Managing the Room of Maneuver in Design Build Contracts – A Comparative Study of Norwegian Road Projects

Most public infrastructure projects in Norway are conducted with design-bid-build contract form. However, the traditional design-bid-build contract seems to be both time consuming and demand a lot of resources. And at the same time contribute to a high level of conflict between the project owner and the contractor. Because of this, and an increased amount of big and complex infrastructure projects, public project owners are boosting their use of design-build contracts. Use of design-build contracts can potentially shorten project time, and reduce cost. In addition, the use of this contract form can release the project owner's resources and make use of the contractor's competence. Within the design-build contract form and delivery method there is a certain room of maneuver. This can be utilized and potentially contribute to achieve the mentioned benefits. The problem occurs when the public project owner's laws and regulations limits this room of maneuver, and puts too many restrictions on the contractor's choice of technical solutions and ways of construction. To explore this a literature review and multiple case studies were conducted. Four public road projects were explored through semi-structured in depth interviews and document studies. This identified the room of maneuver in the studied projects, as well as the potential room of maneuver for the projects. The level of detail set in the contract by the project owner, through deployment of the laws and regulations, seems to be the most critical factor. This decides whether the contractor has a satisfying room of maneuver or is too restricted and not able to propose and execute alternative solutions.