12 March 2018

To: All Accredited Checkers and Specialist Accredited Checkers

EXTENSION OF QUALITY FEE METHOD (QFM) TO PROCUREMENTS OF

ACCREDITED CHECKING (AC) SERVICES

This circular informs all Accredited Checkers (ACs) and Specialist ACs under BCA AC’s
registers on the extension of Quality Fee Method (QFM) to AC services procured for public sector
projects. It shall take effect for tenders and quotations (where applicable) called on and after 1 April
2018 (unless otherwise stated).

2 In line with the Government’s efforts transform the built environment sector under the
Construction Industry Transformation Map (ITM), the framework for QFM (AC) aims to shift the
competition for public sector AC services from largely fee-based to higher emphasis on quality.

QFM for Procurement of AC Services

3 Quality attributes will be introduced in the framework for QFM (AC) and will be rolled out in
two phases as shown in Table 1 below. In Phase 1 implementation starting from 1 Apr 2018, Quality
assessment criteria will be introduced and Quality weightage will be set at 50%. BCA would be carrying
out a review for Phase 1 and introducing Submission Quality-score (S-score) as a new quality attribute
in the next phase (i.e. Phase 2). The S-score will be based on technical lapses in AC’s structural plan
submissions clarified through BCA’s Written Directions (WD) and is a proxy for the quality of checks
provided by the AC. For the purpose of calculating the S-score, all WDs issued by BCA starting from
1 Apr 2018 will be considered. More details of the framework for QFM (AC) have been published on
BCA’s website.

Table 1: QFM for AC procurement

Quality Component
Quality Attributes Submission
Implementation Fee (e.g. Competency as AC, Quality-score
Phase Component Design experience as QP, (Technical lapses
Resources & Expertise, in BCA’s WD
Workload, Past performances) clarified by AC)
Phase 1
50% 50% NA
(1 Apr 2018)
Phase 2
(after BCA’s 30% 30% to 40% 30% to 40%
review for Phase 1)
Require Bidders to Provide a Breakdown of Manpower Deployment and Man-week Rates for
Information

4 To allow agencies to better assess if the bidders’ proposed resources commensurate with the
quoted fee in the bids, quotations or tenderers will be required to provide a breakdown of manpower
deployment and man-week rates in their quotation or tender proposals (see Annex A for the standard
template). The information provided in the template will not be used in the scoring under quotation or
tender evaluation for now. Based on the information collected, BCA will look into the feasibility of
requiring the assessment of manpower deployment and man-week rates as part of the QFM (AC)
quotation or tender evaluation in the future.

Provide Greater Transparency on Tenderers’ Performance in Quality (Q) Component

5 To improve the transparency in the evaluation of Quality attributes and to help tenderers
improve their tender performance, GPEs are required to include the following statement in the tender
document (not applicable to quotations).

“Tenderers which wish to seek feedback on their tender performance after tender award can
approach [insert Agency] for clarifications”

6 The framework for QFM (AC) has been published at https://www.bca.gov.sg/QFM/qfm.html.

For clarifications, you can contact the following officers:

Name DID Email

Steven Cheong 6804 4758
bca_ppd@bca.gov.sg
Karen Tan (Ms) 6804 4577

Thank you.

Enc:

Annex A: Template for Quotation or Tenderer’s Submission of Breakdown of Fee in Man-Weeks

and Man-Week Rates (AC procurement)

(Transmitted via email)