IIBEC Sends Letter Outlining Role of Consultants to NJ Cooperative Purchasing Entity

By John Boling

On September 5, 2023, IIBEC sent a letter to the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey outlining best practices when procuring construction design services. The letter was a result of an attentive member who looked into the project, realized that a consultant would have done it better, and alerted IIBEC.

In its letter IIBEC outlined three practices that the cooperative purchasing group needed to follow:

• First, ensure contracts do not undermine state requirements for the procurement of architectural, engineering, and design services.
• Second, ensure independence of the design professional by disallowing roof consultant/building enclosure consultant services to be included in a unit price procurement list.
• Third, require the use of credentialed professionals on building enclosure projects.

IIBEC also requested a detailed response regarding how the cooperative purchasing group complies with state qualifications-based selection requirements.

This episode is a reminder to all consultants that if you see something, say something—to IIBEC leadership or your regional directors. A good first step in combatting bad contracting practices a letter from a national organization like IIBEC that alerts the target organization that someone is watching what it is doing. That’s all it takes to get them back on track.