The Saskatchewan consulting engineering industry is faced by many challenges in today’s marketplace, but members tell ACEC-SK that procurement remains the number one issue.  With government fiscal constraint, and very limited private sector investment in capital, clients continue to focus on short-term costs rather than the long-term benefits they can garner through using best practices to select their consulting engineering team.

The Best Value model adopted at the provincial level should be assisting our industry given we have continuously advocated for Qualifications-Based selection of consulting engineers rather than cost-based procurement.  However, seeking professional services is a unique procurement not easily understood.

To that end, the ACEC-SK board of directors has struck a Procurement-Contracts Task Group comprised of senior representatives from our four major industry sectors with a view to educating those responsible for procuring consulting engineering services.

This Task Group met with the CEO of SaskBuilds on June 17 to raise specific industry concerns, and we have been granted follow-up meetings where it is the intent of this Task Group to focus on one thing at a time and really drill down into why some of the things our industry is facing today are problematic, not just for our industry, but ultimately for the client. 

This Task Group will be reporting to the Board of Directors on a regular basis, but watch here  for updates as they become available.

July 4, 2019