That's a great question--I was waiting for it. To me, when we talk about qualifications, that could be exactly one of the qualifications you want to look for. You're trying to develop an industry, or you're trying to get local knowledge, or the position itself is for a junior person or a junior firm, if you will, a firm that you want to have built up. This happens a lot under QBS.
I know that in the province I come from, New Brunswick, there are several cities that follow QBS-type processes. Quite often for new firms starting out, maybe there are a couple of new graduates or a couple of young employees who have left a larger firm. They'll give that firm a couple of small projects just to cut their teeth on, to see how good they are--number one--but also to get them used to the processes used by that municipality. That can be, actually, a qualification. At times, what happens is the larger or more experienced firms are told, “Stand aside, because this really is an opportunity for a smaller firm.”
This is a very important point. Canada is an advocate of our association in the international arena, with FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. Of course, you can imagine a lot of consultants from second and third world countries are quite concerned that these large firms from Europe or North America will come in with all the answers and overwhelm the local industry. No, once again, a qualification can be that you need to have local knowledge and local content, and that will address it. That can be a qualification in itself.