Value Engineering - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 255

to accommodate Phases II and III of the project. This significantly reduced the cost of
Phases II and III.
Both design changes resulted in significant improvement in functionality and reli-
ability at no additional cost.
Pipeline Example
The City of Olathe, Kan., is a rapidly growing community of more than 100,000 people.
In response to increasing water demands the City began a DB program to construct 4 mi
(6,440 m) of 42-in. (1.1-m) diameter water transmission main supplementing transmission
capacity from its water treatment plant through a neighboring city and connecting to the
City's distribution system. The program was developed and advanced in a three-phase
process. Both formal and informal VE analyses were conducted in each phase of the proj-
ect's development.
Phase I: route analysis, materials analysis, and constructability analysis. Principal
Phase I tasks included a routing study, alternative pipeline materials evaluation, and
construction considerations. The need to construct 4 mi (6,440 m) of pipeline through
a neighboring city to reach Olathe's water system necessitated careful consideration of
pipeline routing and involvement by all stakeholders.
Application of VE techniques coupled with well-defined preliminary screening
criteria yielded two route alternatives for detailed evaluation. The two remaining route
alternatives were evaluated using six major weighted criteria and 28 minor weighted sub-
criteria. Rigorous evaluation of route alternatives resulted in a final selected route that was
acceptable to all stakeholders and a final construction cost, $9 million dollars under the
original budget for the project.
Phase I of the project also included a detailed evaluation of alternative pipeline mate-
rials including ductile-iron pipe, prestressed concrete pressure pipe, and steel pipe. Lin-
ing and coating options, installation requirements, field repairs, corrosion potential, and
protection along with maintenance requirements were considered. Life-cycle costs for
each pipeline material were also determined over the 100-year design life.
Phase II alignment selection. Phase II included reducing the selected route to a
final alignment. The scope of services included preparing documents for easement
procurement, development of design criteria, and preparation of preliminary plans and
specifications, and development of an RFQ for DB procurement. The final alignment
included final design for two substantial tunnels. Informal VE was performed to optimize
design criteria and evaluate various tunneling methodologies.
Phase III final design and construction. In Phase III, prequalified design-builders
were provided the preliminary plans and specifications as part of the RFQ and provided
price competitive proposals for final design and construction of the project. Prospective
design-builders were encouraged to offer VE alternatives as part of their proposals. The
successful design-builder offered an engineered pipe wall thickness and was able to
further reduce project cost.
By incorporating VE principles in all three phases of project development the project
delivery team was able to reduce the overall cost of the project from the initial $25 million
budget, to a final delivered price of $16 million.