Design-Build and Design-Build-Operate-Maintain Contracts

These procurement tools are arrangements whereby a single bid is accepted for both the design and construction of a project. This contrasts with traditional procurement for transportation projects where separate contracts are awarded for a project's design phase and construction phase. Design-build or design-build-operate-maintain contracts are intended to accelerate the project schedule by keeping together design and construction or design and maintenance and allowing construction to begin sooner.

Many states have successfully used design-build to speed up needed transportation projects. Utah, for example, used design-build contracting to help complete highway improvements in time for the 2002 Winter Olympics.29 In 2005, Louisiana lawmakers enacted a design-build provision designed to speed recovery of transportation infrastructure in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.30 At least 32 states have statutory or administrative provisions that authorize or regulate the use of design-build contracts for transportation projects and procurement (see appendix D). These include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin (figure 2).