Nebraska Statutes 81-1713. Project; professional services; qualifications; agency; evaluation; selection; considerations
(1) For each proposed project, the agency or a committee designated by the agency shall evaluate current statements of qualifications and performance data of firms as are on file with the agency, together with those that may be submitted by firms regarding the proposed project, and shall conduct discussions with, and may require public presentations by no less than three firms, regarding their qualifications, approach to the project, and ability to furnish the required service.
Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 81-1713
- Agency: shall mean each board, commission, bureau, council, department, officer, division, the University of Nebraska, the Nebraska state colleges, or other administrative office or unit of state government. See Nebraska Statutes 81-1705
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Firm: shall mean any individual, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other legal entity permitted by law to practice architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, or land surveying in the state. See Nebraska Statutes 81-1706
- Person: shall include bodies politic and corporate, societies, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and associations. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Professional services: shall mean those services within the scope of the practice of architecture, professional engineering, landscape architecture, or registered land surveying as defined by the laws of the state, or those performed by any architect, professional engineer, landscape architect, or registered land surveyor in connection with his professional employment practice. See Nebraska Statutes 81-1704
- Project: shall mean that fixed capital outlay, study, or planning activity, except renewal work as defined in section 81-173, described in the public notice of a state agency. See Nebraska Statutes 81-1709
- Violate: shall include failure to comply with. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
(2) Any committee designated by the agency shall have among its membership at least one person whose profession represents that particular field of endeavor being considered.
(3) The agency or committee designated by the agency shall select, in order of preference, no less than three firms deemed to be most highly qualified to perform the required services after considering such factors as the ability of professional personnel, past performance, willingness to meet time and budget requirements, location, recent, current and projected workloads of the firms, and the volume of work previously awarded to the firm by the agency, with the object of effecting an equitable distribution of contracts among qualified firms, as long as such distribution does not violate the principle of selection of the most highly qualified firms.
(4) This section shall not apply to professional service contracts for (a) a project whose basic construction cost is estimated by the agency to be four hundred thousand dollars or less or (b) a planning or study activity when the estimated fee for professional services is forty thousand dollars or less. The Department of Administrative Services shall adjust the dollar amounts in this section every four years beginning January 1, 2002, to account for inflationary and market changes. The adjustments shall be based on percentage changes in a construction cost index and any other published index relevant to operations and utilities costs, as selected by the department.