Delivery Alternatives and Geotechnical Baseline Report Development

This chapter describes how the geotechnical baseline report (GBR) process is typically developed under design-bid-build, addresses additional steps required to achieve the same outcomes for design-build delivery, and addresses GBR development approach options under variations of both delivery methods. Design-build delivery presents additional challenges that must be overcome for the GBR to be part of the “solution” rather than part of the “problem.” The owner’s team prepares a GBR for bidding that provides a project description, certain constraints and latitudes, the physical baselines based on the exploration completed to date, and limited baselines that address construction considerations based on the preliminary design, possible means and methods assumed by the owner’s team, and the owner’s preferred risk allocation profile. Progressive design-build delivery is a variation of delivery where the owner engages the design-build team at an earlier stage of design, before the construction methods are determined, and at the early stages of GBR development.