RFPs: Selecting the Design-Builder - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 193

2. Transition from the design phase to construction: A benefit of DB delivery is the abil-
ity to shorten the schedule during this transition. Often, preliminary construction
activities, such as major earthwork and site preparation, can begin prior to the
design achieving 100 percent completion. This transition must be well defined
to ensure project delivery efficiencies are achieved and owner's expectations met.
3. Sequence of construction: The sequence of construction highlights the strategy for
construction from the initial tasks of site mobilization, startup, and commissioning
tests. It will describe how activities are linked together throughout construction.
4. Site safety and security protocols: These would include perimeter security, visitor
access, and steps taken to ensure a safe environment to all on-site personnel,
while minimizing impacts to neighboring areas.
5. Staging and lay down areas: Design-builders should propose how the site will be
organized to promote construction efficiency and safety, and confirm that overall
site constraints are met with the delivery plan.
6. Materials delivery: The method for how procured materials are delivered onto
the site, without impacting site construction and the neighboring public, should
be explained.
7. Managing resources: The design-builders should outline material delivery, permit
issues, labor availability, and weather challenges and how they will be managed.
In addition, plans for resource leveling and attracting skilled workers will give
the owner greater confidence that resource shortages or delays can be mitigated.
8. Project schedule: Hallmarks of a reliable project critical path schedule include a
tightly defined sequence of work with achievable project milestones coupled with
accounting for the inherent uncertainty in obtaining governmental approvals.
Key milestones should identify the notice to proceed, permitting activities, site
mobilization, start of construction, key milestones throughout the construction
period, startup commissioning, punch list resolution, and schedule acceptance.
Startup, commissioning, and operations. Startup and commissioning are the transition
from construction to final acceptance and include planning and precommissioning,
component and functional testing, and then system testing. Each phase should be defined
in terms of leadership, communication, participants, documentation, and procedures for
demonstrating compliance with performance objectives. Once the facility is tested and
fully commissioned, a transition plan must be implemented so that owners can take the
operational responsibility.
Contract Principles, Preliminary Risk Matrix, and Commercial Issues
An important issue to address in an RFP for a DB project is the anticipated allocation
of risk. A preliminary risk allocation matrix should be included in all RFPs. The matrix
should address what risks are to be covered by the design-builder and what risks are to be
covered by the owner. The risks that are often addressed are shown in Table 15-3.
A good way to validate the industry's perception of the RFP's structure and key ele-
ments, including risk allocation, is to issue a draft RFP including the proposed DB con-
tract to potential proposers and request feedback from all design-builder proposers. The
feedback often helps to streamline the procurement process and simplify negotiations
that follow proposer selection.