CME Municipal Finance & Contract Administration Flashcards
6 cards from real CME practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 CME Municipal Finance & Contract Administration flashcards as text
What is Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) and which federal law requires it for architecture/engineering services?
Answer: Selection based on professional qualifications first, price negotiated after, required by the Brooks Act for federal A/E contracts
The Brooks Act (1972) mandates that federal agencies and recipients of federal funds select A/E firms based on qualifications, then negotiate a fair fee—price competition is prohibited.
What is the primary difference between an operating budget and a capital budget in municipal finance?
Answer: Operating budgets fund day-to-day services and personnel; capital budgets fund major long-lived assets and infrastructure
Operating budgets cover recurring costs like salaries, supplies, and maintenance, while capital budgets fund major one-time investments in infrastructure and facilities with multi-year useful lives.
What does a 'notice to proceed' (NTP) initiate in a public construction contract?
Answer: The official start of contract performance and the project schedule
An NTP is the owner's formal written authorization for the contractor to begin work, establishing the contract start date from which completion milestones and liquidated damages are calculated.
What are liquidated damages (LD) in public construction contracts?
Answer: A pre-agreed daily monetary penalty assessed against a contractor for each day of completion delay beyond the contract deadline
LDs are a pre-determined daily rate agreed upon at contract signing that represents the owner's estimated losses from delay, avoiding the need to prove actual damages.
What is 'value engineering' (VE) in the context of public infrastructure projects?
Answer: A systematic function-oriented analysis of project elements to achieve required performance at lower cost without sacrificing quality or reliability
VE is a structured review process examining function versus cost to identify alternatives that deliver the same or better performance at reduced lifecycle cost.
Under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and most state procurement laws, what defines a 'responsive' bid?
Answer: A bid that materially conforms to all requirements of the invitation for bids without unacceptable exceptions or deviations
A responsive bid complies with all material terms, conditions, and specifications of the solicitation; a non-responsive bid (missing required documents or taking material exceptions) must be rejected.