CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 The Practitioners’ Forum is your opportunity to engage directly with peers and DBIA leadership on issues critical to the continued success and evolution of design-build. This interactive session invites candid input from across the industry on challenges, opportunities, and strategies to strengthen design-build delivery. A key topic this year is the growing role of Owner Advisors. As more Owners embrace design-build—many for the first time— Owner Advisors well-versed in design-build best practices are helping bridge gaps in knowledge and capacity, guiding collaborative teams toward successful outcomes. With DBIA exploring a potential specialty credential for these professionals, your insights can help shape how we recognize and support Owner Advisors in driving Owners to embrace Design-Build Done Right®, while also driving whole-team success.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 This panel at the DBIA Transportation Aviation Conference brings together industry leaders representing owners, contractors, legal experts, and consultants to tackle some of the most challenging topics facing the transportation and aviation construction sector. The discussion will focus on navigating complex issues such as claims management, the intricacies of contracts, insurance considerations, effective responses when projects encounter difficulties, and strategies for mitigating risks. Attendees will benefit from diverse perspectives and practical insights into addressing tough problems and fostering successful project outcomes. Part of the panel will be bringing forward concepts from the practitioner and owners forum for broader discussion.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 Get exclusive insights from this first-of-its-kind study on Progressive Design-Build (PDB). DBIA, the Charles Pankow Foundation, the ACEC Research Institute and the University of Colorado Boulder partnered to evaluate how Qualifications-Based Selection, target pricing and other PDB practices address risk and insurance challenges for the engineering and design community. Although the full published report will release later in Spring 2026, this session offers a first look at the findings — well before they’re released anywhere else! Moderator Keith Molenaar, Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, will discuss the study’s outcomes followed by a panel of Owners and design-build professionals from the research project’s Steering Committee who will offer insights and recommendations that will shape how the industry tackles risk, insurance and project performance moving forward.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 The Buck O’Neil Bridge replacement in Kansas City exemplifies how design-build can overcome complexity to deliver a project the city and stakeholders can be proud of. This session will highlight strategies for navigating multi-agency coordination in a constrained urban footprint, leveraging design-build to create a future-ready, multi-modal corridor, and integrating cultural legacy into modern engineering solutions. Panelists will share how early risk mitigation and innovative procurement approaches enabled the project team to maximize value within finite resources while maintaining schedule and budget. Attendees will gain practical insights into resolving common challenges—such as stakeholder alignment, environmental compliance, and scope optimization—through integrated delivery. Lessons learned from this award-winning effort will empower participants to apply proven integrated delivery approaches to their own projects, reinforcing why collaboration is essential for success in today’s transportation landscape.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 The population growth in north Texas has been outpacing the rest of the US. To keep up with the growth, transportation agencies in north Texas have likely done more alternative delivery than any other mega region. TxDOT has completed or has in-progress 8 DBs (6 in Dallas District, 3 in Fort Worth District), 2 P3s (1 in each district), DART (3 DBs), NTTA (2 DBs). TxDOT has another 4 DBs in the pipeline. Hear from both public and private sector leadership on their approach to procurement, teaming, delivery, mitigation of risks and lessons learned.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 Delivering major infrastructure in Las Vegas—the Entertainment Capital of the World—comes with challenges unlike anywhere else. The I-15/Tropicana Design-Build project required the team to navigate one of the busiest and most visible corridors in Nevada, surrounded by world-class resorts, arenas, and event venues. Stakeholders included Station Casinos, MGM, In-N-Out, Allegiant Stadium, and T-Mobile Arena—each with unique needs and high public visibility. On top of that, the project schedule had to flex around globally-hosted events like Super Bowl LVIII, Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs, none of which were anticipated when the project began. This session will explore how the team used design-build delivery to adapt to these complex conditions through sequencing, logistics, and continuous stakeholder engagement. From creating a temporary diverging diamond interchange to rethinking property access through visual simulations and traffic modeling, the project team collaborated with NDOT, local businesses, and community leaders to keep the project on track. Attendees will gain lessons on how design-build can overcome unexpected pressures by integrating technical solutions with proactive communication. The I-15/Tropicana case illustrates how adaptability, transparency, and innovation turn daunting project challenges into opportunities for stronger partnerships and better outcomes.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 Successful Design-Build rail transportation projects depend on early identification of key risks and the ability to transform those risks into opportunities through innovative, agile, and collaborative strategies. The Federal Way Link Extension (FWLE), a 7.8-mile light rail extension delivered ahead of schedule and within budget, demonstrates how a project can overcome complex technical challenges, redesign major structures, manage hundreds of commercial issues, and still finish with no outstanding claims. Its success was grounded in understanding contractual risks allocations, enhanced with a culture of leadership alignment. FWLE shows that traditional risk-avoidance approaches are no longer sufficient. Today’s Design-Build environment requires adaptive processes, creative design-construction-systems thinking. Sound Transit and the design builder’s commitment to a “Project First” principle fostered contract literacy, transparent communication, empowered teams, and data-driven decision making. Together, these tools transformed conflicts of a traditional lump sum contract into collaborative solutions. This presentation will highlight FWLE’s strategic and tactical approaches to proactive risk management, innovative problem solving, and real-time lessons-learned program, offering best practices that demonstrate how owners and builders can achieve “Design-Build Done Right” and become partners of choice in complex transportation delivery.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 WSDOT’s Progressive Design-Build (PDB) journey began in 2019 as a tool to bundle and accelerate delivery of hundreds of fish barrier replacements by 2030. As the heavy civil construction market conditions evolved in the post-pandemic aftermath, the Gateway Program received an unprecedented single submittal on a $500 million Design-Build (DB) contract. With a planned $600 - $700 million contract remaining to complete the program, the WSDOT team conducted in-depth industry engagement to determine how to deliver the remaining project, resulting in a strategy to split the final project into two with the more complex project with a longer duration proposed to utilize PDB delivery. This presentation highlights the efforts within WSDOT and state leadership to advance WSDOT’s first heavy civil PDB project, including developing the business case to executives and discussing the PDB process with lessons learned during the procurement and contract development. The procurement resulted in the selection of Kraemer-Scarsella Joint Venture (KSJV) to deliver the project. WSDOT and KSJV will present how they have developed a partnership and established a collaborative process to define and navigate the Phase 1 effort, including the delivery tools highlighted in KSJV’s winning proposal and utilized during the successful advancement of Phase 1.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 For many owners, adopting Progressive Design-Build represents a cultural and procedural shift that requires confidence in the process and trust among diverse stakeholders. This session showcases how the Port of Port Arthur is successfully delivering its first Progressive Design-Build project through the strategic use of innovative, integrated technologies that enhanced transparency, visualization, and collaboration. Leveraging Building Information Modeling (BIM), OpenBridge and ConceptStation models and 4D construction sequencing, the project team developed a shared digital environment that linked design intent with constructability, driving earlier integration and scope definition, faster approvals, and stronger communication and collaboration among a diverse set of third-party stakeholders including CPKC, USACE, TxDOT, and Jefferson County Drainage District 7. Immersive 3D renderings and virtual reality tools were also used to communicate design scenarios to Port Commissioners, small and local contractors, and community members, garnering increased project support ahead of the Port’s 2026 bond election and construction. Participants will learn how advanced visualization and data integration techniques can help teams earn stakeholder buy-in, reduce perceived risk, and accelerate decision-making — especially for owners embarking on PDB for the first time.

CONTENT EXPIRES: December 31, 2028 In 2023 the state of Michigan, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Ford Motor Company collaborated on a site development project that would greatly enhance the economic viability of Marshall, Michigan. The land use for the proposed site was mostly farmland and is surrounded by two interstate freeways, a state trunkline, and a bordering railroad. This made it an ideal location for Ford to build their future BlueOval battery plant. The BlueOval plant construction was on an expedited schedule with production expected to begin in 2026. To facilitate plant operations, significant infrastructure improvements were needed prior to support projected BlueOval travel demand on the interstate and trunkline system. To meet this schedule challenge, MDOT embarked on their first Progressive Design Build (PDB) project. Our panel will discuss the expedited schedule, risk mitigation strategies utilized due to ROW and utility coordination hurdles, price reconciliation, and the advantages to using the PDB contracting method. The PDB Team and Owner have been collaborating closely to design and deliver various work packages and have delivered their commitments to Ford. MDOT panel members will also discuss their experience developing a new contract and deploying the PDB contracting method for internal and industry partners.