Evaluating Design-Level Designation of Owner-Provided Data for Transportation Design-Build Projects Based on Case Studies

One of the unique aspects of the design-build contracting method is that the owner provides a partially completed design for prospective design-builder teams to interpret for complete design and construction of the project. The data provided by the owner include studies, reports, as-built plans, design data, and other documents. The level of design development varies across projects and state transportation departments. Existing research on this topic relies heavily on varying design completion levels, which can be projected as completion percentages, but fails to establish an industry standard of how to recognize the design level, or percent complete, of a project in advance of the 100% design. There is a gap in the research that requires examination of case studies and identification of the data provided by the owner at the corresponding levels of design. This research examines data provided by the owner, state department of transportation agencies, on large design-build transportation projects from six case studies. The first research outcome compares actual documents provided by the DOT at the request for proposal stage of bidding with what their design-build manuals recommend being provided by the DOT. The second research outcome identifies seven additional categories, specific to the DOT-provided design documents, and examines the similarities and differences in drawing files in the six case studies. The final outcome is to provide DOTs with a comprehensive list that gives them the ability to provide sufficient and adequate information to the prospective bidders on design-build projects in an effort to mitigate future disputes.