DBIA Procuring Design-Build Services 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A design-build team formed specifically for a single project, where each member firm has defined roles and shared liability, is typically structured as a:
- Subconsultant arrangement led by the general contractor
- Joint venture (JV)
- Single-purpose entity (SPE) or project-specific limited liability company (Correct answer)
- Prime-sub relationship with the architect as prime
Correct answer: Single-purpose entity (SPE) or project-specific limited liability company
A single-purpose entity (often an LLC or JV) is commonly formed for major design-build projects to define member roles, share liability, and satisfy bonding or financing requirements.
Question 2: Which of the following RFP evaluation criteria directly assesses a proposer's ability to complete a project on time?
- Financial capacity and bonding ability
- Schedule approach and critical path methodology (Correct answer)
- Design aesthetic and material selections
- Subcontractor diversity plan
Correct answer: Schedule approach and critical path methodology
A schedule approach criterion evaluates the team's plan for sequencing work, managing critical path activities, and achieving milestones within the required timeframe.
Question 3: Under DBIA contract documents, the design-builder is responsible for design errors discovered during construction. This principle is known as:
- The Spearin Doctrine
- Single-point responsibility (Correct answer)
- Errors and omissions liability transfer
- Design delegation
Correct answer: Single-point responsibility
Single-point responsibility means the design-builder is accountable for both design and construction performance, including correcting design errors at no additional cost to the owner.
Question 4: An owner's decision to use design-build rather than design-bid-build is most strongly supported when the project has:
- Fully detailed construction documents ready before procurement
- Time constraints that require overlapping design and construction phases (Correct answer)
- A requirement for the lowest possible first cost with no schedule pressure
- A regulatory mandate for sealed competitive bidding on all elements
Correct answer: Time constraints that require overlapping design and construction phases
Design-build's ability to fast-track a project by overlapping design and construction is one of its primary advantages over sequential design-bid-build delivery.
Question 5: In a design-build competition, a proposal that is deemed 'non-responsive' will:
- Receive a reduced score but still be evaluated for award
- Be disqualified from consideration without further evaluation (Correct answer)
- Trigger a mandatory clarification process before disqualification
- Automatically advance to price negotiation to resolve deficiencies
Correct answer: Be disqualified from consideration without further evaluation
A non-responsive proposal fails to meet mandatory submission requirements and is disqualified from further consideration to maintain procurement integrity.
Question 6: The DBIA recommends that owners include a 'geotechnical data report' in the RFP package primarily to:
- Transfer all subsurface risk entirely to the design-builder
- Provide proposers with available information so they can price and design more accurately (Correct answer)
- Eliminate the need for any differing site conditions clause in the contract
- Satisfy environmental regulatory requirements before procurement begins
Correct answer: Provide proposers with available information so they can price and design more accurately
Sharing available geotechnical data helps proposers develop better-informed proposals and pricing, reducing contingency inflation caused by uncertainty.
Question 7: Which of the following is a primary advantage of using a two-envelope (or two-step sealed) proposal process in design-build procurement?
- It eliminates the need for a shortlisting phase in the procurement
- It ensures technical scores are not influenced by price when evaluating qualitative factors (Correct answer)
- It allows all interested firms to submit proposals without pre-qualification
- It requires the owner to negotiate with the highest-scoring technical proposer only
Correct answer: It ensures technical scores are not influenced by price when evaluating qualitative factors
The two-envelope process keeps technical and price proposals separate so evaluators score technical merit objectively before price envelopes are opened.
DBIA Procuring Design-Build Services 5
A design-build team formed specifically for a single project, where each member firm has defined roles and shared liability, is typically structured as a: