Update on the Walkerville Sports Centre Tender
Requests for free design services in submissions are disappointingly common. I wrote about this in the E-news in April this year.
Recently several members have contacted me regarding a request for design services in the Walkerville Council Sports Club tender. Having spoken to the Council’s representative for the project I can report the following:
- Council do not require a high-level concept design to be submitted for the tender to be valid.
- Council has an evaluation process that they believe will enable a team with sports facility experience across design and construction to be viewed favourably regardless of whether a high-level concept design is submitted. The mechanism for equating tenders that include differing levels of information was not clarified.
- It was acknowledged that a masterplan to determine the project’s feasibility could have been included in the services being tendered for. It is not clear how master planning and feasibility will be delivered if a submission excluding a concept design is successful. Presumably this will need to be provided by the successful team. This has implications for the project program and fees.
In my conversation with the Council representative, best practice procurement of professional services was discussed. Council was not aware of AS4121-1994 Code of ethics and procedures for the selection of consultants but indicated that they do not believe that this tender is problematic as they have made the inclusion of concept designs optional. However, it was acknowledged that Council would not request sample services from other professional consultants in a submission.
This places the onus on submitting practices as to whether they believe that it is a reasonable investment to prepare a concept design as part of their submission. It is also up to the practices submitting to decide whether it is worth the expense of preparing a submission if they are not going to include a concept design. There appears to be a significant level of interest in the project, with around 30 practices attending the briefing. This makes the likely return on investment high risk, especially if your team does not have significant sports experience.
Ultimately, the decision is one that each practice needs to make. The Institute urges those considering the project to give thought to the impact on their practice as well as the viability of the profession. Lawyers and accountants rarely complain about being undervalued. They are also unlikely to provide services in advance of securing a contract.
