Many design and
architectural firms fear losing money when bidding on federal contracts,
according to the AIA.
Current federal contracting laws are discouraging talented
architects from competing for federal contracts, depriving government and, by
inference, taxpayers of the best design expertise available, according to AIA
testimony presented today on Capitol Hill.
Testifying before the House of Representatives Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform, Charles Dalluge, Executive Vice President of
Omaha, Nebraska-based architecture firm Leo A Daly, called for reform of the
design-build contracting process so that more design and architectural firms
can bid on federal contracts without fear of losing money in the process.
The federal market has been a key for architecture firms’
survival in the recession, and increased competition costs have forced many
firms from participating in federal contracts, Dalluge testified.
“According to a survey published by the AIA Large Firm
Roundtable in 2012, between 2007 and 2011 architecture firms in teams that
competed for public- and private-sector design-build projects spent a median of
$260,000, by making detailed plans, models and other materials,” Dalluge said.
In recent years, federal agencies have forced larger numbers of teams to
compete against one another, reducing the chances that any one team can win.
“Due to the current economic climate, design firms face the
dilemma of ‘betting it all’ on a contract they may not get, or self-selecting
out of the federal design-build market,” Dalluge said, adding that it also
costs taxpayers more money “when contracting officers spend increasing amounts
of time reviewing a larger number of complicated design proposals.”
To reform the burdensome federal contracting process,
Dalluge called on Congress to pass The Design-Build Efficiency and Jobs Act of
2013 (H.R. 2750), which was introduced by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) in July.
“H.R. 2750 requires contracting officers to provide a
written justification to the head of an agency for requiring more than five
finalists in the second stage of a design-build solicitation and agency
approval of such justification,” Dalluge said. “H.R. 2750 will provide more
certainty and opportunities for design firms of all sizes who wish to enter the
federal marketplace. It will ensure that agencies have the ability to select
the most qualified design-build teams who will deliver the best buildings for
agencies and the public. It also will limit federal agencies’ burdens in
reviewing a large number of proposals.”
Source:
BDCNetwork
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