DBIA Procuring Design-Build Services 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following is a key risk to the owner when issuing an RFP with a highly prescriptive design before procurement?
- Design-builders gain competitive pricing advantages over each other
- The owner assumes greater design liability, reducing the design-builder's single-point responsibility (Correct answer)
- Proposals become easier to evaluate due to uniform scope
- Design-builders are relieved of all warranty obligations
Correct answer: The owner assumes greater design liability, reducing the design-builder's single-point responsibility
Overly prescriptive designs shift design responsibility back to the owner, undermining the single-point accountability that is a core benefit of design-build delivery.
Question 2: In design-build procurement, 'bridging' refers to:
- A method of financing design-build projects using public-private partnerships
- The owner hiring a separate designer to develop partial design documents used as the basis for the RFP (Correct answer)
- A phase transition from schematic design to design development
- A teaming arrangement where two design-build firms share a single contract
Correct answer: The owner hiring a separate designer to develop partial design documents used as the basis for the RFP
Bridging involves the owner retaining a designer of record to develop concept or schematic documents that are then included in the RFP as the design basis for the design-build competition.
Question 3: What evaluation criterion is most appropriate for assessing a design-build team's ability to manage complex coordination between design and construction?
- Lowest subcontractor bid prices
- Management approach and organizational plan (Correct answer)
- Number of licensed engineers on staff
- Aggregate square footage of completed projects
Correct answer: Management approach and organizational plan
A management approach and organizational plan criterion evaluates how the team will integrate design and construction disciplines, which is central to design-build success.
Question 4: An owner wishing to reduce proposal preparation burden on design-build teams should consider:
- Requiring detailed 30% design drawings in Phase 1
- Limiting Phase 1 submissions to qualifications and a brief project approach narrative (Correct answer)
- Issuing the RFP without any pre-qualification step
- Requiring bond and insurance documentation in Phase 1 submissions
Correct answer: Limiting Phase 1 submissions to qualifications and a brief project approach narrative
Restricting Phase 1 to qualifications and brief narratives reduces the cost and effort required from proposers while still allowing effective shortlisting.
Question 5: A design-build team submits a proposal that exceeds the stated project budget. The owner should:
- Automatically disqualify the proposal without further evaluation
- Evaluate the proposal against all criteria and consider whether value justifies the higher cost (Correct answer)
- Accept the proposal and adjust the budget to match the team's price
- Request all teams to resubmit proposals without a budget constraint
Correct answer: Evaluate the proposal against all criteria and consider whether value justifies the higher cost
Owners should evaluate proposals holistically; a higher-cost proposal may offer superior value, and the procurement documents should specify how budget compliance is handled.
Question 6: The term 'shortlisting' in design-build procurement refers to:
- Issuing a simplified contract for small projects
- Reducing the field of interested firms to a manageable number of pre-qualified teams for the RFP phase (Correct answer)
- Selecting the final design-builder after price negotiations
- Creating an abbreviated scope document for fast-track projects
Correct answer: Reducing the field of interested firms to a manageable number of pre-qualified teams for the RFP phase
Shortlisting narrows the pool of respondents from an RFQ to typically three to five qualified teams who are then invited to submit full proposals.
Question 7: Which procurement method allows the owner to select a design-build contractor early based on qualifications and then negotiate scope and price as design progresses?
- Hard-bid lump sum design-build
- Progressive design-build (Correct answer)
- Competitive sealed proposal design-build
- Qualification-based low-bid design-build
Correct answer: Progressive design-build
Progressive design-build allows early contractor selection based on qualifications, with price and scope refined collaboratively as the design develops.
DBIA Procuring Design-Build Services 3
Which of the following is a key risk to the owner when issuing an RFP with a highly prescriptive design before procurement?