The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has initiated “The evaluation of Technical Consulting Firms on Environmental Impact Assessment” since 1997. The evaluation is a strong driving force for the firms to improve the quality of environmental impact assessment. The EPA also announced the list of the firms which have passed the evaluation and the list can serve as a reference for developers to select an appropriate partner. In the past, the evaluation model, the objective method and related information had been established. The professional capability of the technical consulting firms, and the quality of their services had also been evaluated by a group of experts. The process of evaluation is divided into three parts, “review of basic information of technical consulting firms”, “review by Evaluation Committee” and “review by EPA”. Totally thirty-two consulting firms have been evaluated this year; seven of them are classified as A, five as A-, twelve as B, and eight as C. Based on the experiences of the project implementation and the consulting firms’ oral report, the suggestion for further improvement is also provided.

Environmental Impact Assessment,The evaluation of Technical Consulting Firms