What is QBS and How Does it Help Owners?
Date:
April 15, 2026
Category:
Insights
Date:
April 15, 2026
Category:
Insights
Qualifications-Based Selection: A Smarter Way to Select Architects and Engineers
Selecting an architect or engineer is not the same as purchasing a commodity. Buildings and infrastructure projects are complex, high-risk undertakings where early decisions have long-lasting financial, operational, and safety consequences.
Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) is a procurement process that prioritizes expertise, experience, and problem-solving capability first, with fees negotiated only after the most qualified firm is identified.
Better Outcomes at Lower Cost
This approach is widely used by federal agencies, public institutions, and sophisticated private owners because it consistently produces better outcomes at lower total cost.
QBS does not ignore cost. Instead, it places cost discussions at the point where scope, risk, and expectations are clearly defined—resulting in fair fees, fewer surprises, and better value over the life of the project.
Why Traditional Price-Based Selection Falls Short
Price-based selection assumes that the scope is fully known at the outset, all providers deliver equivalent value, and lower upfront fees result in lower total cost.
In complex projects, these assumptions rarely hold true.
Common outcomes of price-first selection include incomplete or poorly defined scope, higher change orders later in the project, increased construction cost due to early design compromises, delays, claims, and adversarial relationships.
Low design fees often increase total project cost because design decisions drive the majority of lifecycle costs.
“While lowest-bid selection is appropriate for well-defined construction tasks, QBS has been shown to be the superior method for complex professional services where understanding of scope, technical expertise, and experience drive success.”
- Michigan State University Extension, 2023
What Is Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS)?
QBS is a structured process that evaluates firms based on their ability to deliver results, not simply their proposed price.
A typical QBS process includes:
• Define the problem
• Evaluate qualifications
• Rank the most qualified firm
• Negotiate scope and fee
If agreement cannot be reached, the owner may move to the next most qualified firm.
Why QBS Produces Better Outcomes
QBS enables early risk management, higher quality decisions up front, lower total cost of ownership, and stronger owner–consultant alignment.
QBS vs. Low-Bid Selection
QBS:
- Experience and expertise driven
- Cost discussed after scope definition
- Collaborative and risk-aware
- Optimized lifecycle value
Low-Bid Selection:
• Price driven
• Cost discussed before scope clarity
• Transactional and adversarial
• Higher downstream risk
QBS and Cost Control
QBS aligns incentives so everyone wins when the project succeeds.
Where QBS Is Most Effective
QBS is especially valuable for complex, regulated, mission-critical, or long-life assets.
The Bottom Line
Qualifications-Based Selection is not about paying more—it is about making better decisions earlier, when they matter most.