A Proposal Request for Dam Design in El Nino

The place is in northern California's Windsore District. Extreme rain caused a massive debris flow landslide in the county's mountain region during the winter of El Nino. Ten summer homes along the bottom of a narrow canyon were mostly buried by the landslide. During the emergency, Nearby Engineers, a local geotechnical engineering firm, were hired by the Windsore County Public Works Department as a single source emergency selection to evaluate the landslide. Nearby engineers determined that there was still a significant additional risk of debris flow. The County then denounced the ten summer home sites and created a conceptual plan to protect any downstream summer homes by constructing an earth dam and debris disposal tank, plus a large storm drain.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) for engineering services to design the dam, debris flow basin and storm drain is then issued by the Windsore County Public Works Department. The RFP indicated that based on qualifications and expertise (as they usually chose contractors in the past) a firm would be chosen. They would then negotiate an appropriate fee and contract with the chosen firm (standard Qualifications Based Selection-QBS procedure).

The RFP was replied by Trueheart Engineers, Nearby Engineers, and two other engineering firms, each sending statements of credentials and a suggested business range. The Department of County Public Works created an interview and recruitment committee made up of professional staff members from the Department of Public Works who evaluated the applications, surveyed the four firms and eventually chose Trueheart Engineering for the task. Trueheart's pick was informed. They consulted with workers at Public Works, clarified the scope of work, and reached a reasonable estimation of payments and conditions of contracts. Soon afterwards, the County Public Works workers informed Trueheart Engineers that the contract acceptance had been postponed and that they also required a formal proposal from Nearby Engineers, which was a departure from their previously announced QBS selection process. Upon reviewing the offer of Nearby Engineers from the Department of Public Works, the Director of Public Works overrode the earlier suggestions of the department to employ Trueheart Engineers and suggested that Nearby Engineers be employed instead to the Windsore County Board of Supervisors. In addition, the scope of work and contract terminology of Nearby Engineers was the same as that of Trueheart and the payment was the same as that of Trueheart. The project was hired by nearby engineers. Nearby engineers, Trueheart Engineers, members of the interview/selection committee for County Public Works and the Director of Public Works are all registered professional engineers and belong to various ethics-related professional organisations.