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The Design-Build contracting process overlaps design and construction. Design-Build brings designers and construction contractors under a single contract with the agency, thus creating one point of responsibility.
Having both designers and builders under the same contract enables construction to begin after a portion of the design has been completed. Designers engage in initial design, obtain feedback from the builder partner; design proceeds further, construction begins, feedback continues; design is finished, and then construction is completed. Design-Build increases efficiency and allows for dispute resolution within the design-build team.
With this iterative, open-ended process, designers can better incorporate public viewpoints before the design is finalized.
However, the open-ended design process also causes uncertainty for the agency and contractor that makes the contracting process itself a challenge. After all, without a design, how do you set the terms and price for the final product?
Public involvement raises two concerns that need to be addressed in the contracting process if Design-Build is to succeed.
- 1. What are the standards and who has the responsibility for effective public involvement? It is easy enough for an agency to require effective public involvement practices, but what does that mean? The three case studies offer different approaches, but in each case the agency spelled out expectations and roles and responsibilities for the contractor and the agency in the contract.
- 2. Effective public involvement can produce new ideas and requirements that weren’t anticipated by the project team. What if the project requires major changes that affect cost as a result of the input received from the public? How can this be anticipated and how can the contract process protect the interests of all parties: the contractor, the agency, and the public? The three case studies used very different approaches in which each addressed the issue at one or more stages. Getting agreement early in the project on roles, design parameters and outreach standards is one means of planning for this inevitability.
Design-Build is not intended to replace the traditional Design-Bid-Build process. There are some projects for which it may not be appropriate given the complexity of the project or its stage of development and public acceptance. Rather, Design-Build provides agencies with an additional tool for delivering transportation projects that serve the public interest.
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U.S. Department of Transportation
Communities
Design Build