Planning and Defining the Design-Build Procurement Process - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 102

For larger and more complex DB projects, the owner may seek clarification of details
within the proposal during the review process. The owner submits written questions to
each proposer within a prescribed time frame for response, or owners schedule individual
workshops with each proposer for in-depth discussions about the details of its proposal.
Should any aspect of the offers need clarification, proposers would subsequently docu-
ment any required clarifications or corrections.
Finally, most owners agree that a formal interview with each proposer is an important
penultimate step in the design-builder selection process. As discussed by DBIA (2008b),
the interview provides the opportunity for each proposer to present its view of the priority
issues for a successful project and the approach to meeting the owner's project objectives.
In this setting, the owner's selection team hears this summary and asks questions. It is an
opportunity for the owner's project team to assess the culture and individual personali-
ties of the proposers' teams to help determine who is best suited to work with the owner.
After carefully considering the selection criteria of the RFP, the owner's selection
team now considers all of the information it has from proposals, clarifications, and inter-
views to reach a selection decision in the project owner's best interest.
SUMMARY
The DB procurement process offers a number of benefits to owners needing to build
water or wastewater infrastructure. These can include cost certainty, design innovation,
and optimal risk allocation. Fully realizing these benefits requires a commitment from
the owner's leadership, early planning activities that outline the owner's needs and project
objectives, and a well-developed procurement plan to select the right design-builder. A
successful DB project will involve the owner's leadership and staff, important stakehold-
ers, and potential proposers.
Placing sufficient commitment and effort toward these critical planning steps will
maximize the potential for successful DB project delivery and will deliver a facility that
meets the owner's needs and brings pride and satisfaction to the project participants.
REFERENCES
Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). 2010. Design-Build Manual of Practice, Doc-
ument Number 202, Competitive Acquisition of Design-Build Services: The Request
for Qualifications (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP) Processes. Washington, D.C.:
DBIA, www.dbia.org.
DBIA. 2008b. Design-Build Manual of Practice, Document Number 301, The Proposal
Process—Responding to RFQs and RFPs, 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: DBIA, www.
dbia.org.
R. W. Beck Inc. 2009. Alternative Project Delivery Survey of Water and Wastewater Utili-
ties: How Owners Are Doing More with Less. Framingham, Mass.: R. W. Beck.