Water Innovations gives Water and Wastewater Engineers and end-users a venue to find project solutions and source valuable product information. We aim to educate the engineering and operations community on important issues and trends.
Issue link: http://wateronline.epubxp.com/i/628452
The traditional project delivery model of design-bid-build is starting to give way to an alternative that often saves time and money while advancing innovation. Could design-build soon be the dominant delivery method for water/wastewater projects? By John A. Giachino W ater sector interest in non-traditional construction procurement methods has grown substantially over the past decade. Aging systems, regulatory issues, and capacity demands are requiring public and private water utility owners to employ delivery methods that provide quicker delivery times and higher quality solutions and results, as well as earlier knowledge of construction costs. Owners are more often turning to alternative delivery approaches, including design-build. Design-build is not new. History's earliest projects were designed and built by master builders. Industrialization brought about the specialization of engineering/design and separation of design from construction. But the trend in water and wastewater utility capital project execution is moving once again toward the "master builder" concept where one party is completely responsible for design and construction under a single contract. The key aspect of design-build is that the owner has a single point of responsibility for design and construction, which speeds project delivery, saves time and money, and reduces litigation and claims. Trending Up As utility owners use design-build to deliver water and wastewater projects, the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) is seeing an increasing demand for specific training and materials. In response, DBIA has released best practices for design-build in the water/wastewater sector (available at www.dbia.org) and is working with industry partners like the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Water Environment Federation (WEF), and the Water Design-Build Council (WDBC) to continue the ever- popular Design-Build for Water/Wastewater Conference. Design-build has shown significant growth in the U.S. market. RSMeans, a part of The Gordian Group, recently published a report showing design-build market share has been holding steady at 40 percent since 2011. This represents an increase of 10 percent in the use of design-build since RSMeans first captured the data in 2005. The use of design-build in the water sector is lagging behind other infrastructure sectors such as transportation. The Florida Department of Transportation District 7 worked with the Federal Highway Administration Florida Division and developed a design- 26 wateronline.com n Water Innovations Design-Build Delivery In The Water Sector — A Trend Whose Time Has Come