Public design-build competitions are nothing like competitive bidding.  They require teams to compete based on qualifications, technical expertise, and price (not just price alone).   Here are six rules to remember during your next competition: 1.  Form the best team.  The public owner will begin by “short-listing” the most qualified teams.  It will consider the teams’ prior performance, [...]

Check out this post (http://blog.mcclureco.com/?p=233) by Dan Kerr of McClure Company, a mechanical contracting, engineering, and service organization (http://www.mcclureco.com/).  It’s a great summary of design-build from the mechanical contractor’s perspective.

Many of you know that the American Institute of Architects (AIA) published what it calls Integrated Project Delivery research papers and model contracts (see link at the right of this page).  There is some ambiguity in AIA’s conclusions for the ideal delivery method for executing IPD projects.  AIA’s research focuses on delivering integrates services (without [...]

Illinois may join the growing number of states looking to alternative contracting arrangements (and variations on design-build contracting) to build the country’s largest and most complex infrastucture projects – http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/2113693,high-speed-rail-illinois-032010.article.  The Illinois Senate passed a bill creating a Commission to ”[p]repare and issue a report to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the public recommending the best governmental structure for [...]

George Elvin’s 2007 book, Integrated Practice in Architecture:  Mastering Design-Build, Fast-Track, and Building Information Modeling, is a great resource for anyone interested in learning how progressive architects view integrated practice in general and design-build in particular.  Many architects view design-build with skepticism or even hostility – – it removes control from the owner and results in a less-than-adequate [...]