How Progressive Design-Build Can Benefit Infrastructure Projects

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Progressive Design-Build (PDB) has become extremely popular in select infrastructure markets. PDB currently represents much of the?design-build market?for water and wastewater projects, and its use is becoming ever more common in the aviation industry.

It’s worth examining why PDB has become popular in some of these segments, and if there are benefits that could translate to more?transportation markets.

While aviation authorities, water and sewer authorities, and some cities and counties have used PDB, only a few DOT agencies have attempted to familiarize themselves with the process. A review of available records shows that only five DOT agencies have completed a PDB project, with only one of these agencies having experience with multiple PDB projects.

This is rapidly changing, as the movement to help educate DOT agencies and share information related to how PDB can be used to enhance their DB programs is well underway.

More than a dozen DOTs have expressed an interest in using progressive design-build over the coming year, with several already advancing procurement of one or more PDB projects. Several of these projects classify as mega projects.

Fortunately, organizations such as the?Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA)?have prepared specific guidance on PDB for the benefit of public agencies. But it will be important to apply peer-to-peer workshops and share lessons learned as this wave of PDB work advances.

Any reference to the use of design-build here addresses procurement models that espouse the?DBIA’s Best Practices in Transportation.?The DBIA Transportation Committee that I chair spent a great deal of time and effort orchestrating that document and we refer to it regularly. Upon creating these guidelines, DBIA adopted the term “Design-Build Done Right,” which is still used broadly today.

Let’s take a closer look at PDB and see how it compares to best-value design-build.

Best-Value Design-Build

Best-value design-build refers to a?two-phase procurement?where a formal qualifications submittal leads to a shortlisting of firms who are then required to present a technical proposal with a fixed price for a project based upon a set of preliminary bridging documents. A confidential process involving alternative technical concepts is used to help define the acceptable level of innovation that will be embraced and highly valued by the owner. In a variation of method, the price is fixed, and the scope is varied.

An adjusted score process is used to evaluate the best value based upon a weighted average for innovations and price combined. Stipends are paid to the losing teams to help offset their costs and allow the sharing of the information they provide.

The downside of best-value design-build, if there is one, is that it is expensive to undertake by the design-build teams, and the level of risk transfer can radically shift the burden onto the design-builder as well. This is sometimes the case on mega projects where unknowns, changed conditions and schedule impacts can surface easily.

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