Executive Order  No. 52: Establishing an Advisory Committee on Architect Selection

WHEREAS, the Commissioner of Administration, in the exercise of his duties under the provisions of section 30 B of chapter 7 of the general laws, should enjoy the benefit of expert advice from disinterested citizens having a knowledge- able composite background and selected in a manner which is non-political; and

WHEREAS, the creation of a continuing, non-political advisory body to assist and advise the Commissioner of Ad- ministration in the selection of architects will tend to preserve high standards of architect selection for public buildings; and

WHEREAS, the quality of architecture and construction of public buildings will tend to be elevated to the extent that persons representing more and varied backgrounds participate in the process of architect selection:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, John A. Volpe, by the powers vested in me as Governor of the Commonwealth, do hereby order:

1. That there be established forthwith an Advisory Committee on Architect Selection, for the purpose of assisting the Commissioner of Administration in the performance of his duties under the provisions of section 30 B of chapter 7 of the general laws, in the manner hereinafter set forth.

2. That members of the Advisory Committee, and their successors, be appointed as follows:

One, by the Dean of the School of Architecture of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or the Dean of the School of Design of Harvard University, as determined from time to time by the Governor.

One, by the Dean of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, or the Dean of Engineering of Northeastern University, as determined from time to time by the Governor.

One, by the President of the Massachusetts Building Congress, Inc., or the President of the Associated General Contractors of Massachusetts, or the President of the Building Trades Employers Association of Boston, as determined from time to time by the Governor.

One, by the President of the Massachusetts State Federation of Labor, or the President of the Boston Building and Construction Trades Council of the Metropolitan District, as determined from time to time by the Governor.

One, by the Editor of the Springfield Union, or the Editor-in-Chief of the Christian Science Monitor, or the Editor of the New Bedford Standard-Times, as determined from time to time by the Governor.

3. That the term of service of each member of the Advisory Committee be one year and until his successor is appointed, provided, however, that any member may be re- appointed by the person then authorized by the Governor to appoint.

4. That the Advisory Committee shall annually select one of its members to act as Chairman.

5. That the Advisory Committee shall advise the Commissioner of Administration, after full and continuing consultation with the agency which will use the building or other facility, as to the appropriate method of selection of an architect to design an individual project or group of projects, which method shall be one of the following:

i. Competition, for particularly important projects;

ii. Selection from a list of three to five architects recommended by said Advisory Committee, for important projects where competition is not recommended; or

iii. Selection from a sizeable list of architects approved in advance by said Committee, for comparatively minor projects.

The Advisory Committee shall determine into which of the foregoing three categories a particular project or group of projects falls.

6. That the Advisory Committee should not confine its recommendations to Massachusetts architects.

AND WHEREAS, the provisions of this executive order have been recommended to me in a report, dated May 31, 1966, by a distinguished commission of four citizens, which report recommends the ineligibility of the aforesaid four citizens to serve on said Advisory Committee for a period of two years from the date of said report, IT IS HEREBY FURTHER ORDERED that said four citizens be ineligible for appointment to said Advisory Committee until the first day in June, nineteen hundred and sixty-eight.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this tenth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixty-six and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and ninety-first.

JOHN A. VOLPE
Governor
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

KEVIN H. WHITE
Secretary of the Commonwealth