Planning and Defining the Design-Build Procurement Process - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 90

PROJECT PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Owners of successful DB projects report that one important factor is early development
of a project plan and broad commitment to implementing it by the key project stake-
holders (R. W. Beck 2009). Establishing the project plan is beneficial because common
objectives among the owner's project participants are documented and expectations for
project outcomes are aligned by these objectives. Project plan development has three
main activities: (1) definition of owner goals and objectives; (2) baseline studies; and, (3)
delivery strategy definition.
Defining the Owner's Project Goals and Objectives
The owner should establish a common vision for the project and outline a clear, agreed-
upon definition of project success. This will provide the project team with a strong foun-
dation to efficiently and effectively manage all aspects of delivery. In addition, this early
planning work serves as a resource for others that join the team later in the project.
DB procurement is most often successful when it is supported by a well-conceived
project plan that is broadly endorsed by the owner's project delivery team. Defining
owner goals and objectives involves stakeholder chartering, which includes mission state-
ment development, alignment, and deployment.
Stakeholder chartering. The project chartering process is an activity that should
be completed early in the project development cycle to orient and align key project
stakeholders with agreed-on project goals. On major DB projects, the project delivery
team is usually comprised of individuals who have a variety of skills and perspectives.
These staff would come from many departments, such as financial, planning, legal,
procurement, engineering, environmental compliance, property management, operations,
and community relations.
The chartering process is sometimes conducted in a retreat setting with all key stake-
holder parties being represented. This process generally consists of a series of activities
to define the owner's vision, mission, and goals, roles and responsibilities of project deliv-
ery stakeholders, performance metrics and monitoring approach, and communication
requirements.
The owner's management should be involved in the chartering activities, because
management leadership may be necessary to align the interests of multiple stakeholders.
In addition, the owner's project manager should be indentified and empowered before
project chartering begins, so that he or she is fully vested in the project's direction that
is set during the chartering process. Sometimes owners hire advisors who specialize in
chartering and team-building activities for these tasks, especially when no staff within the
owner's organization has experience with these types of activities.
Team chartering generally occurs in three steps. First is the development of a mission
statement . Then the team must gain agreement from the stakeholders. This is called align-
ment . Finally, they deploy the plan and move the project forward.
Mission statement development. A well-written mission statement reflects the core
purpose of the project team and continuously guides the management of the project. It
should be feasible and consistent with the owner organization's purpose, while challenging