What is a Contractor’s Role in an Alternative Delivery Project Mebrane Selection?

Water and wastewater projects that incorporate complex systems or anchor process equipment can quickly face schedule and cost delays during the design and construction. This complexity lends itself well to utilizing collaborative delivery methods including Fixed-Price Design-Build (FPDB), Progressive Design-Build (PDB), Construction Manager General Contractor (CMGC), Construction Manager At-Risk (CMAR), and other related variants. These delivery methods ensure a team unity between the Owner, Designer, and Contractor working together to develop mutually agreed upon solutions. Integrating all stakeholders together ensures everyone is involved and accountable for evaluation, design, and selection of the complex systems and anchor process equipment This ensures a greater chance of success meeting the schedule and obtaining cost certainty for development of the guaranteed maximum price (GMP). A prime example of anchor process equipment selection that can benefit from collaborative delivery is membranes. Incorporating membranes into a facility whether it be for water or wastewater requires that the design and construction focus on that element of the project. Not only is the membrane system typically the most complex system on a project where they are installed, but also the longest to deliver and most expensive. Historically, the Contractor’s role was to provide cost estimates and construction risk evaluations for the selected membrane system design. The Contractor would utilize their historical construction and labor costs and provide the team with the estimate on total constructability costs and schedule. As the amount of membrane installations has grown, so has the experience and role of Contractors as part of collaborative delivery teams. This has resulted in the Contractor becoming a trusted facilitator for the membrane selection and more integral part of the selection team.

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