Two bills being floated during the 2017 Oregon legislative session could directly impact the engineering and architecture industries. Senate Bill 382 would raise the threshold at which public contracting agencies could use the qualifications-based selection (QBS) process. House Bill 2153 would create a voluntary registry for commercial interior designers and give them the ability to perform many duties that are now performed by engineers.

HB 2153 on Wednesday received a public hearing before the House Committee on Economic Development and Trade. The bill would essentially create Oregon’s first registry of interior designers. It would also allow registered commercial interior designers to create, supervise and carry out plans, drawings and specifications for parts of buildings other than structural systems or building envelopes.

Interior designers think the legislation is long overdue.

“It is legitimizing things that we are already doing,” said Carissa Mylin, an associate and interior designer at SERA Architects. “It’s creating a level of legitimacy about what interior designers are trained to do.”

The bill also would provide a public benefit, she added.

“There is no benchmark for the public to know who is trained,” she said. “There are a lot of things that go into an interior environment.”

Engineers are decidedly less enthusiastic about the bill.

“We will oppose that with everything we have got,” said Marshall Coba, lobbyist for the American Council of Engineering Companies of Oregon. “The bill is overreach.”

Senate Bill 382 would have an even larger impact on design professionals but is unlikely to become law in anything resembling its current form. The bill has been referred to the Business and Transportation Committee.

Currently, public projects worth $100,000 or more are eligible for use of QBS – direct selection of certain consultants (including architects and engineers) based on qualifications and not price. But SB 382 would increase the threshold to $500,000.

Most observers don’t believe a final bill would include such a drastic increase. However, any possible change has the attention of architects and engineers.

“What they introduced in SB 382 is a placeholder bill that can be amended,” Coba said. “We have been talking to (bill sponsors). We think the current law is good if understood.”

Under the QBS system, for projects worth from $100,000 to $250,000, public officials can narrow their search to a handful of qualified consultants. For projects worth more than $250,000, public officials can ask for the qualifications of any number of possible contractors. However, in both categories, bidders must be evaluated based strictly on their qualifications and not price.
The League of Oregon Cities (LOC) believes that changes to the current system are needed.

“LOC is not currently planning on raising the threshold for direct appointment of professional services to $500,000 (which is called for in the current bill),” said Tracy Rutten, intergovernmental relations associate at the LOC. “We are having ongoing conversations with the American Council of Engineering Companies to talk about inefficiencies that municipalities have experienced with current requirements for the use of qualification-based selection for professional services.”

Issues that municipalities are finding difficult to navigate include delays, negotiation strength and complexity of rules.

“The primary issues that they experience are delays,” Rutten said. “You don’t get pricing back for some time. If you aren’t able to come to agreement on price, then you have to go to the next consultant on the list and that is another delay. The delays are a big issue.”

Rutten said that the hope is that the LOC and ACEC can hash out solutions. If that happens, the bill may not even be pushed forward.

“Hopefully we can come to a solution that will work for both parties,” she said. “Whether there is need for statutory changes, we don’t know. We still have to find what the path to get there is.”

The post Architects, engineers tracking state bills appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.