Permitting and Regulatory Approvals - Design-Build for Water and Wastewater Projects - page 273

design-builder plays a role in obtaining permits and approvals (Water Design-Build Coun-
cil 2010). The fees and schedule impacts should be integrated into the project plan rather
than viewed as obstacles that the design-builder must overcome to meet a timetable and
budget that did not account for them.
IMPACTS ON SCHEDULE
Many times, the duration of a permit exceeds the lifespan of the DB contract, so the
owner must consider the responsibility for meeting regulatory requirements after the
design-builder is no longer under contract. For example, a permit to operate a drinking
water plant will require information from the DB team for the owner to submit to the state
regulatory agency. Some states may issue an interim, or conditional, permit for operation
until a final permit is issued. Acquiring the final permit usually occurs after the DB team
has ended their contractual obligations. The steps in terminating a permit can be just as
critical as those in obtaining the permit.
Owners and practitioners should realize that engaging the appropriate permitting
and regulatory agencies early in the life of the project will provide an understanding of
each agency's knowledge of the DB process. For agencies that are unfamiliar with DB, a
thorough educational process may be needed so members of the agency understand how
DB differs from DBB and how the regulatory time line relates to the project schedule
(Mortenson Construction 2010). This training can be longer than anticipated, and may
best be conducted by the owner before the design-builder has been hired and a project
schedule has been set.
A DB project's time line for the permitting process differs from that of a DBB proj-
ect. With a compact schedule being one of the benefits of DB, both owners and design-
builders want to avoid regulatory surprises during construction, because these surprises
can cause significant delays. The team must meet with the agencies to determine what
information is required for any approvals prior to construction, and the level of detail
needed by these agencies to complete the review must also be known. Under a traditional
DBB project delivery, design is completed before construction begins, and this provides
a natural window of time for regulators to grant permits and approvals. For DB projects,
construction begins during the design phase (i.e., without 100 percent design), and the
owner and DB team should determine how much design each regulator requires before
issuing an approval or permit (Water Design-Build Council 2010).
These considerations all support the need for regular meetings with representatives
of the identified agencies for DB water and wastewater projects. An inadequately informed
or nonreceptive permitting agency that requires 100 percent design can essentially pre-
clude an owner from using the DB. The initial meetings should determine if project fund-
ing from grants or loans has any influence on the regulatory requirements. Furthermore,
during this planning phase of the project, the team should compile a detailed checklist of
requirements for many approvals and permits for the project.
With all the relevant agencies fully informed and actively communicating, the design-
builder can develop a schedule that allots sufficient time for acquiring permits, and the
team can methodically sequence the work to minimize the delays from an extended per-
mit review process. Review times, including requests for information or clarifications, of
the permitting agencies are beyond the control of the owner and the DB team, so potential