Opinion ID: 43762
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Selection of Architects

Text: The Board has delegated the responsibility of selecting architects to the Superintendent.2 The Superintendent receives recommendations from his staff, specifically the Deputy Superintendent for Business Affairs and the Executive Director of Plant Services and Development (the “Executive Director”). The Executive Director, in turn, accepts recommendations from his staff, specifically the Manager of Facilities and Construction (the “Manager”). The Superintendent bears the ultimate responsibility for selecting architects. The Board has no role in architect selection or approval. The parties disagree about the application process that architects must go through in order to be considered for District projects. The District claims that interviews are set up when an architectural firm calls and requests a meeting or sends in an informational packet and follows up with a phone call. The District maintains that a firm must contact the District and schedule an interview in order to be considered. Virdi claims he was told in 1991 and 1994 that the District retains a 2 At the time this lawsuit was filed, Defendant-Appellee James Hallford was the DeKalb County Superintendent. 5 resource file of all qualified architects who have submitted their qualifications and that it chooses architects from that file as needed. He claims he was never told that he needed to call and schedule an interview in order to be considered.