Consulting engineers still subject to 1988 fee schedule in New Brunswick

ACEC-New Brunswick has written to the province’s Minister of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Hon. Claude Williams, expressing concerns of consulting engineers on three counts.

The letter of July 2 from ACEC-NB executive director Nadine Boudreau requested that the department no longer use a 1988 schedule for determining their consultants’ fees. “Not only is it outdated, it is not a realistic assessment of fees for services,” Boudreau wrote. She noted that even though the province is still using a 26-year old schedule, it still expects top service from its consultants.

The second point in the letter was a request for the province to use qualifications-based selection (QBS) for consultants. Boudreau pointed out that selecting consultants based on their qualifications in addition to fees that are “related to the exact scope of work” was a fair and transparent process, and one that has been found to give excellent results in the U.S. She cited a study of 200 projects in the U.S. by the Georgia Institute of Technology which found that “QBS reduced construction cost growth by 70% and reduced schedule slippage by 20%.”

The letter’s third point was a call for the province to adopt long-term planning and asset management for its infrastructure.

Boudreau also thanked the Minister for the progress aleady made “on the buildings side” between consulting engineers and the Department.

ACEC-NB is hoping that a meeting with the Minister to discuss their concerns will be possible soon.