Blog

What are the Benefits of Collaborative Delivery for Capital Program Projects?

Posted on September 22, 2017 by

Most water and wastewater utilities around the U.S. develop and maintain long-term (typically five-year) Capital Improvement Programs (CIPs) to provide for needed system expansion or infrastructure renewal, repair, and replacement. The declining condition of America’s infrastructure is highlighted each year by numerous professional organizations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The 2017 ASCE Infrastructure Report Card gave drinking water utilities a grade of D, and wastewater utilities a grade of D+. Rehabilitating these valuable assets, when combined with regulatory compliance needed to upgrade water and wastewater facilities to support new customer growth, can result in the requirement of large capital resources for utility systems.

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Topics: Collaborative Delivery.

Harnessing the Power of Collaboration on Progressive Design-Build Projects

Posted on September 15, 2017 by

Due to the complex nature of water projects, it is important to develop a project framework that allows flexibility and close collaboration between the owner and the project team. Progressive design-build lends itself particularly well to collaboration. In particular, using early design workshops that involve the design-build team, the owner, plant operators, and other stakeholders is a best practice that can pay dividends to the overall project.

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Topics: AECOM, Collaborative Delivery, Progressive Design-Build.

Generating Team Collaboration in Construction Management at-Risk

Posted on September 8, 2017 by

The single most important factor for ensuring the success of the collaboration process is the careful selection of the individuals involved. This is perhaps even more critical in construction management-at-risk project delivery than in other design-build delivery methods due to the nature of the contracting arrangements.

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Topics: CMAR, Ulliman Schutte.

Contingency – What Is It? How Is It Set? And Who Owns It?

Posted on September 1, 2017 by

What is a contingency? The definition of contingency is one of the following: A future event or circumstance that is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty A provision for an unforeseen event or circumstance In the case of an owner’s budget for a collaborative-delivery project, the purpose of a contingency is to incorporate an additional allotment of funds within the final approved budget that can be used when and if the scope of a project changes with an associated cost increase in the delivered project. If an owner’s team directs its project delivery firm to increase its scope of work, the contingency allows the owner’s team to proceed with the project and not have to receive additional internal authorizations for spending.

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Topics: Collaborative Delivery, Contingency, WDBC Admin.

Where Do I Get a Contract to Use for my Design-Build Project – and What Does This “Off-Ramp” Mean?

Posted on August 11, 2017 by

If you’ve ever attended one of the WDBC education sessions, you’ll recall that instructor Mark Alpert likes to immediately inform you that there are some key terms he is going to be persistent in getting you to remember: GMP, RTFC, off-ramp, and a few others. The reason he is so persistent is that without a good contract in place, and understanding what the terms in the document mean, the project is definitely going to encounter unforeseen issues. But we also learn in these sessions that there are often numerous misunderstandings about how to approach the contracting process and the dynamics that occur, potentially leading to the “off-ramp.” When an organization attempts to “retrofit” their existing contracts or doesn’t know where to locate a good template or model, the problems begin.

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Topics: Contracts, Education, Off-Ramp, WDBC Admin.

How an Integrated Process System Optimized Delivery Speed and Value for a New Wastewater Treatment Plant

Posted on August 5, 2017 by

In 2014, the town of Berthoud, located on the Front Range of Colorado, north of Denver along the I-25 corridor, was faced with development requests from a combination of residential, commercial, and light industrial users. This request coincided with the implementation of stringent nutrient regulations by the State of Colorado for new wastewater treatment facilities. With the planned development of the eastern area of the community, particularly a major complex serving the trucking industry, a new east-side treatment facility would be necessary to sustain the planned growth of the city to the east of the existing service area. As a result, Berthoud officials made the decision to build a new wastewater treatment plant under an expedited schedule to accommodate the growth on the eastern part of the town.

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Topics: Wastewater Infrastructure/Treatment, Xylem.

How Can Education Address Impediments in Using Design-Build/CMAR Delivery for Water and Wastewater Projects?

Posted on July 29, 2017 by

Primarily due to efficiencies with schedules and the overall work process for both utility owners and municipalities during the past five years, the use of design-build and CMAR delivery for water and wastewater projects has increased. As the WDBC’s recent research report revealed, the use of collaborative delivery methods is continuing to gain significant momentum in the water sector because of the education process. The other good news is that WDBC’s research data shows that external impediments – such as legislative and regulatory requirements – are decreasing and progress continues within the states on that specific challenge.

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Topics: CMAR, Design-Build, Education, WDBC Admin.

Understanding the Differences in Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) and Fixed Price for Design-Build Delivery Projects

Posted on July 21, 2017 by

The intent of this article is to further an owner’s understanding of the commonly used pricing approaches for either design-build or CMAR delivery methods. For additional information on these topics, please review the appropriate sections in the Water and Wastewater Design-Build Handbook (5th edition. When discussing design-build projects, there are potentially two forms of final project pricing and compensation: guaranteed maximum price (GMP) or fixed price (FP). Owners and practitioners should be clear in their respective understanding of what each approach leads to in performance of services and responsibility for cost documentation.

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Topics: Design-Build, Fixed-Price Design-Build, Guaranteed Maximum Price.

Guaranteed Maximum Price Determination on Progressive Design-Build Projects

Posted on June 10, 2017 by

“OK, so what’s this going to cost?” That’s the multi-million-dollar question we all want to know when starting out on any progressive design-build venture. It’s followed closely by “When will we know?” With the proper team in place, cost certainty can be achieved early in the progressive design-build process.

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Topics: Guaranteed Maximum Price, Progressive Design-Build, Ulliman Schutte.

Can Collaborative Delivery Be Good for Allocating Risk?

Posted on May 27, 2017 by

For any business or organization (public or private) to be successful, risks must be proactively evaluated and addressed with mitigation plans. Risks, by their very nature, can sometimes produce undesirable consequences. This is especially true in construction where slim margins dictate risk identification and mitigation plans are used to protect those slim margins and enable businesses to be profitable. In public organizations, the public’s money needs to be responsibly spent and part of that responsibility is properly managing and allocating risks.

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Topics: PCL, Risk Allocation.
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