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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 - Alignment Phase Administration." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebooks for Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods, Volume 1: Design–Build Delivery. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25686.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 - Alignment Phase Administration." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebooks for Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods, Volume 1: Design–Build Delivery. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25686.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 - Alignment Phase Administration." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebooks for Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods, Volume 1: Design–Build Delivery. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25686.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 4 - Alignment Phase Administration." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebooks for Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods, Volume 1: Design–Build Delivery. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25686.
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    9    2.2 Alignment Strategy Establish clear project goals and create productive relationships within the agency, and between the agency and D-B team members. A key element to construction administration project success begins with clear communication and purposeful alignment between team members during the early stages of the project, right after procurement. Better alignment and integration between project stakeholders correlates with better project performance on a variety of metrics and in diverse sectors, including transportation. Developing effective lines of communication and working on agency/design-builder relationships early on will set positive behavioral expectations for the duration of the project. Delaying stakeholder alignment may allow the project team to revert to traditional D-B-B roles and behaviors where there is a purposeful and legal separation between these parties. The D-B contracting methods require strong collaboration. Agencies must align these parties from the onset of the contract. Agencies should establish project goals when selecting the D-B method (see Chapter 3, Project Goals, section 3.2). Project managers must emphasize these project goals with the D-B team throughout all project phases, beginning with the 1 Kickoff meeting. To ensure success, the agency and D-B team should consult the project goals during critical design, risk allocation, scheduling, and pricing decisions. The D-B contracting method provides one point of responsibility for both design and construction. Therefore, traditional roles and responsibilities can change. The use of the 2 Roles and responsibilities tool can clarify team member functions and help to avoid problems. The use of 5 Co-location of key personnel can help to expedite decisions, as well as the overall design and construction process. The use of D-B encourages partnering by assembling the team early and establishing relationships and communication protocols before the project activities ramp up (see 8 D-B specific partnering). This partnering can be either informal, occurring organically with team formation and normal interactions, or it can be done more formally with facilitated meetings producing a team charter in alignment with project goals and using an evaluation plan. On major projects, using formal partnering with a formal evaluation plan is a very effective alignment strategy. Project teams should also realize that alignment extends beyond the core project team. The team must also align key stakeholders, especially those who might not be familiar with the team integration or fast pace of a D-B project. Project teams can apply tools such as 7 External stakeholder coordination plan, 6 Regulatory agency partnering, and 10 FHWA involvement overview to maximize alignment with external stakeholders. The roles and responsibilities tool can clarify team member functions and help to avoid problems.

    10    2.3 Scope Strategy Ensure the project scope and responsibilities are understood and agreed upon by all parties. A clear understanding of the project scope is essential for successful execution of a D-B project. Note that the alignment strategy discussed earlier is a foundation to allow for a successful scope strategy because it helps align all key stakeholders around the scope of the project. The D-B process involves design in the procurement process and moves quickly into final design upon project award. Design-builder team integration and single point responsibility of the D-B team ensures constructability and efficiencies of design. However, there is a risk that the scope intent from the RFP and design-builder proposal can be lost in the fast-paced final design process. Some agencies use a 19 Scope validation period, or similar tool, to prevent a misunderstanding of project scope in the handoff from procurement to design and construction. Project teams must identify any discrepancies in team understanding of scope or areas of uncertainty as soon as possible to avoid delays, cost growth, or disputes. The tool 9 Continuity of team members describes a key lesson learned from the research case studies. The highly integrated and fast-paced nature of D-B contracting requires a stable group of core team members. Teams can also gain beneficial scope management through the use of 15 Independent party design review, as long as the design reviewers have a clear grasp of the original project scope. Among the tools that support the scope strategy are 11 Permit commitment database and 14 Discipline taskforces. 2.4 Design Quality Strategy Ensure design quality through active participation in design reviews and accurate implementation of the RFQ and RFP requirements. One of the most fundamental differences between D-B and D-B-B contracts is the design process. D-B-B projects are fully designed prior to bidding, with all the required information to accurately bid the project. In theory, the project plans should not change significantly after the project has been bid. In contrast, D-B projects are typically procured with only about 20% or 30% of the design complete, and require the D-B team to complete the design under the construction contract. To complicate matters further, the design- builder does not typically finish design until after some construction has already begun. Expectations for the design often do not consist of biddable documents by a diverse set of contractors, but instead enough details to inform efficient construction by one firm—the same team completing the design. Since the timing, expectations, and requirements of the project design in a D-B project are significantly different from those of a D-B-B project, The fast-paced nature of D-B contracting requires a stable group of core team members to maintain design intent and scope control from the RFP to design and construction. Expectations for the design often do not consist of biddable documents by a diverse set of contractors, but instead enough details to inform efficient construction by one firm.

    11    tools that promote this design quality strategy can be implemented to achieve an efficient and effective design and review process. Tools to support the D-B design quality strategy can include 12 Plan standards and 13 Deviations from agency standards. Often times, 14 Discipline task force and 17 In-Progress design workshops are used to align the designs for subsets of the D-B project and/or stakeholders. 15 Independent party design reviews and 18 Over-the-shoulder reviews provide assurance to the agency that the D-B firm is performing a quality design. These tools and others support the design quality strategy, which is critical to a successful D-B project. 2.5 Construction Quality Strategy Promote quality during construction and enforce requirements of the D-B contract. While agencies often select D-B contracts for their potential time and cost savings, it is important to maintain excellent project quality. All quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) methods that apply to D-B-B projects apply to D-B projects. Additionally, the D-B contracting approach provides agencies with opportunities to implement alternative QA/QC methods that align with project goals. The primary difference between D-B and traditional D-B-B construction quality approaches occurs in the QA/QC roles and responsibilities; not necessarily in any QA/QC process changes. Since the D-B process involves the contractor early and provides an opportunity for specifying construction means and methods, agencies can request that the D-B firm be responsible for various QC activities. Tools to support the construction quality strategy can include 22 Contractor-controlled QC testing, 23 Contractor involvement in establishing QC standards, 24 Incentive/disincentive program for superior quality, and 26 Dual construction engineering inspector roles. Moreover, the tool 25 Real-time electronic quality management information provides an organizational system to record and access quality-related information in a central location, track non-compliance issues, and ensure that all areas of concern are documented and closed out. The D-B process allows for alternative approaches to ensure achievement of existing requirements and specifications. If the agency desires, it allows for a focus on superior quality during the construction phase. 2.6 Construction Efficiency Strategy Implement a system that increases efficiency during construction and aligns with roles and contractual responsibilities. The D-B contracting method provides a strong potential for time and cost savings. Achievement of this potential depends on efficient construction operations. The construction efficiency strategy itself is dependent on clear project goals and scope being set during procurement (see Chapter 3, Project Goals, section 3.2). In other words, construction Because of the contractor’s knowledge of design, materials, and methods in the D-B process, agencies are more apt to involve them in QC activities.

    12    efficiencies are made possible by the D-B aligning with other team members during design, gaining a clear understanding of project scope, and agreeing upon appropriate means and methods of construction. The D-B firm can adapt to the design and be ready for the construction phase ahead of time, by planning earlier than they typically can in a traditional D-B-B delivery. For example, a temporary traffic control plan is vitally important to project safety. D-B offers a tremendous advantage because the design-builder can design the plan with interaction and input from the agency and can allocate the necessary resources to ensure a high level of worker and motorist safety. Although this activity is similar in D-B-B and D-B, the timing of it makes a big difference. D-B offers these types of opportunities to improve construction performance and efficiency. D-B also offers opportunities for a more efficient construction closeout phase to transition from construction to operations and ensuring a safe and efficient startup of the new facility. Examples of D-B tools to support the construction efficiency strategy can include tools to keep stakeholders adequately informed such as 14 Discipline task force and 20 Public announcements. The tool 16 Cost savings matrix tracks innovative ideas and their impact on cost, and 28 Payment checklist keeps payments organized and helps guide invoice preparation and review. 27 Witness and hold points allow for checking technical quality requirements and safety requirements so that the next activities can proceed smoothly. 21 Delegation of authority enables some project decisions to be made quickly by personnel with specific project knowledge, promoting construction efficiency. 2.7 Summary Agencies can use these five D-B strategies to help select tools that will help achieve the project’s goals. By implementing these strategies, agencies can thoughtfully and appropriately select tools from within this Guidebook, adapt tools for project-specific use, and develop new tools to fit agency-specific needs. An important aspect of developing D-B project tools is to identify differences from D-B-B projects, and determine how to leverage these differences to lead a more successful project. By emphasizing strategies of alignment, scope, design quality, construction quality, and construction efficiency, agency leadership can guide the project stakeholders toward D-B contract administration success. To facilitate this task, each of the tools in Appendix A have icons corresponding to the strategy or strategies that the tool addresses.

Next: Chapter 5 - Design Phase Administration »
Guidebooks for Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods, Volume 1: Design–Build Delivery Get This Book
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The transportation industry has a need for contract administration guidance.

The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 939: Guidebooks for Post-Award Contract Administration for Highway Projects Delivered Using Alternative Contracting Methods, Volume 1: Design–Build Delivery provides a practitioner’s guide for construction administration on Design–Build (D-B) projects. Whether an agency is using the D-B contracting method for the first time or has significant experience with the method, this Guidebook provides useful strategies and tools to support D-B project administration. Highway agency personnel are the audience for the Guidebook.

Volume 2, on construction manager–general contractor delivery, and Vol. 3, a research overview, are also available.

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