Tuesday, January 26, 2016: 3:45 PM-5:15 PM
Design Build
Chair:
Alonzo Blalock, P.E., Jacobs Engineering
Technical Committee: 09.01 Large Building Air-Conditioning Systems
Building owners will often retain a criterion engineer (CE) to establish the initial design criteria for a project. The CE will create documents that will be handed off to the design build contractor. After this, the role of the CE can vary. The direction of the project can be very dependent on the CE involvement after bridging documents are completed. This seminar discusses the issues that can arise as the owner and design build contractor interpret the bridging documents and how open or closed a line of communication is with the CE during all phases of a design build project.
1 Criterion Engineer’s Role in a Design Build Project
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Phillip M. Trafton, Donald F. Dickerson Associates |
For an effective and complete project, it is the role of the criterion engineer to not only provide the basis of design and program requirements such that a “qualified” DB contractor can bid, design and construct the project, also, the criterion engineer must review and verify the contractors design to assure that it meets the basis of design and program requirements. In addition the responsibility of the criterion engineer is to confirm by review items, in order to assure that the owner has received the quality and type of project as contracted, by the engineer providing construction observation and administration.
2 Who Holds the Risk: The Criterion Engineer, the Design Build Contractor or the Design Build Engineer?
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John Kuempel, P.E., DeBra-Kuempel |
What is the contractor to quote if the criterion engineer requests an incomplete system that may not be correctly sized for the project? The contractor is at risk to deliver a complete system, with all operational components from abridging documents that are purposely incomplete. This contractor is responsible to hire the design build engineer of record, responsible for a complete functional system after he has quoted a fixed cost for the system. In this example, relationships clouded best practice.
3 How Can the Design/Build Engineer Effectively Work with the Criterion Engineer on a Design/Build Project?
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Jessica Mangler, P.E., Ross & Baruzzini |
The relationship between criterion engineer and design build engineer is a critical link on a design build project. The role of owner’s advocate will shift from criterion engineer to design build engineer during the project’s timeline. This presentation will discuss how factors such as communication between the criterion engineer and design build engineer, the criterion engineer’s project involvement after bridging documents have been issued, liability and risk levels, relationships with the building’s owner, and changes in the building’s design influence the design build engineer’s decision making process.