0
5th
1
4th
2
3rd
3
2nd
4
1st

Comparing the Outcomes and Selection of the Best Alternatives

Based on the above analysis and depending on the purpose of hiring supervisory consultants, both quality-cost based selection and quality based selection meet the criteria. Both methods are used for hiring technical advisors to work on complicated and large-scale projects. While least-cost selection is the least common approach as it highly considers the financial aspect of the bids, fixed budget is balancing between financial and technical aspects.
How to utilize the best approach in the procurement process

Depending on the assigned project and budget and to ensure technical and financial expectations are met, the procurement department may have the choice of Quality-Cost Base Selection to evaluate the bids from the consultants. Because of the complexity of  the projects the Implementation Department is dealing with, fixed budget and least cost selection methods are not recommended.   

Reference:

Guild of Project Controls Compendium and Reference (CaR). (2015). Retrieved from http://www.planningplanet.com/guild/gpccar/managing-change-the-owners-perspective
Evaluation Criteria Use of evaluation criteria for procurement of Goods, Works, and Non-consulting Services using RFB and RFP. (2016). Retrieved from http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/201591478724669006/Guidance-Evaluation-Criteria-FINAL.pdf
Project Administration Instructions. (N.D). Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/33431/pai-2-02.pdf



Comments

  1. EXCELLENT case study Hamed!!! Can I challenge you to do another blog on this topic but this time, take it to a more sophisticated level by creating a WEIGHT ADJUSTED bid using the additive weighting technique? http://www.planningplanet.com/guild/gpccar/managing-change-the-owners-perspective Figures 12-14?

    BR,
    Dr. PDG, Jakarta

    ReplyDelete
  2. PS by that I mean using the actual bid values (don't use real numbers) and then modifying them based on your scoring model to produce a rank ordering of bidders AFTER the adjustments have been made?

    BR,
    Dr. PDG, Jakarta

    ReplyDelete

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