DBIA's 10 BP's in 10 Post (#2)
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| NREL's First DB Project |
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.
