To the RESCU: Lessons from Using Progressive Design-Build to Deliver Agency's Largest Program

Silicon Valley Clean Water (SVCW), a water resource recovery agency in California, is nearly complete with its major infrastructure and conveyance upgrade program that used the progressive design-build (PDB) delivery for three interrelated projects valued at $569MM USD. This program, the Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade (RESCU), was implemented to replace SVCW's aging conveyance system and improve preliminary treatment facilities. Since 2016 when the program was initiated, SVCW has been an early adopter of PDB delivery for major wastewater infrastructure and has been focused on learning and sharing lessons learned to improve PDB delivery for the wastewater industry. This paper/presentation is intended to continue the sharing of lessons learned about PDB delivery for water/wastewater infrastructure projects throughout design, construction, startup and commissioning to better educate others who are considering and/or implementing PDB delivery for similar projects and programs. RESCU Overview: SVCW's RESCU program consists of numerous projects; however, the following three large CIP projects are at the heart of the program and account for over $569MM USD of construction cost:

*The Gravity Pipeline Project constructed a new gravity sewer pipeline [approximately 5,200 meters (17,000 linear feet) and 3.4-meter (11-foot) inside diameter], using a tunnel boring machine, that will serve as the main wastewater conveyance system to the treatment plant. Approximate project value is $264MM USD.

*The Front-of-Plant project constructed a new deep influent lift station [approximately 27.5-meter (90-feet) deep, 300,000 m3/d (80 mgd) capacity], located at the terminus of the Gravity Pipeline, and preliminary treatment facilities and connection piping to SVCW's main WRRF. Approximate project value is $169MM USD.

*The Pump Station Improvements Project is rehabilitating three of SVCW's conveyance pumping stations and portions of force main that contribute the flow to Gravity Pipeline. Approximate project value is $136MM USD. See Figure 1: RESCU Overview; Figure 2: Front-of-Plant. RESCU Program Timeline and Highlights: In 2016, SVCW began exploring PDB delivery as a viable approach for these three critical projects due to schedule extensions related to the overall program implementation approach. Like many other agencies, SVCW had to learn a lot about collaborative delivery prior to initiating these projects and talked with other agencies nationwide, attended Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) conferences, and received guidance from Owner's Advisors. In 2017 through 2019, SVCW worked through a rigorous procurement process to select PDB teams for each of the three projects. The process included a Request-for-Qualifications (RFQ) stage, qualification interviews, reference checking, short-listing of selected firms, a Request-for-Proposals (RFP) stage, a proposal process, additional proposal interviews, confidential meetings and reference site visits to previous projects. From 2019 through present, the PDB teams have been working through individual project designs (BODR, 30%, 60%), final cost negotiation, and construction processes, but were coordinated as a program. Because the same PDB team was selected for both the FoP and PSI project, coordination was simpler between those projects. When the COVID pandemic began, SVCW had already implemented MS Teams for the RESCU Program and quickly to remote meetings with minimal delays. Early work packages were used to accelerate critical elements of work or equipment (such as the tunnel boring machine), which proved to be advantageous just before the pandemic began. As construction progressed through final completion, it became evident that startup of facilities with overlapping responsibility (e.g. Gravity Pipeline and Front-of-Plant) would require careful coordination between PDB teams, which is currently underway. Learning Objectives: The primary learning objectives for the paper are to educate attendees on the 'real life' implementation of PDB process, with particular emphasis on programs that include multiple interrelated projects. Because many agencies still have limited knowledge of collaborative delivery, it is important for our industry to share knowledge from those who have recently implemented this type of project delivery. Although some elements of the RESCU program were presented at WEFTEC 2019, those lessons shared were primarily about procurement and pre-design phases. Now that the program is nearly complete five years later, this paper will focus on lessons learned through the entire PDB process, with particular emphasis on the recent construction and close-out phases (2019-2024) that have not been described yet. Lessons learned will be broken into the following main categories:

*Procurement Process

*PDB team procurement and selection

*Co-location of teams

*Collaborative design processes

*Negotiating lump sum pricing and cost validations

*Benefit of early work packages for construction and critical equipment/material procurement

*Agency involvement during construction (submittals, etc.)

*Equipment selection and procurement using best value

*Design, construction and startup of projects with 'overlapping responsibility'

*Planning for outreach/permitting

*Equipment and/or design issues during startup

*Navigating the COVID pandemic/supply chain issues