IQ Summer 2011: The Federal Issue - (Page 42)

PERSPECTIVES// process in which the owner reviews, comments and requires annotation of the 35 percent, 65 percent and an over-the-shoulder 95 percent review of design documents is a common mistake and will not achieve optimum results in design-build. Such post-award best practice interfaces include: Design VALUE Interface Delivering “best value” is a key advantage of design-build. The design-builder must manage the integrated process to achieve best value. The design-builder must effectively engage the owner, design professionals, key trade partners, subcontractors and suppliers. Design COST Interface In design-build, a commitment is made to project cost before the design is completed. The design-builder must develop and implement a monitoring system (typically referred to as “trending”) to manage the process to ensure the project stays within the budget. Design CONSTRUCT Interface Effectively managing the integration of design schedules and activities with construction schedules and activities is essential to the design-build process and often a huge challenge. Design PERFORMANCE Interface Delivering a project that meets the owner’s performance requirements at the highest possible level of quality is the design-builder’s most essential responsibility. The design-builder must ensure Design-build done right entails primary post-award design development interfaces within the entire design-build team. technical integrity of the process by producing plans and specifications, reviewing shop drawings, identifying (and correcting) errors and omissions, resolving field problems, providing site inspections, all while staying within the project budget and schedule. The owner should review for concurrence and conformance not the traditional approval as is standard practice in a design-bid-build contract period. Timeliness of reviews is essential. Over-the-shoulder reviews should be encouraged to facilitate consideration of various options—design can change during the contract period. However, the parties need to discuss and agree on what constitutes design “evolution” versus design “change.” [Editor’s note: DBIA’s new post-award training course addresses the aforementioned interfaces in greater detail.] The design-build interfaces listed here do not occur in all instances. Too often, the designbuilder fails to adequately coordinate, document, communicate, schedule, estimate and problem solve in a proactive manner consistent with designbuild best practices. Hence, collaboration within the project team is marginal and unfortunately integration of the team frequently does not occur. One common mistake: key trade partners are not selected early in the process. Instead, the designbuilder manages the design development phase via a series of hand-offs back and forth with the owner, and subsequently with the subcontractors. The more hand-offs in a fast-tracked design-build project, the higher the probability of fumbles. This practice adds significant risk to the design-builder in meeting the contract requirements. The early design submittals must be clear and concise and not a hybrid between the tradit ional concept ual desig n documents and construction documents. Such reversions to the “design-bid-build” mentality often bifurcate the overall coordination of the project design and minimize, if not eliminate, the ability of the owner to consider various trade-offs in achieving the functional requirements. Moreover, the potential for overlaps and gaps in the various scopes of work is increased. As a result, quality-control issues become paramount and require proper oversight. It is also not unusual for safety issues to arise. In addition, decoupling the integrated design of the complete facility and “bidding” separately, during contract administration in the traditional designbid-build manner, places additional financial exposure on the design-builder to design and construct the entire project within the budget. The initial schematic design submission should be intended to confirm the design, not produce construction documents. Owner’s comments 42 summer//2011 the quarterly publication of the design-build institute of america

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IQ Summer 2011: The Federal Issue

IQ Summer 2011: The Federal Issue