Performance-based evaluation for engineering consultants: A study of assessment criteria

Selection of engineering consultants by bid price alone is considered problematic, as the quality of service provided by incapable or unsuitable consultants could in turn affect the time, cost and quality throughout the entire project life cycle. In view of the deficiencies of fee-based methods, project owners in many advanced countries now in favor of adopting Quality-Based Selection (QBS) approaches for selecting consultants. When determining consultant’s competence, previous performance should be carefully examined as the quality of consultants can be directly or indirectly reflected through their performance of similar previous assignments. The importance of performance evaluation is reflected by the high weighting attached to performance-related criteria in many real-world QBS systems. Despite its significance, Consultant Performance Evaluation (CPE) has never been a subject of thorough investigation. In practice, various owners have their own evaluation procedures, criteria and emphasis (reflected in the weightings assigned to the evaluation criteria), and it is difficult to establish a transparent and objective practice for CPE. There is a need to examine whether a universal set of CPE criteria and weightings can be derived for project owners in order to prevent any discrepancies in consultant selection decisions. This paper reports the results of an empirical study conducted with owners and engineering consultants in Hong Kong. The significance of CPE criteria is examined and a list of predominant CPE criteria for QBS approaches is proposed.