Design-Build Contract Risk Allocation - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 115

disputes and reduce the likelihood that the design will be inconsistent with the design-
builder's pricing assumptions.
Coordinating Design Development
Design-builders are often asked to take significant risks by committing to a price based
on incomplete design information. The progressive DB approach, as previously discussed,
has steps that the design-builder can implement to protect itself with regard to the owner.
Nevertheless, the design-builder must also protect itself by implementing strategies as the
case may be with its design professionals to ensure that the design professionals and con-
struction professionals are working to meet the owner's requirements consistent with the
price the design-builder has provided the owner. Significantly, even an integrated firm has
to ensure that its design and construction professionals are on the same page.
The first step the design-builder must take to achieve this important objective is
to include its design and construction professionals in all discussions with the owner's
team prior to the design-builder's committing to a price to the owner. The design-builder
should also jointly review the owner's request for proposal, bid documents, and other
project requirements with all members of its team to ensure that each requirement is
being addressed by the parties. The design-builder should also freely share with its team
members the assumptions it is making in developing and pricing its scope of work, so that
there is no confusion as to what the designer has to design and the contractor has to build.
DBIA's Standard Form of Design-Builder and Design Consultant Agreement specifically
contemplates a close working relationship between the design-builder and its design-
consultant (DBIA, 2010c).
Once the design-builder commits to a price, it must then adopt procedures to ensure
the development of a coordinated design that both meets the owner's requirements and is
consistent with the design-builder's price and other assumptions. It is a significant mistake
for the design-builder to isolate the designers from the contractors. Rather, the contrac-
tor and designer must stay in constant communication during the design development
process.
To this end, it is helpful to establish a joint office where key representatives of the
design-builder, contractor, designer, and subcontractors can work side by side during the
design development process. This process facilitates the exchange of information among
the parties and ensures that each team member has access to the people in the design-
builder's organization who assembled the budget. The parties should also establish a
design review process whereby, prior to providing the owner with any design submission,
the parties regularly monitor the design documents to ensure that all the parties' objec-
tives have been achieved.
The design-builder should also require the designer to attend and participate in all
meetings with the owner. This will permit the designer to hear firsthand the owner's con-
cerns and requirements and help ensure that all parties are working with the same infor-
mation. In fact, many owners employing the DB model, especially those that are fearful
of losing control over the designer and the design process, will insist that the designer
attend all meetings so that the owner can communicate directly with the designer. Some
project owners go so far as to require the design-builder to agree that the owner can