Step 1: Contextual Framework Pass (Facts)

Section Content:

Facts:
Engineer A works for a public agency in City X.
The city is seeking the services of a qualified engineering firm and is using QBS for the design of the new public building.
Engineer A is the point of contact on the City X QBS review team for this project.
The city conducted a mandatory pre-submittal meeting and received initial interest from 14 different firms.
Thereafter, City X published the date, time, and location of the submittal for the Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) indicating all submittals must be received by the city in the city clerk’s office no later than 10:00 am on January 30.
The date, time, and location were also listed in the city’s RFQ webpage and appeared on the hard copy agenda that was distributed at the pre-submittal meeting.
Engineer A returned to his office in the afternoon on January 30 and was intercepted by the city manager’s administrative assistant, who had a large envelope bearing Engineer A’s name and the letterhead of Firm B, one of the firms that had participated in the pre-submittal meeting.
Firm B had also performed well on several other engineering design projects for the city.
The envelope was date- and time-stamped to indicate that the submittal was received on January 30 at 2:05 pm in the city manager’s office.