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More Than a Beauty Contest

By David L. Koons and Gary Conley, PE

How to Select a Control System Integrator Without a Dart Board

The process of evaluating and choosing the most qualified control system integrator (CSI), at the best value, may be the most critical decision that affects overall project success.

Obviously most end-users are not in the business of being a control system integrator, and therefore many do not have the expertise to properly compare and contrast CSI's in a competitive, evaluated bid process.

Today's control systems often include intrusion monitoring , alarming, and the automation of processes in the event of these alarms; activities that may directly impact the safety and security of the public at large. Choosing the most qualified CSI is serious business.

These categories allow you to develop a decision matrix (Figure 1):

·         Eligibility & Unique Features

·         Project Understanding

·         Hardware and Software Recommendations

·         Project Approach

·         Price

Figure 1: Decision Matrix

Choosing a qualified control system integrator is serious business

--a good decision matrix can help.

Eligibility and Unique Features

Eligibility: This category may be useful for scoring a company's stability beyond that established as minimum requirements. In other words, if you require a CSI to be in business for more than five years and the CSI you're evaluating has been in business for 30 years, your grade here could reflect this advantage. Areas to consider include:

Company Stability

·         Firm's annual integration services gross revenue

·         Firm's Size (# of employees)

·         Number of Engineers on staff

·         Turnover ratio (for the past 5 years)

·         Years of service & experience per employee

·         Financial Rating (Dunn & Bradstreet, etc.)

·         Adequate Errors and Omissions insurance, as well as minimum bonding capacity

·         Licensed Engineering Firm (length of time)

·         Listed UL-508 panel shop, integral to the CSI

·         Evidence internal company practices, policies and standards (may include Mission & Vision statement)

·         CSIA Registered Member status

Unique features: This category gives you an area to score a company's unique characteristic that can be of value to your facility. Consider features that may not necessarily fit well into any other category. Overall company reputation or industry involvement in support organizations, (such as the AWWA, WEF, PNCWA, ISA, CSIA, OAWU, ERWA, APWA and MCAA) could be graded in this section.