On-Call Engineering Services – A Win/Win

Larry J. Schall, P.E.
Client Liaison
Shafer, Kline & Warren, Inc.

As a Public Works agency trying to maintain your community’s quality of life in challenging economic times, you need to watch for industry trends and consider adjusting work processes to accomplish your goals. This article goes back in time, and then forward, to try to explain one trend we are seeing that can help Public Works agencies accomplish more with less effort.

An On-Call Engineering Services Contract is a contract type that has been around for many years. With “one” Request for Qualifications (RFQ)/proposal/interview/contracting process, a Public Works agency selects one or more engineering consultants, reducing the need to have a similar process for every new project that is undertaken. From a reduced man-hour usage alone, this is a WIN/WIN situation for both Public Works agencies and consulting firms.

Back about 19 years ago when our firm started pursuing this type of on-call contract in earnest, perhaps one Public Works agency out of ten would consider this type of contracting format. I was told by many clients then that it was politically unpopular to use on-call contracts for two reasons. First, their political leaders liked the idea of spreading work around to several consultants, and second because consultants themselves did not want to be left out of consideration for the length of the on-call agreement. Over the years, this engineering consulting contracting method has been gaining popularity with government agencies for several reasons, such as:

• Tightening Public Works budgets have resulted in staff reductions, creating an overall strain on available time to process multiple RFQ’s, proposals, interviews and contracts.
• It has become politically popular to increase the speed in which agencies can get started on any project, especially fast-track and/or emergency projects.
• Public Works agencies have determined they can select “more than one” on-call consultant in a single selection process as a way to match specific areas of expertise to specific project types.
• Agencies have found they can eliminate the learning curve of how to communicate with a different consultant for every new project (which both decreases their time needed to manage the consultant and increases the likelihood the consultant’s first product deliverable will meet the needs of the agency).
• Agencies have found on-call contracts can have multiple year extensions without another selection process, provided the consultant has performed well.

So what is the increased percentage of Public Works agencies using On-Call Engineering Services Contracts? I estimate the percentage has gone from about 10 percent back 19 years ago, to about 70 percent today.

After interviewing for on-call contracts for many years and talking to the Public Works clients afterward, I have found, in general, that agencies are looking for similar things from their on-call consultants. In no particular order, they look for:

• Previous experience serving as an on-call consultant.
• A wide range of services offered so they can select as few consultants as possible to get their anticipated projects completed successfully.
• An experienced project manager, who is skilled in one or more of the anticipated project types.
• A secondary person pre-defined to contact in case the consultant’s project manager is not available. This person will also be able to get a new assignment started.
• A consistent and easy to understand invoice process.
• A consultant that will tell them if they are not qualified or too busy to handle an assignment, so they can select another consultant.
• Most of all, they are looking for consultants that can act as an extension of their own staff! Doing such things as assisting in brainstorming sessions, making presentations to their political body and/or citizen groups, participating in other consultant’s plan reviews, coordinating with internal departments or outside agencies/utilities, and displaying an ability to give each new assignment a “high priority.”

In conclusion, I anticipate increased usage of On-Call Engineering Services contracts to continue. It is truly a WIN/WIN situation; giving Public Works agencies a way to get more done with less time and people, and allowing engineering consultants a chance to win more work with less non-billable time spent preparing written proposals, practicing for formal interviews or negotiating contracts.

Larry Schall is a Past President of the Kansas City Metro APWA Chapter, and has worked 13 years in City Government and 27 years as a Consulting Engineer.