Under Qualifications-Based Selection, public owners pick design firms on demonstrated competence - then negotiate a fair fee with the most qualified firm. Price is not part of the initial competition. That is the model the federal Brooks Act set for A-E work, and most states apply a similar rule to municipal and state design contracts. For the contrast with price-based awards, see QBS vs. low-bid selection.
The QBS sequence, in plain terms
- The agency advertises the project and publishes evaluation criteria
- Firms submit qualifications - often an SOQ, SOI, or SF330
- An evaluation board ranks firms and shortlists the most qualified (commonly at least three)
- Shortlisted firms may interview or present
- The agency negotiates fee with the top-ranked firm; if talks fail, it moves to the next
Federal vs. state and local
Federal A-E selection follows the Brooks Act and FAR 36.602-1 criteria: professional qualifications, specialized experience, capacity, past performance, locality knowledge, and other appropriate factors. States implement the same idea through their own statutes - for example Illinois' Local Government Professional Services Selection Act (50 ILCS 510) and Texas Government Code Chapter 2254 (the Professional Services Procurement Act). Details differ by jurisdiction, but the core rule does not: qualifications first, price after selection.
What evaluators actually score
Expect criteria around key staff, similar project experience, capacity to meet the schedule, past performance, and familiarity with the locality or agency. Some RFQs add funding-agency experience, DBE participation plans, or interview scores. Publish order of importance or weights - when they exist - tell you where to invest the page count.
Map people and projects to each factor
Flodoc extracts the published criteria from an RFQ and matches your staff and past projects to each one, so the SOQ is built to how the board will score - not to a generic firm brochure.
Exceptions and traps to know
- Some state laws allow streamlined selection when a local agency already has a satisfactory relationship with a firm, or for small-dollar contracts - read the statute and the RFQ
- DOT precertification (for example TxDOT PEPS) is often a prerequisite for transportation work, separate from a municipal RFQ response
- Never volunteer price in a qualifications-only submission
- Federal-aid local projects may stack Brooks Act / 23 CFR 172 rules on top of state QBS - see the funded-infrastructure guide
Why states use QBS at all
The case for QBS is a lifecycle-cost argument. Design fees are a small share of a project's total cost, but the design drives the far larger construction and long-term operating and maintenance costs. Awarding design to the lowest bidder risks a cheaper design that is more expensive to build and operate - so selecting the most qualified firm and then negotiating a fair fee is intended to protect overall value. That reasoning is why Congress passed the Brooks Act for federal work and why most states extended the same principle to their own agencies.
How states implement QBS differently
The core rule - qualifications first, price after - is consistent, but the mechanics vary. States differ on whether QBS is mandatory below certain contract sizes, whether small or on-call contracts can be directly negotiated, how many firms must be shortlisted, and whether interviews are required. Some agencies maintain standing qualified lists or require precertification before a firm can compete. Never assume another jurisdiction's process; read the specific statute and the RFQ, because the details decide what you submit and when.
Build the SOQ to the state RFQ
A state or local RFQ still comes down to mapping your team to published criteria. Pull the evaluation factors and their order, then structure the SOQ to answer each one directly - specialized experience on similar facilities, the key people who will actually do the work, capacity and schedule, past performance, and knowledge of the locality. Lead each project sheet with its relevance to this specific work, not its size.
The interview stage
Many QBS processes shortlist a handful of firms and then interview or hear presentations before ranking. The interview is where a strong SOQ is won or lost a second time. Send the people who will actually lead the work, have them speak to the same relevant projects the SOQ featured, and answer the agency's stated concerns directly. A polished SOQ followed by an interview team the owner has never seen in the documents undercuts the whole submission.
Debrief every pursuit
Whether you win or lose, ask the agency for a debrief. QBS scoring is criteria-based, so feedback is usually specific: where you ranked, which factors were weak, what the selected firm did better. Feed that back into your next SOQ. Firms that treat each pursuit as a data point improve their hit rate; firms that resubmit the same generic package do not.
On-call and master-services QBS contracts
Not every state and local QBS procurement is tied to a single project. Many agencies run on-call, master-services, or indefinite-delivery contracts, where a firm is selected on qualifications and then issued individual task orders over a multi-year term. The RFQ describes broad service categories - roadway design, structural inspection, environmental permitting - rather than one defined scope. That changes how you position the response.
For on-call work, evaluators reward breadth of capacity and a bench that can absorb unpredictable task loads without over-committing named staff to a project that does not yet exist. Show that your team can staff several concurrent task orders, that you have subconsultants pre-arranged for specialty categories, and that your key personnel have handled call-out work before. Firms that write an on-call SOQ as if it were a single-project pursuit tend to over-index on one marquee project and under-sell the depth the agency actually buys.
Match every service category the RFQ lists
On-call RFQs often list five to ten service categories and ask you to indicate which you are pursuing. Coverage gaps read as disqualifying for those categories. Flodoc extracts each listed category and tracks whether your staff and past projects cover it, so you can decide deliberately where to claim and where to bring a sub.
How fee negotiation works after selection
Under QBS, price is not part of the selection decision. The agency ranks firms on qualifications, then opens fee discussions with the top-ranked firm only. This is the step people misunderstand most, so it is worth walking through in plain terms.
Once you are selected, the agency typically develops its own independent estimate of what the work should cost - an internal number built before or during negotiation. You submit a detailed fee proposal, and the two sides negotiate in good faith toward a fair and reasonable price. If you and the agency cannot reach agreement, the agency formally ends negotiations with your firm and moves to the second-ranked firm. It cannot simply shop your proposal against a lower bidder, because there were no competing prices in the selection.
- Be ready to justify hours and labor mix, not just a bottom-line number - the independent estimate is built the same way.
- Keep your named staff and their roles consistent with the SOQ; large swaps invite scrutiny during negotiation.
- Understand that a strong qualifications ranking gives you leverage, but good-faith negotiation still means both sides move.
DOT precertification and project RFQs
Many state transportation departments layer a precertification (or prequalification) program on top of individual project selections. Precertification is a standing credential: the DOT reviews your firm's capabilities in defined work categories once, and you carry that status into every future RFQ. It is separate from the project pursuit, and it usually has to be current before you can be considered.
In practice this means two clocks are running. One is the project RFQ deadline. The other is your precertification status for each work category the project touches. A team member may be excellent, but if your firm is not precertified in the relevant category, the SOQ can be set aside regardless of merit. Confirm which categories the project requires, confirm your firm holds them, and confirm the credential is not lapsing mid-pursuit. Keep the precertification numbers and effective dates handy - RFQs frequently ask you to cite them directly.
What disqualifies a QBS response administratively
Plenty of qualified firms lose before an evaluator ever scores their content, on administrative grounds that have nothing to do with capability. State and local RFQs are procurement documents, and they enforce their own rules literally. The most common ways a strong team gets set aside:
- Late or wrong-channel submission - a missed portal upload window or an emailed copy where a physical copy was required.
- Page-limit or format violations - exceeding the stated page count, wrong font size, or margins outside the spec.
- Missing required forms, certifications, or signatures - including local hiring, insurance, or conflict-of-interest attestations.
- Ignoring a mandatory pre-submittal meeting or failing to acknowledge every addendum the agency issued.
- Unmet minimum qualifications - precertification, licensure in the state, or a required project count the firm cannot show.
None of these are matters of judgment; they are checklists. Tracking coverage against the RFQ's stated requirements is exactly the kind of work Flodoc handles - it extracts the criteria and required items, then flags where your document does not yet answer them, so administrative gaps surface while there is still time to fix them.
How to win under QBS
Make relevance explicit. Put the right people on the right projects. Cover every published criterion. Stay inside submission rules. For the document craft, see how to write a municipal SOQ and the local agency RFQ playbook.