DBIA DBIA - Design-Build Institute of America Quality Management and Project Controls Questions and Answers 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A design-build project has a Budget at Completion (BAC) of $10 million, an Earned Value (EV) of $3 million, and an Actual Cost (AC) of $3.6 million. What is the Estimate at Completion (EAC) assuming current CPI continues?
- $10.6 million
- $12 million (Correct answer)
- $10 million
- $11.2 million
Correct answer: $12 million
EAC = BAC / CPI; CPI = 3/3.6 ≈ 0.833, so EAC = $10M / 0.833 ≈ $12M, meaning the project is forecast to overrun budget by $2 million.
Question 2: Which DBIA-recommended practice best minimizes design errors that lead to costly field changes?
- Limiting owner involvement after contract award
- Conducting interdisciplinary design coordination meetings and clash detection (Correct answer)
- Accelerating the design schedule to allow more construction time
- Outsourcing all specialty engineering to sole-source subcontractors
Correct answer: Conducting interdisciplinary design coordination meetings and clash detection
Interdisciplinary coordination meetings combined with BIM-based clash detection catch design conflicts before they become costly field changes during construction.
Question 3: In design-build quality management, 'quality assurance' (QA) is best described as:
- Inspecting completed work to find defects before owner acceptance
- Systematic process audits that confirm quality procedures are being followed (Correct answer)
- Testing materials at an independent laboratory after installation
- The owner's right to reject nonconforming work after substantial completion
Correct answer: Systematic process audits that confirm quality procedures are being followed
QA focuses on process-level audits and reviews to ensure that the systems and procedures designed to produce quality work are being properly executed.
Question 4: A design-build owner notices the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is 0.85 at month 6. Which action is most aligned with DBIA project controls guidance?
- Terminate the design-builder for default immediately
- Ignore the variance if total float remains positive
- Require the design-builder to submit a recovery schedule with corrective action plan (Correct answer)
- Transfer schedule risk to the surety bond company
Correct answer: Require the design-builder to submit a recovery schedule with corrective action plan
DBIA guidance calls for the design-builder to analyze the root cause of schedule variance and submit a formal recovery schedule with specific corrective actions to bring the project back on track.
Question 5: What distinguishes a 'design criteria' specification from a 'prescriptive' specification in design-build procurement?
- Design criteria specify exact materials and methods; prescriptive define performance outcomes
- Design criteria define performance outcomes and functional requirements; prescriptive specify exact materials and methods (Correct answer)
- Design criteria are used only for mechanical systems; prescriptive for structural systems
- There is no meaningful distinction in design-build contracting
Correct answer: Design criteria define performance outcomes and functional requirements; prescriptive specify exact materials and methods
Design criteria (performance) specifications state what the system must achieve, giving the design-builder flexibility, while prescriptive specifications dictate exactly how to build it.
Question 6: In design-build project controls, a 'baseline schedule' serves primarily to:
- Document the owner's preferred construction sequencing
- Provide a fixed reference point against which actual progress is measured (Correct answer)
- Replace the need for weekly look-ahead schedules
- Establish the design-builder's fee escalation triggers
Correct answer: Provide a fixed reference point against which actual progress is measured
The baseline schedule is a formally approved snapshot of the planned project timeline used as the comparison standard for tracking variances and reporting progress.
Question 7: Under DBIA principles, which party is responsible for defining the performance standards that the quality management process must verify?
- The general contractor's quality control manager
- The independent commissioning agent hired post-construction
- The owner, through the Design Criteria Package and contract documents (Correct answer)
- The lead design engineer at the design-builder's firm
Correct answer: The owner, through the Design Criteria Package and contract documents
The owner establishes the performance standards and technical requirements in the Design Criteria Package; the design-builder's quality management process must then verify conformance to those standards.
DBIA DBIA - Design-Build Institute of America Quality Management and Project Controls Questions and Answers 5
A design-build project has a Budget at Completion (BAC) of $10 million, an Earned Value (EV) of $3 million, and an Actual Cost (AC) of $3.6 million.
What is the Estimate at Completion (EAC) assuming current CPI continues?