DBIA's 10 BP's in 10 Post (#2)

NREL's First DB Project

If you missed my discussion on DBIA Best Practice #1 and the introduction of this series, now is the time to review.

Moving on to BP#2

An owner should implement a procurement plan that enhances collaboration and other benefits of design-build and is in harmony with the reasons that the owner chose the design-build delivery system.

Right off the bat, this practice charges the owner with fostering a procurement plan that enhances “collaboration”: a prominent opportunity and result of Design-Build Done Right. However, the beneficial affects of collaboration do not move from opportunity to result without a determined effort on the part of the owner.

To pause here, and go deeper into collaboration, consider that this requires the owner, designer and builder to make commitments, and keep them. The owner is, and must be, the guardian of the collaborative effort: because the project owner is uniquely positioned as the default “governor” of the project acquisition. If anybody doubts this, try to move any project forward without consent (or at least capitulation) of the governor.

In my experience, trust is the grease that keeps the collaborative machine from seizing. Only with trust can I place into the hands of my teammate the success of my efforts, my integrity, myself. Considering our collective history as an industry, this is a monstrous task for designers and builders, not to mention owners. Only the owner has the power of the purse to advance trust’s proliferation.

The owner’s default governorship of the entire process is what links this Best Practice to Best Practice #1. The owner must assess design-build’s fit with the project, resources and organization such that collaboration is fostered. It doesn’t mean that the owner necessarily has a broad mastery of design-build (that’s what DBIA Education is for); rather the owner’s leadership has a broad mastery of collaboration.

Owners, on their first attempt following DBIA Education, have done many extremely successful design-build projects: case in point, the DOE/NREL Research Support Facility in Golden Colorado was the first design-build project for NREL staff. The Air National Guard in Ft Smith Arkansas procured the Guards first LEED certified building, the A10 Composite Maintenance Facility following DBIA Education, it was there first design-build project and received an AFCEE Award.

The procurement period is generally the time beginning with the publication of the owner’s “project expectations” to a receptive market, and ending with the establishment of a design-build contract or agreement. It incorporates methods and elements that support fair competition, support innovation, promote value, establish dependable evaluation & selection, define clear roles & responsibilities, and obligate achievable results all in a collaborative process.

Collaboration Tip:

If you are a project owner using design-build, try this on your next project. If you are using a FAR-type 2-Phase Selection Process, and have shortlisted proposers, and have fully documented you Request for Proposal, hand your RFP to the shortlisted teams and say: “Here is my RFP, take it, review it, critique it, mark it up, then bring it back and we will sit down, collaborate, and discuss incorporating any needed changes.”

I do this routinely. I usually, but not always, get two reactions: 1) I don’t believe you or 2) I don’t believe you. Breaking down the “control barriers” of our industry through thoughtful collaboration makes many traditionalists jumpy. It sometimes leaves peopled puzzled: when many more options are available, a more “boundless” playground of sorts, many of us need to pause and think a little bit about how to react.

I believe this more “boundless, barrier free” collaborative working relationship is the reason many have trouble “getting into” deep collaboration. Remember the grease? Leaders in our industry are not often a few years removed for getting a drivers license: usually wisdom through age characterizes leadership in design, construction, and ownership roles. This “broken-silo” thing is still pretty new, and now I have to collaborate, gettin’ all greased-up with trust? If you seek success with design-build you do.

One of the more important Techniques:

DBIA-BP #2 identifies 6 techniques for implementing this practice. For me, one of the more important techniques begins: “Owners should develop realistic project budgets” This fulfills what I call “Meet-the-Market”. This is one of 7 fundamental project expectations that every owner holds. To Meet-the-Market means understanding the resources, knowledge, capacities, and budget implications that will impact a project.

By example: many owners develop budgets with the expectation that the budget will be met (why have a budget otherwise). Often the budget comes from similar (or not) past projects, the design community, it may be outdated, or other project expectation may have evolved beyond the last budget update. Whenever or however the budget has been vetted, verification by a real-time market-place is possible through collaboration during the procurement period with design-build.

Recall the collaboration tip above: If the RFP defines a “target price” for the project, a review of the RFP’s “achievability” relative to price is handy knowledge. You are not asking for a price…you just want to know if the overall project expectations can somehow (not how, you’re not asking for a price) be realized based on “your target price”. Vetting the RFP in this way, privately with individual shortlisted offerors, that seeks real-time market-place perspective, in a controlled but collaborative process can make the difference between success and failure.