PUBLIC SAFETY CONSULTANTS
Selecting An Appropriate Consultant
for Your PSAP
Frederick G. Griffin, P.E.
| Frederick G. Griffin, P.E. is president of Frederick G. Griffin, P.C., a nationwide consulting firm based in Lynchburg, VA that provides professional consulting services to local, state and federal governments in the areas of radio, 9-1-1, CAD, LAN, and other systems. He is a member of APCO, NENA, the Radio Club of America and past president of the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers. |
| Illustrations: (select thumbnail to view detail image) |
 Ventura County (CA) Fire Department Communications Center. Randall Larson  Dispatcher Anita Dasilva at the Anchorage (AK) Fire Department Communications Center. Anchorage FD |
This article can be found on
page 36 of the Nov/Dec 1997
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.
The selection of consultants to provide services to local governments is an important responsibility involving professional public works officials, chief administrative officers and elected or appointed government bodies. The management of this responsibility can either enhance or jeopardize the success of a project and public confidence in the government.
10 Steps In The Consultant Selection Process
1. Define the project which requires consulting services and designate a three person selection committee. (When announcing your search, place requests for services in the appropriate engineering, construction or communications journals - and be aware that their deadlines may be as much as several weeks before the publication date. Placing notices only in local, state or regional papers may not be in the best interest of your project, even though it meets the legal requirements.)
2. Inform by letter at least three consulting firms of your need for assistance with a brief description of the project. Request a statement of qualifications from each firm, which should include:
- Firm name, address, telephone and fax number.
- Year established and any former firm names.
- Types of services offered by the firm.
- Names of principals, key personnel and experience of personnel.
- Number of staff personnel available for assignment.
- Outside consultants and associates usually retained.
- List of completed projects for which the firm was responsible with references.
- Current projects under way with estimated cost and completion date.
3. If more than three firms submit qualifications, the selection committee should meet and review the qualifications of the firms. During this initial screening, the committee should:
- Study the statements of qualifications to determine that key personnel have experience on similar projects.
- Contact previous clients by telephone to determine the consultant's quality of work, accuracy of cost estimates, ability to meet established time schedules, record of keeping client informed of project status and record of responding to client's communications.
Based on this initial screening, the selection committee should narrow the field of consultants considered for the project to the three most qualified firms.
4. Notify each firm that submitted statements of the committee's decision.
5. Send the Request For Proposal (RFP) to the three firms remaining. The submittals should be detailed technical proposals and should include, as a minimum, the following:
- A description of how the firm would conduct the project.
- A list of personnel to be assigned to the project.
- The experience record of key personnel to be assigned.
- A proposed time schedule and a method of assuring that the time schedule is met, including the name of the person responsible for the time schedule.
- Any suggestions the firm may have that may affect the overall economy and effectiveness of the project.
Note that at this time the scope of work is rarely defined in precise terms. Therefore, it is seldom in the best interest of the client to ask the consulting firm to state a fee for its services.
6. Upon receipt and review of the detailed technical proposals, the committee should schedule an interview with each firm. During the interview, each consulting firm should be allowed to give oral and graphic presentations. The committee should ask questions about the proposal, the consulting firm's competency, and other significant factors that may help the committee select the most qualified consultant.
7. Based upon the interviews, review of the technical proposals and information obtained from the clients of the firm considered, the selection committee should rank the consulting firms according to qualifications and ability to meet the required time schedules.
8. After ranking the firms, the chief administrative officer or his designated representative should begin negotiations with the most qualified firm. The objective of the negotiations is to agree on the scope of work, exactly what services the firm will provide, and the amount of compensation required by the firm.
9. If you are unable to negotiate a contract with the most qualified consultant, negotiations with that firm should be terminated in writing. Negotiations should then begin with the second-most qualified firm. If a contract cannot be negotiated with the second firm, end the negotiations in writing and contact the third firm to negotiate.
10. Once a firm is selected and a contract negotiated, the unsuccessful firms should be notified of the results in writing and thanked for their interest.
Are These Steps Still Valid?
It has been our experience that this procedure is generally satisfactory. But the technique was developed when things were not as dynamic as they are now. In our fast changing world, where communications technology changes almost on a daily basis, these procedures do not always appear to be in the best interest of the public safety client.
In high technology specialty areas such as communications, clients are more often than not on an unequal basis with the specialists. The disturbing revelation, as observed during our case studies, is that many local government entities have paid much higher consultant fees than value received.
This situation is sad to see in government's ever-tightening tax revenues budget. But even sadder is that most government managers are not aware that this is or has happened.
The following step-by-step comments are given to point out some of the pitfalls known to occur, and to hopefully point out how to possibly prevent them.
10 Cautions When Selecting Consultants
The following 10 items address the previously listed steps in order:
1. Does your organization have the time expertise and awareness to define tasks for a new or specialized area such as computers, local area networks, trunked radio systems, etc?
2. Be sure that you select three equally qualified firms. Be aware of the "real size" of the working group within the big multi-purpose firm that will handle your project.
3. If you consider a large, multi-location organization, will your project be shuffled between various offices or locations? Ensure that you have a single, permanent project manager who is located at the office that is working on your project.
4. Notification to all firms is considered common courtesy.
5. The major problem area is the interaction between steps 1 and 8. In the pre-marketing effort, an aggressive "sales" firm will often develop step 1 at no charge. This is not in the best interest to the client; this could be shaped to allow this firm to pass through and have preference in step 2; however the qualifications of this firm may not be revealed until step 8 is reached. This procedure is typical of the unscrupulous specialist or consultant.
6. The oral interview process is often subjective. The key to an objective evaluation is consistency. The firms need to be instructed in advance on the guidelines of the oral process. Do you really want oversized pictures and a tripod set up? If so, inform all firms in advance and make it a requirement. If you want handouts, flip charts, viewgraphs or video presentations, then obtain them from all of the firms. You are buying knowledge and experience; therefore it is the person and firm, not the $500 suit or the slick presentation, that you need to evaluate.
7. If you are performing sequenced interviews, allow the evaluators enough time after each interviewer to collect their thoughts, record their impressions, make notes and even have an exchange of impressions. Do not interview several firms and then at the end of the interview process ask the committee to remember and interact.
8. This is where the "catch" happens. There has to be a cost/dollar relationship. The evaluators and the negotiator need to know up front the cost range of the project prior to negotiations/evaluations. Otherwise, a fair evaluation and priced contract cannot be arrived at. Perhaps it is good to allow a new firm to try new ideas. Often times a firm that has completed related projects on one or two occasions is a better value choice than a firm that has completed ten similar projects. Innovation is lost through repetition of a task. Personnel who worked on those past projects may not be the same ones you are to be dealing with. Likewise, you will often pay dearly for dossiers with questionable application to your project. The client can be better served by allowing a newcomer with innovative ideas to grow into an area for which he has only limited experience.
9. Any negotiations where there is a change of scope should be viewed with skepticism. Was your starting RFP appropriate for the process? Did you leave out tasks or did you include inapplicable tasks? Beware of tiering of fees - i.e. paying for line item overhead functions that have no bearing on your project.
10. Always debrief the other firms; they deserve that much. Be helpful and truthful, not perfunctory.
In view of this, be aware of two salient points:
- The multi-responsibility manager cannot be expected to be on a parity with the technology specialist in our ever fast-changing world. He therefore must do something appropriate when dealing with these situations.
- It is prudent that in the consultant selection decision process there is some consideration of cost/value.
