ALTERNATIVE MEANS FOR CAPITAL PROJECT DELIVERY: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART

Water and wastewater utility managers continue to be faced with the challenge of improving customer service, satisfying regulatory requirements, and upgrading or replacing aging infrastructure, while reducing costs. Many utility managers have several contracting options available for delivering capital projects, but traditionally, the approach most often used by the public utility sector has been “design-bid-build” (DBB).Increasingly, utility managers are exploring alternative options for capital project delivery, including design-build (DB), design-build-operate (DBO), and Construction Manager at Risk (CM at Risk, sometimes referred to as General Contractor / Construction Manager) contracting. While there is a trend toward increased use of alternative project delivery methods by water and wastewater utilities, some owners continue to raise issues that must be addressed if alternative delivery is to become common place in the public water and wastewater utility market. To help identify these concerns and determine the current willingness of utility managers to consider alternative project delivery, R. W. Beck is conducting a nationwide Project Delivery Survey of water and wastewater utility executives. The survey results, including lessons learned by utility owners, will be presented at the WEF/AWWA Joint Conference.