Bill won’t prevent ‘Armageddon,’ but will boost building safety

I periodically find parallels between the happenings in the Georgia Capitol and works of fiction, and depending on the circumstances, some could be tragedies or even dark comedies. One of the more recent examples of this comes from House Bill 1228, which Rep. Tyler Paul Smith, R-Bremen, sponsored.

The measure deals with arcane bidding processes for local public works, roads and bridges. You might find the topic dull at first, but bear with me. It’s important and reminiscent of a scene from the 1998 hit “Armageddon” in which a motley crew of deep-core drillers, including Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck and Steve Buscemi, were tasked with destroying a massive asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

Strapped into a space shuttle with plans to save humanity, Steve Buscemi’s character looks over and remarks, “You know we’re sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder.” His lighthearted comment underscores an important point: Cheap construction doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

The same principle applies to public works, roads and bridges, which is where Smith comes into play. No, he isn’t exactly trying to save the world from certain destruction, although seeing the lawyer/lawmaker hurtling through space sounds fun and would almost certainly ensure his election to whatever higher office he might want. Instead, he’s looking to retool how local governments review and accept proposals for public construction.

Currently, local governments request bids from architectural and engineering firms to complete various projects, and then they usually accept the lowest bid. At first, this seems like a good use of taxpayer dollars. I want a government that is a good steward of my money, just like you do, especially when you consider how much of your paycheck goes to the government. However, quality should be just as important. How comfortable would you be seeing your family standing under a bridge designed and built by the lowest bidder as a semi barrels across it?

Apparently, Smith doesn’t want Georgians to ever have to answer that because House Bill 1228 would require that local governments adopt the competitive selection process used at the state level—called qualifications-based selection. It promises to produce better results, and despite the verbose nature of the legislation, it is pretty straightforward.

Under this qualifications-based selection paradigm, a local government would request proposals to design a project, like building a bridge, and various firms would submit their qualifications and technical expertise in hopes of acquiring the contract. Then local officials would determine which design firm is the most qualified, and they would subsequently begin negotiations with the top-performing firm over pricing and other details. If they cannot come to an agreement over the contract’s terms, then the locals can entertain offers from the next highest scoring group.

The point is to place a premium on quality so that Georgians aren’t dealing with flawed designs leading to super stinky situations like busted sewer lines, collapsing bridges or crumbling roads. While nobody wants to deal with these kinds of situations, I can almost hear some of my more parsimonious readers grumbling about the costs and the constant delays in construction we already face, but don’t fret.

Studies have shown that projects procured under a qualifications-based selection process tend to have fewer cost-overruns and delays. Higher quality designs from highly qualified firms also means that they will likely have fewer flaws, need less maintenance and the finished product should last longer.

Think of this in terms of value and investing in the future. Would you rather buy a critically important widget that costs $1 and lasts one month or one that costs $1.10 and lasts two months? You’d likely choose the latter, but in reality, local projects procured under qualifications-based selection may not even lead to increases in cost because the power to determine a fair and reasonable price still remains with the local governments.

I would imagine that Buscemi’s character would have whole-heartedly endorsed this process for building space shuttles, especially after he witnessed an explosion during refueling at a low-earth-orbit Russian space station. However, there is no mention of the disaster being blamed on a low-bid contract.

This aside, I haven’t asked Smith if he has seen “Armageddon” or which character he believes he resembles. If I were to guess, he’d probably choose the selfless, calm, cool Affleck or Willis over the incredibly awkward Buscemi. Nevertheless, Smith is likewise concerned about the implications of awarding contracts based solely on price without considering qualifications or technical expertise. While qualifications-based selection may not rise to “Armageddon”-level criticality, it’s of vital importance to the Georgians who rely on local public works and roads.