On December 6, 2011, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement among state legislators to enact the New York Infrastructure Fund Act, a $1 Billion jobs program aimed in part at New York’s ailing roads and bridges.  http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/1262011GrowTheEconomy%20  DBIA’s press release notes that under the new Infrastructure Act, “the Department of Transportation, Thruway Authority, Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Bridge Authority will use design-build project delivery for the first time.”  This is major victory for public design-build project delivery, which has been historically disfavored in New York.

The Governor’s office touted the benefits of design-build, noting that “legislative leaders agreed on proposing legislation that will permit the New York Works Infrastructure Fund to bid the design and construction of infrastructure projects as a single contract, reducing costs and improving construction time. Passage of ‘Design-Build’ legislation would shave 9 – 12 months from the construction time of major infrastructure projects. The Fund would also streamline permitting and regulatory approvals for infrastructure projects and procurements and consolidate activities across agencies and authorities.”  http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/1262011GrowTheEconomy%20

The Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency is holding meetings December 8 and 14, 2011, to share information about the Design-Build-Operate (DBO) process for its upcoming regional surface water supply project.  http://www.wdcwa.com/detail/events/community_meeting_-_design-build-operate_dbo_draft_request_for_dbo_pro  The meetings – which will be held at the Woodland Community & Senior Center (2001 East Street, Woodland) and the Davis Community Chambers (23 Russell Boulevard) – will also provide the Agency an opportunity to solicit public input on the Draft Request for Proposals for DBO contractors.

According to the Agency website, the “[p]roject plans include a jointly-owned and operated intake on the Sacramento River, raw water pipelines connecting the intake to a new regional water treatment plant, and separate pipelines delivering treated water to Woodland, Davis and UC Davis.”  http://www.wdcwa.com/the_project

The Agency expects design to begin in 2012 and construction to begin in 2014:

Last fall, the Agency determined that design-build-operate would be the best method for delivering the project based on seven factors, including:  the ability to obtain firm pricing based on life cycle analysis, a single point of responsibility with the design-builder, and ensuring high quality water by setting specific performance requirements.

I am very excited about my firm’s combination with Faegre & Benson.  As many of you know, Faegre has one of the premier construction practices in the U.S. and strong design-build credentials.  In fact, it was Faegre lawyers who successfully argued for upholding Minnesota’s best value design-build procurement statute before the Supreme Court of Minnesota in Sayer v. MNDOT, 790 N.W.2d 151 (Minn. 2010) (a case followed closely on this blog).

The new firm – Faegre Baker Daniels – will officially open on January 1, 2012, with 12 offices around the world and approximately 800 lawyers.

Stay tuned to DesignBuildBoard for new and improved features to coincide with the merger.

Infrastructure Ontario has issued a Request for Qualifications for design-builders to design, build, and finance three Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Games projects:  1) the Ivor Wynne Stadium; 2) the York University Stadium; and 3) a new velodrome.  http://www.infrastructureontario.ca/en/news/io_news/2011/feb0911/Stadia_Velodrome%20RFQ%20NR.pdf

The full RFQ is available at www.merx.com.  Shortlisted teams will be asked to respond to an RFP this summer.

The Water Design-Build Council (www.waterdesignbuild.org) has released the Second Edition of its Municipal Water & Wastewater Design-Build Handbook.  The Handbook is an educational tool for owners.  It discusses basic concepts and best practices for executing design-build and construction management (at-risk) projects on public water and waste-water projects.  From defining design-build through managing the design-build contract, the Handbook offers a thorough discussion of design-build project delivery.  

The most interesting portion of the Handbook appears in Chapter 2:  Deciding on the Project Delivery Method.  Here, the Council publishes survey results from telephone interviews with 20 public owners who have used design-build on water or waste-water projects.  On the issue of why they chose design-build, the owners offered the following reasons (in order of popularity):

1.  Single point of responsibility;

2.  Having the Constructor involved in the design phase;

3.  Speed;

4.  Price Certainty;

5.  Construction Quality;

6.  Reduced Change Orders and Claims; and

7.  Cost Savings.

The entire Handbook is available at the Water Design-Build Council’s website