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A.  The department may establish a program to prequalify small engineering consultants for employment on selected department projects.  The program shall be known as the “Small Engineering Consultant Program”, hereafter referred to in this Section as the “program”.  The program shall provide opportunities for small engineering consultants who possess minimal experience on department projects to gain such experience in the performance of preconstruction engineering services on selected department projects.  The participation by small engineering consultants in the selected projects shall provide firms with an opportunity to earn an experience rating which will enable those firms to compete on other projects.  For purposes of this Section, preconstruction engineering services include all professional services before initiation of construction, including but not limited to surveys, environmental analysis, design, and bidding analysis.

B.  The estimated contract fee shall not exceed  the Federal Highway Administration small purchase limit.

C.(1)  Engineering consultants interested in participating in the program shall annually apply for prequalification.  Only a small engineering consultant whose firm meets the following qualifications provided by this Paragraph at the time of application may participate in the program:

(a)  It has been in business for less than two years.

(b)  It is registered and in satisfactory standing with the Louisiana secretary of state as provided by law.

(c)  It is licensed by the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board.

(d)  It employs at least one employee who will be in responsible charge of engineering work and who is properly licensed by the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board.

(e)  It employs the equivalent of no more than three professional engineers, including professional engineers employed on a part-time basis.

(f)  It has not been competitively selected by the department for preconstruction engineering work within the three years previous to the date of the application for the program.

(2)  The department shall annually solicit on its web site a request for qualifications for participation in the program.  The solicitation shall identify all of the requirements necessary to apply and qualify for participation in the program.

(3)  The department shall provide to any engineering consultant who wishes to apply for prequalification the required standard form request for qualifications, which is to be completed and submitted to the department.

(4)  Except as provided in Subsection E of this Section, the department shall accept for participation in the program any consultant who timely submits a complete, standard form request for qualifications and whose completed request clearly demonstrates that the consultant meets the requirements of this Section.  The prequalification period is one year, after which the consultant may reapply for participation.

(5)  Upon prequalification, a small engineering consultant shall continuously meet the program qualifications.  A prequalified small engineering consultant shall immediately notify the department in writing if the firm ceases to meet program qualifications during the one-year prequalification period.

D.(1)  The department shall send each prequalified small engineering consultant a request for a letter of interest to perform preconstruction engineering work for individual projects included in the program.

(2)  Prequalified consultants who wish to be considered for selection on an individual project shall timely submit to the department a letter of interest signed by a principal of the firm.

(3)  The department shall prepare a short list that includes the five responding small engineering consultants who are geographically located closest to the construction project, and the consultants on the short list shall be considered for selection for preconstruction engineering work on the project.  If fewer than five prequalified small engineering consultants submit a letter of interest, then all such consultants shall be on the short list and considered for selection.

(4)  The department shall select a small engineering consultant from the short list on the basis of an announced and publicly viewable random selection.  The department may enter into a contract with the selected prequalified consultant for preconstruction engineering work.  Unless provided otherwise in the request for letter of interest, compensation for preconstruction engineering services shall be paid as a predetermined lump-sum fee.

(5)  A consultant may not be selected for more than five projects through this program.

E.(1)  The department shall not prequalify or shall remove a prequalified consultant firm under the following circumstances:

(a)  It employs more than the equivalent of three professional engineers.

(b)  It loses its engineering license.

(c)  The professional engineer in responsible charge of the engineering work for the project loses his engineering license, except when licensed staff is immediately available to replace the loss.

(d)  It receives an average performance rating of less than 1.4 on three department projects.

(e)  It applies to and is selected by the department for preconstruction engineering work under competitive selection criteria as provided in this Part.

(f)  A prequalified consultant firm requests removal from the program in writing.  Written requests for removal shall be addressed to the department’s chief engineer or his designee.

(g)  It has been selected to perform five projects through this program.

(2)  A prequalified consultant removed from the program may not requalify for the program for a period of three years from the date of removal unless a written corrective action plan is submitted by the consultant to the department’s project manager and the plan is approved by the chief engineer or his designee.

Acts 2007, No. 40, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2008; Acts 2009, No. 255, §1, eff. July 1, 2009; Acts 2011, No. 197, §1.