Glossary
Qualifications-based selection (QBS)
Qualifications-based selection (QBS) is a procurement method in which firms are ranked on qualifications alone and price is negotiated only after ranking. It is the required method for architectural and engineering services on federal projects under the Brooks Act, 40 U.S.C. 1103, which directs agencies to hold discussions with at least three firms, rank at least three as most highly qualified using published criteria, and then negotiate.
If negotiations with the top-ranked firm fail on price, the agency terminates them and moves to the second-ranked firm. It may not go back.
The short version
- Under QBS you do not submit a fee with your qualifications. Submitting one unsolicited can disqualify you.
- Ranking is on published criteria: relevant experience, key personnel, past performance, capacity and approach.
- Negotiation happens sequentially, one firm at a time, in rank order.
- The Brooks Act defines architectural and engineering services broadly, covering design, planning, studies and construction-phase professional services by licensed professionals.
Why it matters to a bidder
QBS rewards a completely different submission than a priced RFP. You are selling the team, not the number:
- Named personnel are the product. Evaluators score the individuals proposed, their licensure and their availability. Substituting them later is a contract issue.
- Relevant project experience beats volume. Three closely comparable projects outscore twenty loosely related ones.
- Prepare a defensible fee build-up. When you are ranked first, negotiation moves to hours, rates and scope. Bring a labor-hour estimate you can justify line by line.
- Being ranked second is worth tracking. If the first negotiation fails, you are next, and it happens.
A real example
A county issues a Request for Qualifications for design of a wastewater plant expansion. Fourteen firms respond, five are shortlisted and interviewed, and three are ranked. The county negotiates with the top-ranked firm for six weeks, cannot agree on a fee for the hydraulic modeling scope, formally terminates negotiations, and opens negotiations with the second-ranked firm, which is awarded the contract. No fee was ever submitted competitively.
How state and local differs from federal
The Brooks Act binds federal agencies. What extends it to state and local work is a patchwork of mini-Brooks acts: state statutes adopting qualifications-based selection for design services on state-funded projects. Most states have one, but the scope varies: some cover architecture and engineering only, others add land surveying, landscape architecture and construction management; some apply to all political subdivisions, others only to state agencies.
Federally funded projects add another layer. For federal-aid highway and transit work, engineering and design services must be procured by qualifications-based selection consistent with the Brooks Act, regardless of what the state's own rules would otherwise allow. If you do design work across state lines, verify the applicable rule per project, not per company.
Common questions
Can the agency ask for a fee proposal with qualifications?
Not under a true QBS process. If a solicitation asks for both, it is not QBS, and in a mini-Brooks state that may itself be improper.
Does QBS apply to construction contractors?
No. It applies to design professionals. Construction is typically bid under an IFB or awarded through a best-value process.
What happens if fee negotiations fail?
The agency formally terminates and proceeds to the next-ranked firm. It cannot reopen with the first firm afterward.
Is a Request for Qualifications the same as QBS?
An RFQu is the document; QBS is the method. Some agencies use qualifications submittals only to shortlist, then score price separately, which is not QBS.