SUPPORTING NOTES

1.SELECTING A CONSULTANT

1a. Forms of Selection

• Direct appointment: working with your preferred consultant, usually to develop the brief /scope of work and the fee.

• Negotiation: with 2+ landscape practices, based on an existing understanding of their capabilities

• Quality based selection: tendering on quality alone, price normally negotiated after a consultant has been selected [Quality = technical competency /design innovation / project management skill].

• Two-envelope system (quality then price): technical mark for quality, if that reached a minimum standard then the second envelope containing the financial bid is opened.

• Competitive fee tendering: tendering on price alone, happy that any of the tenderers could undertake the work. More applicable to selective tendering (list of suitable tenders invited to bid) than open tendering which is likely to deter quality consultants.

• Design competition: tendering on innovation of design against a preset brief / cost of works.

1b. Selection Process

The client is preparing the tender document, and is to do a list of suitable tenderers.

After doing that, he needs to call for tender submissions.

After receiving the invitation to bid, Company A started working efficiently, while Company B seemed to be quite relaxed.

Usually there is a bidding scoring system, and time is an important part of the evaluation.

The date of the final submission is up, company A completes the submission on time, and time flies, the client is keeping waiting. And the company B loses this opportunity because of being late.

2. CONTRACT

2a. what is a contract?

A contract is an agreement between individuals, which can be enforced by law. It is the legal relationship between the parties.

2b. Essentials of a Valid Contract

• Intention to Create Legal Relations:The parties must intend their promises to be legally binding. A moral obligation is not enough.

• Consideration:A one-way promise is not a contract because there is no element of bargain. There must be some "consideration" involved to bind the parties.

• Agreement: A simple formula of offer and acceptance is used to determine if an ‘agreement’ has occurred

2c. Acceptance of an offer

The acceptance must be unqualified and a complete acceptance of every term of the offer. A conditional (or partial) acceptance is only a "counter-offer" and does not constitute a valid contract.

3. PAYMENT TERMS

3a. Forms of Remuneration

The standard forms of remunerations include time charge, Lump sum and percentage.

Time charge is good for the consultants because, in theory, every hour worked is profitable, and the format can easily cover any additional works.

Lump sum is about a fixed amount of money for a fixed package of works. And Lump sum fees are used in 90% of commissions. Additional works have to be agreed either as a separate quotation, or on time charge basis. Percentage fees were the traditional method of remuneration but now out of favour.