CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 Design-build in the water/wastewater market sector has seen significant growth and evolution in recent years. With this rapid change and growth, a revision and update to DBIA Best Practices in the water/wastewater market sector was merited. Join us for an informative session where we’ll explore DBIA’s approach to updating our Best Practices, the current status and work accomplished to date on the Water/Wastewater Best Practices updates and highlight core updates with particular focus on their impact. A team of seasoned design-build experts, drawing from their extensive experience in water/wastewater design-build projects and insights from diverse stakeholders, has led the development of these practices. While they are grounded in the Universal Best Practices introduced in 2023, they are tailored specifically for the water/wastewater market sector, addressing its unique intricacies and requirements.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 In 2023, the Charles Pankow Foundation released the Design-Builder's Guide to Design Management - an updated guidebook to assist design-builders with the design management process. This updated guide was the work of a group of subject-matter-experts (SMEs) in design-build delivery, from around the U.S. and from a variety of market sectors, including the water/wastewater sector. Comprised of owners, designers, contractors, and specialty trades, these SMEs worked alongside an academic team with faculty from the University of Florida, Iowa State University, and the University of New Mexico. The result was the main guidebook and a series of smaller playbooks, including The Design-Builder's Guide to Design Management: A Playbook for the Water/Wastewater Sector. This presentation will explain the process they followed to update the guide and provide an overview of the new content related to the water/wastewater sector. Following the presentation, we will lead a panel discussion with a select group of SMEs involved in the delivery of water/wastewater projects to explain their experience with the guide and its relevance to their work.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 Facing a year of unprecedented zero allocation of the water supply to Southern California from the State Water Project, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California had to look for other means of delivering water as quickly as possible to areas within its distribution system that relied almost solely on imported water from Northern California for its water needs. This presentation will feature the process to develop organizational readiness including attending DBIA conferences; curated presentations and tours by local contractors, design consultants and water agencies; on-the-job training in workshops during the development of the RFQ; and in-house presentations, while addressing the main drivers for the project such as the need for a rapid response to extended drought conditions, the need for and selection of the Owner’s Advisor and outside legal counsel, and working through the development of the RFQ and selection of the Design-Builder for a first-time Owner in the design-build work environment. With targeted training in various forms from different sources, augmentation of staff with design-build experts, judicious planning of the RFQ development process, and support from management and the Board, Metropolitan issued an RFQ for Progressive Design-Build services in March 2023 as planned.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 Learn about the development of the new, state-of-the-art 50 MGD Prospect Lake Clean Water Center for the City of Fort Lauderdale, FL. Design has progressed and construction is underway for a new drinking water treatment plant in Fort Lauderdale that will replace an existing 70-year old facility and deliver the majority of fresh water for the city. Panelists will review key project drivers and lessons learned while offering an overview on the general scope of work, Florida’s unsolicited P3 process, involved parties/organizations/teaming structure, financial structure and risk transfers. The new facility is the result of a public-private partnership (DBFOM) between the City of Fort Lauderdale, IDE Technologies, LTD. and Ridgewood Infrastructure. Kiewit Water Facilities Florida is the design-builder, Kiewit Engineering is the lead designer, and IDE Technologies will perform process design, procurement, and manage operations and maintenance with city employees over the 30-year term. Hazen and Sawyer is serving as the City’s Technical Advisor and Jacobs is serving as the Advisor to IDE/Ridgewood. The project is slated to be complete by 2026.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 In 2020, the city of Wilmington, Ohio, elected to utilize the Progressive Design-Build delivery model for their upcoming WWTP project. Early in the project’s Preconstruction Phase, the Design-Builder identified the project’s budget as a major risk that was exacerbated by recent increases in construction costs. To mitigate the risk of an unaffordable project, the Design-Build Team worked collaboratively throughout the project to identify ways to reduce the construction cost while still providing the city with a robust treatment facility. Utilizing an integrated team consisting of the Owner, builder, designer and criterion engineer, numerous innovative Value Engineering (VE) solutions were developed, many of which were incorporated into the design. Additionally, many components of the project were procured early, including all process equipment and an Early Sitework Bid Package. These early packages locked in the costs for these components, mitigating the risk that further cost escalation would negatively affect the city’s budget. These cost-saving solutions resulted in the project being delivered at a GMP that was within the city’s budget. In hindsight, identifying the project’s budget as a major risk early in the Preconstruction Phase was a significant benefit that Design-Build brought to this project, providing “crystal-ball-like” cost reassurance throughout the project.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 Lump sum DB allows Owners and Design-Builders to determine and assign risk due to the entity best able to manage the risk. What happens in today’s uncertain market? Do you rely on contract protections or do you roll up your sleeves and work diligently to find solutions? The uncertain market has been an eye opener for our industry. The Stanislaus Regional Water Authority (SRWA) has developed mitigation alternatives and been able to maintain schedule and budgets to minimize the impacts from the unreliable market. Collaborative project delivery offers the flexibility to work through unpredictable market conditions to minimize cost and schedule impacts with quick decision making. Early procurement decisions, early construction packages, collaboration between the designer and contractor to align with material availability, and frequent communication with manufacturers and suppliers was shown to be effective in minimizing overall project impacts to the SRWA. Traditional delivery using the Design/Bid/Build approach would likely not have resulted in controlling market timing and risk pricing. Project solutions to address market volatility is one of the many areas of focus in collaborative project delivery and the SRWA experience demonstrates how to maneuver through some of the most challenging market conditions seen in our lifetime.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 As part of the Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow (SWIFT) program, Hampton Roads Sanitation District’s (HRSD) is closing their 21 MGD Boat Harbor Treatment Plant and building a large pump station and transmission force main to convey wastewater to another treatment plant across the James River. The $150M force main project is using best value Design-Build delivery and started construction in July 2023. This project will install a new HDPE pipe ranging from 42-inch to 54-inch diameter, using over 4 miles of marine trenching plus a record-breaking horizontal directional drill with HDPE pipe. While prescriptive requirements were noted in the RFP, the Design-Builder was encouraged to propose performance-based alternatives. The Owner and Design-Builder will discuss how their teams worked together to evolve the design to better meet the project outcomes and navigate a complex permitting structure. The presentation will describe several best practices and lessons-learned that are applicable to other best value Design-Build projects including: appropriate bridging documents to support best value Design-Build procurement while encouraging innovation; best practices to build a collaborative team from kickoff through construction; identifying solutions to overcome permitting and design challenges and meet a stringent schedule.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 Design-Build delivery is an effective tool to complete almost any type of infrastructure project, including new construction and rehabilitation. While individual projects benefit from the use of Design-Build, some Owners implement large programs that include numerous projects over many years. In the case of asset management, Owners may use a programmatic approach to proactively address existing infrastructure over a period of years. Often, these programs are comprised of a series of projects that are connected either physically or through related schedules that mandate specific deadlines. The poor implementation of one project can have negative implications to the overall program. This panel, comprised exclusively of Owners, will examine the lessons learned using Design-Build to address programmatic needs. In addition to discussion on past projects, these Owners will highlight upcoming projects and why they believe Design-Build is an effective delivery method to help them meet their objectives.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 In 2020, Louisville MSD identified four critical large diameter combined sewer project areas consisting of approximately 40,000 LF needing inspection, assessment and potential rehabilitation. Most of these sewers were constructed in the late 1800s ranging in diameter up to 12’. MSD selected a Progressive Design-Build (PDB) delivery method for its schedule, cost and collaboration benefits to effectively develop best-value solutions for each project area. Early inspections identified defects in two project areas that required immediate repair. Quick mobilization was possible under the PDB delivery method with urgent decisions made and implemented on defect repairs, road closures and construction methods by the PDB team. Each project area had its own unique design and construction challenges, including limiting business and traffic impacts, managing worker safety and navigating permitting requirements. The PDB team prioritized the sewer repairs and utilized the full toolbox of rehabilitation methods, including sliplining, cured-in-place pipe, epoxy coating, shotcrete, liner panels and spot repairs. The collaborative selection of each rehab approach included best-value considerations for defect severity, host pipe material, access locations, traffic and business impacts, material cost, material availability and pump around logistics. The PDB delivery method was critical to the completion of seven rehab projects under this contract.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2026 Manatee County’s existing 24-inch gravity sewer along Cortez Road was experiencing high flows with increased risk of sanitary sewer overflows. Simulations of current and future conditions showed that during wet weather the pipe surcharged at maximum day flows, thus preventing the existing Master Lift Station 1-M from collecting wastewater from Master Lift Station 5 and surrounding collection grid. To eliminate this risk, the county decided to extend existing force main using Progressive Design-Build to gain full engagement of all project stakeholders. Using the best practice of open and consistent collaboration, the Woodruff & Sons/Wade Trim Team worked with the county from the onset of the pursuit through the final design phase leveraging engagement of all stakeholders to deliver innovative and low risk solutions to the county’s needs. The team and the county worked seamlessly to obtain easements from an adjacent developer to relocate approximately half of the force main route and avoid FDOT right-of-way. Following the fundamental principles of adhering to consistent and open collaboration allowed the team and county to incorporate all stakeholder input and deliver design on time, procure material early and commence construction as planned.