Letter to purchasers/clients

Letter to purchasers/clients
s the organization that regulates the engineering profession in the public interest,
Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) has become concerned that clients are increasingly
selecting firms to provide engineering services mainly on the basis of price. This letter is to
suggest that clients would be better served by using quality-based selection (QBS) instead, and to
encourage you to read the enclosed pamphlet outlining the QBS process and its benefits.
A
When engineering services are selected solely on the basis of price, clients are obliged to define
scopes of work in detail, to enable responding engineers to provide prices for equivalent services.
Experience has shown that this approach often shortchanges clients, because it denies engineers the
opportunity to apply their professional knowledge to the task of developing a scope of work that
best meets a client’s project objectives. Also, it is important to recognize that price proposals submitted in response to client-developed scopes of work can vary widely, because the scopes of work,
while detailed, may be poorly defined (after all, most clients have limited experience in developing
scopes of work for engineering services). This situation makes price-based selection a gamble,
because a client cannot determine if all the responding engineers had a common understanding of
the scope of work.
Certainly, PEO has no intention of dictating the terms by which engineers compete for work. We
recognize that engineers and clients have a right to establish together any fee for services (and to
assist them in establishing fair and reasonable remuneration, we have established a Schedule of
Fees for Engineering Services, which is available at PEO’s website–http://www.peo.on.ca–or by contacting PEO).However, we also recognize a responsibility to alert clients to the risks inherent in business practices that we believe are inappropriate for selecting engineering services.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to point out that all engineers are subject to certain legal and ethical obligations in undertaking engineering work. Paramount among these is a
duty to protect public safety and welfare. But engineers are further obligated to conduct all work
competently, and to act as faithful agents of their clients. PEO encourages you to report to the
Registrar any engineer you retain who fails to maintain these standards.
We also invite you to contact our Director of Professional Affairs, if you require further information
about quality-based selection, or if you wish to discuss your selection practices.
Yours sincerely,
President
Letter to engineers
s the organization that regulates the engineering profession in the public interest,
Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) has become concerned that clients are increasingly
inviting firms like yours to compete for engineering work on the basis of price. This letter is
to suggest that the engineering profession, your clients, and the public-at-large would be better
served by using quality-based selection (QBS) instead, and to encourage you to read the enclosed
pamphlet outlining the QBS process and its benefits.
A
When engineering services are selected solely on the basis of price, clients are obliged to define
scopes of work in detail, to enable responding engineers to provide prices for equivalent services.
Experience has shown that this approach often shortchanges clients, because it denies engineers the
opportunity to apply their professional knowledge to the task of developing a scope of work that
best meets a client’s project objectives. Recently, PEO began actively contacting clients to educate
them about the risks inherent in using price as the dominant criteria in selecting engineering services, and to encourage them to use quality-based selection of engineers as the best means of ensuring value-for-money in any engineering project.
Certainly, PEO has no intention of dictating the terms by which engineers compete for work. We
recognize that firms like yours and clients have a right to establish together any fee for services (and
to assist you in establishing fair and reasonable remuneration, we have established a Schedule of
Fees for Engineering Services, which is available at PEO’s website–http://www.peo.on.ca–or by contacting PEO). However, we also recognize a responsibility to discourage business practices that we
believe are inappropriate for engineering services.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to remind you that, regardless of fee, all engineers
are subject to certain legal and ethical obligations in undertaking engineering work. Paramount
among these is a duty to protect public safety and welfare. Fulfilling this obligation requires that
engineers ensure that all engineering work meets a professional standard of care.
We invite you to contact our Director of Professional Affairs, if you require further information about
quality-based selection, or if you wish to discuss the issue further.
Yours sincerely,
President