All architect-engineer consultant firms desiring to provide
services to the Department, whether as prime consultants or subconsultants,
must be prequalified before any consideration can be given to their proposals.
Prequalification must be obtained no later than the final date established for
the receipt of proposals on any particular work. Provided, however, that a firm
which is prequalified for one or more types of work on the final date
established for the receipt of proposals may submit supplemental information
necessary to establish prequalification for an additional type or types of
work; such supplemental information must be received by the Consultant Services
Unit no later than three working days prior to the Consultant Selection
Committee meeting. Prequalification procedures are as follows:
a) A properly completed "Statement of
Experience and Financial Condition" (SEFC) form with required attachments must
be filed with the Division of Highways, Consultant Services Unit. Because of
varying workloads, it is not possible for the Department to guarantee that
SEFC's will be processed within a particular time period. Accordingly, a firm
desiring to become prequalified in order to be considered for a particular job
should file its SEFC as early as possible.
b) The Consultant Services Unit will consider
the SEFC and attachments and will notify a firm of the size and types of
service it is qualified to perform. When this notice is given, a firm is
prequalified.
c) The
prequalification notice provided in (b) above will, unless otherwise changed by
the Department, be effective from the time notice is given until 18 months
after the end of the firm's last-reported fiscal year. At that time, the
prequalification automatically expires and a firm's proposals cannot be
considered until prequalification is obtained again. In order to avoid
expiration of its prequalification, a firm should submit as early as possible
after each fiscal year end a complete and updated SEFC.
d) Each firm has a continuing obligation to
notify the Department of any change which would be likely to impair
significantly its ability to perform successfully any work for which it might
be considered.
e) A firm may be
removed from the list of prequalified consultants for a particular type of
service if an evaluation of its work for the Department indicates that this
service was determined to be poor on a single project or below adequate on two
or more projects. At the conclusion of each contract, the Department shall
evaluate the consultant's overall performance, considering the quality and
adequacy of final plans and documents, the extent of corrections and
resubmittals, cooperation in meeting District requests and making revisions,
any failure to meet established schedules due to poor or slow work, and claims
for extra work and adequacy of support. The firm shall be advised of the
specific deficiencies and shall be reinstated only after it submits sufficient
evidence that such deficiencies have been corrected.
f) All inquiries regarding the procedures or
information required for prequalification shall be referred to the Consultant
Services Unit.
g) Unless otherwise
required by law, the Department will maintain and treat all information
required under Section
625.40
as confidential and as for use only by the Department or another governmental
agency entitled by law or by agreement to use such information.