Planning and Defining the Design-Build Procurement Process - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 96

Table 8-5. Typical durations for activities of a qualifications-based selection (one-step)

Approximate
Duration (weeks)

Cumulative
Duration (weeks) Activity

Write RFQ, Gain Approvals 4-6 4-6

Finalize and Issue RFQ 1-2 5-8

SOQ Response Period 4-6 9-14

Review SOQ Submittals and Issue Short List 2-3 11-17

Conduct Interviews 1 12-18

SOQ Clarifications 1-2 13-20

Check References and Finalize Selection
Decision

1-2 14-22

Generating Interest in a Project

In a free-market economy, owners are well served to engage the market broadly as they
procure a DB contract. This improves an owner's ability to fully leverage market competi-
tion for the project. Also, free-market competition spurs innovation, which can optimize
the market's response to meeting the owner's objectives, including the cost of achieving
the defined facility performance criteria.
Traditional techniques used by owners to engage the DB contracting market as a first
step in DB project procurement include the intent to procure notice, industry forums,
individual workshops, and the Request for Expressions of Interest.
Intent to procure notice. As discussed in DBIA's Manual of Practice (DBIA 2010),
owners can provide a notice of a future DB project in regional and national trade press
well in advance of the publication of the RFQ. Providing early notice allows the design-
builders time to gather information and assemble resources to prepare for procurement.
For large and/or complicated water and wastewater facilities delivered using DB, it is
common for teams of different practitioners to form to gain a competitive advantage.
Advance notice of a planned DB procurement allows the market enough time to fully
understand the owner's needs and to organize the commercial details for the most
appropriate response.
Industry forum. An industry forum provides the opportunity for owners to discuss
their planned DB projects with interested design-builders (i.e., practitioners). An open
invitation is made to the marketplace to attend a forum where the owner describes the
planned DB project and provides information on the details of the planned procurement
process. Similar to the intent to procure notice, such a forum is most useful to the
proposing community when it is scheduled well in advance of initiating the procurement
process so interested design-builders have time to prepare.
Individual workshops. Sometimes, for very large or complex projects, the owner
may make staff available for individual workshops with potential offerers to promote
interest in the DB project procurement, discuss the general details of the project, and
obtain feedback on current market conditions that might be useful to shape the owner's