Value Engineering - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 251

Table 20-1. Benefit/cost ratio for value engineering programs

Benefit/Cost Ratio
of VE Program Agency

Federal Highway Administration 127:1

California Department of Transportation 105:1

New York City Office of Management and Budget 109:1
Source: Manual of Practice 501, Value Engineering (VE) in Design-Build: A Value Management
Approach (DBIA 2011)

when the VE team is built around the owner, concept designer, independent experts,
and builder.
For owner representation, the owner's management, engineering, operations, and
finance representatives are included. In some cases, when projects are politically sensitive
or have a large impact on the rate payer, it may be advisable to include a representative of
the public or governing body. A skilled facilitator can assist owners' representatives with
overcoming constraints brought about by policy, politics, guidelines, and institutionalized
standard practices.
The concept designer representatives would include key engineering discipline leads
from the design team. The role of the design team is to assist the VE team in under-
standing the baseline concepts and elements of the design or project that are to be value
engineered. A skilled facilitator is necessary to guide the process to ensure an objective
analysis achieves the owner's required functions at the lowest cost.
Value engineering analysis is most effective when qualified individuals from a broad
range of engineering disciplines and backgrounds are included in the team. Integrating
independent experts with the VE team broadens the team's perspective and adds creativ-
ity to the analysis.
Design-build procurement allows builder participation in the VE process in a way
that cannot be achieved in a traditional DBB project. The builder's participation allows
the VE team to leverage the builder's knowledge to the specific construction market,
local construction trades and subcontracting opportunities, and constructability limita-
tions. This level of collaboration helps ensure that construction-related constraints and
strengths of the builder and construction markets are optimized.

Step 3: Conduct the Analysis
The basic components of a VE analysis are
• Orientation —The VE team gathers information regarding the project to gain
a clear understanding of the project goals and constraints. Generally, this step
includes presentations by the owner and concept designer to inform the VE team
of information relating the baseline design or technical approach that will be
value engineered. It should also identify the stakeholders' tolerance for risk and
strategies to assign or mitigate risk.