PMSS Project Details

Project ID:	FHWA-PROJ-10-0067
Project Name:	TechBrief: Construction Quality Assurance for Design-Build Highway Projects
Status:	Active
Contact:	Last Name: Bradbury First Name: Richard Telephone: 202-493-3061 E-mail: richard.bradbury@dot.gov
Organization:	Federal Highway Administration - Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC)
Office:	Office of Infrastructure Research and Development
Team:	Pavement Design and Construction Team
Roadmap/Focus area(s):	Not Applicable
Project Description:	Publish a TechBrief to assist State departments of transportation (DOTs) in developing quality assurance specifications for design-build projects.
Laboratories:	Not Applicable
Start Date:	November 1, 2010
End Date:	April 27, 2012
Funding Amount:	$0.00
FHWA Program Name:	Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
Goals:	Provide improved guidance for quality assurance practices on design-build highway projects.
Project Type:	Onsite
Background Information:	One area of design-build contracting that requires closer examination is construction quality assurance (QA). While design-build is believed to provide an equal level of project quality compared to design-bid-build, as outlined in the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA’s) Design-Build Effectiveness Study, a recent examination of State agency design-build procurement packages showed that roles and responsibilities for construction quality are not clearly defined in many instances. A paper published in Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2081,"Does Design-Build Project Delivery Affect the Future of the Public Engineer?" noted that when 60 design-build requests for proposals were examined, in 23 cases, assignment of responsibilities for verification and acceptance testing could not be determined. National Cooperative Highway Research Program's (NCHRP's) NCHRP Synthesis 376: Quality Assurance in Design-Build Projects states, “With the changing quality roles found in the DB [design-build] delivery method, it is imperative that quality responsibilities and the responsible parties are clearly stated in the contract documents.” While many agencies currently have well-defined quality assurance (QA) processes for design-build contracting, there is a need to clarify the various QA roles and responsibilities to assist agencies who may wish to improve their contract documents. In contracting, many times uncertainty equates to risk, and risk often equates to increased cost.
Test Methodology:	White paper
Other Information:	Data not yet available
Partners:	Data not yet available
More Information URL(s):
Fieldtest:	Data not yet available
Expected Benefits:	Improved quality assurance specifications for design-build procurement documents.
Deliverables:	Name: White paper. Product Type(s): Research report, Techbrief Description: White paper outlining best practices for quality assurance practices for design-build projects. Audiences: State departments of transportation, State highway agencies, Other highway agencies Secondary Audiences:
Related URL(s):
Project Findings:	Data not yet available
FHWA Topics:	Roads and Bridges--Construction and Project Management Roads and Bridges--Major Projects
TRT Terms:	Design Build Construction Construction Projects Quality Assurance Research Infrastructure Highways
FHWA Disciplines:	Construction and Project Management Generalist
Subject Areas:	Construction Highways Materials