The Brooks Act - formally the Brooks Architect-Engineers Act, Public Law 92-582, enacted in 1972 - established Qualifications-Based Selection as federal policy for architecture and engineering services. It is implemented for executive agencies through FAR Part 36 (Subpart 36.6). The core rule: agencies select A-E firms on competence and qualifications, then negotiate a fair and reasonable price - price is not a selection factor.
What the Brooks Act requires
- Publicly announce the requirement for A-E services
- Evaluate and rank firms on qualifications against published criteria, and hold discussions with at least three of the most highly qualified
- Negotiate a contract at a fair and reasonable price with the most highly qualified firm - moving to the next firm only if negotiations fail
Why the Brooks Act matters for your SF330
Because the Brooks Act bars price from the initial selection, the SF330 is the competition. Evaluation boards score submissions against the criteria in FAR 36.602-1 - professional qualifications, specialized experience, capacity, past performance, and knowledge of the locality - plus any agency-specific criteria in the announcement.
State 'mini-Brooks' laws
Most states have adopted their own 'mini-Brooks' statutes applying the same qualifications-first principle to state and locally funded A-E work. Details vary by jurisdiction, but the approach that wins federal SF330s generally travels to state and municipal pursuits too. On federally funded local projects, Brooks Act principles can also apply on top of state law.
Why Congress passed it
The rationale behind the Brooks Act is a lifecycle-cost argument. Design fees are a small fraction of a project's total cost, but the quality of the design drives the far larger construction and long-term operating costs. Selecting the cheapest designer can produce a design that is more expensive to build and operate, erasing any upfront savings. Congress concluded that choosing the most qualified firm - and then negotiating a fair and reasonable fee - protects the public's larger investment better than awarding design to the lowest bid.
What it means for your firm
For a competing firm, the practical consequence is simple: on Brooks Act (and mini-Brooks) work, you win on demonstrated qualifications, not price. That puts the weight on relevant experience, the right key personnel, and past performance mapped to the published criteria - the same discipline that wins an SF330 or a municipal SOQ. It also means you should never volunteer fee before the agency has ranked firms and asked for it.