Design–Build Project Administration Practices for the Water Industry
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12, Issue 1
Abstract
Water utilities are often required to continue building and improving their water infrastructure assets to meet increasing demands. Innovative project delivery methods, such as design–build (DB), integrate the design and construction phases and are implemented by water utilities to further advance the delivery of their water transmission pipeline projects. The objective of this study was to present effective DB project administration practices specifically for the water industry. An elaborate interview protocol was developed to collect information from utilities that have extensive experience delivering DB water projects. Interviews were conducted with 10 utilities in the United States and Canada. DB practices were examined under seven key DB project administration categories. A selection of effective DB project administration practices revealed by this study include (1) using a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and finalizing it later in the design process; (2) providing the risk register to the design–builder to maintain during the design and construction process; and (3) using qualification-based procurement. This study contributes to the literature by identifying a wide selection of effective DB project administration practices that may support utilities in the delivery of their water infrastructure projects.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code used during the study were provided by a third party (i.e., procurement practices, cost and schedule management practices). Direct requests for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments.
Acknowledgments
This work is funded by the Water Research Foundation (WRF) Project No. 4753. The authors would also like to thank all industry experts and collaborators for supporting this research effort.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 12 • Issue 1 • February 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 20, 2020
Accepted: Aug 17, 2020
Published online: Nov 13, 2020
Published in print: Feb 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Apr 13, 2021
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