Alternative Contracting and Innovative Project Management

Design-Bid-Build (DBB) is a traditional procurement method for infrastructure contracts in the U.S. It is a basic approach, suitable where there is clarity of deliverable with low probability of major risk events and/or significantly changed conditions. Design-build (DB), Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM) and other similar methods are gaining momentum but there is not good clarity at this point regarding their advantages and disadvantages. Other promising methods such as General Contractor/Construction Manager (aka GCCM, CM/GC or Contractor at risk), incentive options (A+B bidding) and, more recently, Alliancing (Australia, New Zealand, UK) and Early Contractor Involvement (UK) exist. The author is completing an inventory of these processes with an evaluation of GCCM and Alliancing for the Washington State Department of Transportation. This paper reports some findings from that study that are applicable to transit agencies regarding procurement of infrastructure, systems and vehicles.