May June 2018

Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 3 From the Editor state dollars they receive and how Port- land seems to lead the charge in running things in this state, and perhaps the num- ber of registered voters supports that premise, but hey, that’s where the voters are and just as significantly, that’s where the greatest need for infrastructure ex- penditures exist! I’ve always maintained that the people who live on the end of that dead-end dirt road choose to live there. Consequently, such a choice can be directly correlated to how little John Q Public takes notice of your needs and is relieved of having to deal with them (out of sight, out of mind) unless direct- ly confronted. Finally, I can’t say that the current statu- tory language defining QBS adequately addresses all the possible pitfalls of public works contracts, but it’s a start. Returning to price-based evaluations for contract awards is a mistake! Many public works projects involve far too much money and intellectual understanding to be consid- ered in a cavalier manner. If there are specific problems with the current lan- guage of QBS, let’s work together to refine the effort rather than try to sneakily defeat the entire concept in an off-year legisla- tive end run. Perhaps now is the time to thoughtfully look at the entire mech- anism of devising and awarding public works contracts in such a way that maxi- mum value and quality are achieved. That would be serving the public!  x