In Summer of 2017, the Office of the State Architect reached out to AIA Tennessee on its position regarding “regionalism” on state project selection. After discussion at the September 2017 AIA Tennessee Board Meeting, the Board finalized the position on “regionalism” – See below for an excerpt as well as a link to see the complete memorandum.
In August of 2017, the Office of the State Architect (“OSA”) approached AIA Tennessee regarding its position on “regionalism” related to the selection of designers on state projects. Historically, the State Building Commission (“SBC) selected designers based on the three grand divisions of Tennessee (west, middle and east). Over the past few months, the State Building Commission has noticed designers proposing for projects outside their “region”.
The *SBC policy for designer selection is delegated to the Office of the State Architect. To date, the **OSA policy for designer selection is Tennessee firms are given primary consideration unless the State determines it is in the State’s best interest to consider non-Tennessee firms, 2. Evaluators will primarily consider Designers within the region of a project.
On September 25, 2017, the AIA Tennessee Board reviewed and discussed the referenced policies and determined the following positions.
AIA Tennessee is: 1. In full support of the SBC/OSA policy for Tennessee firms to be given primary consideration for state projects and urges the SBC/OSA to continue to uphold this policy, and 2. Believes “region” should not be defined as the three grand divisions but rather defined by desired proximity/distance to the project, and 3. Urges State Procurement Agencies to define proximity in the Project’s Request for Qualifications.
Click here to view the AIA TN 2017 Memorandum on Regionalism
Updated Position | May 2022
In Spring of 2022, the TN State Architect reached out to AIA TN leadership regarding the possibility of temporarily suspending the regional preference due to the high volume of work projected to be released in the coming months. The State Architect made a point that they will continue to focus on using Tennessee architects on projects, as they have in the past, and that the change they propose is not a policy change, but a temporary movement away from awarding projects to firms based on the three grand divisions (West, Middle, East) as primary preference. This inquiry was discussed at the April 28, 2022 board of directors meeting. The board responded to her inquiry via a memorandum on May 2.
In mid-May, the State Architect responded to let us know the State would NOT temporarily suspend the regional preference and move forward with business as usual. “There is quite a bit of work across the state and it is expected that SPAs will recommend designers that are the best fit for the project. If any designers have questions, they should contact me (OSA).” She thanked AIA TN for our input and values the partnership between the state and design community noting “That strong relationship will continue to be a key component in the successful completion of the unprecedented amount of work across the state.”
Excerpt from AIA TN’s May 2, 2022 response:
AIA Tennessee’s Board of Directors discussed the inquiry, reviewed the board’s 2017 position (above) regarding designer selection based on regions in TN, took into account the significant projected workload to be released by the State and determined the following positions.
AIA Tennessee:
- Is in full support of the SBC/OSA policy for Tennessee firms to be given primary consideration for state projects and urges the SBC/OSA to continue to uphold this policy
- Believes “region”, when applicable, shall be defined as desired proximity/distance to the project
- Believes that when proximity is important, the State Procurement Agencies shall provide scoring preference related to proximity in the Project’s Request for Qualifications.
AIA Tennessee’s position is consistent with the position that has been held since last approved by the board in 2017. It is strengthened with the belief that proximity to a project, when important, shall receive scoring preference.