Transforming the water industry by advancing successful
collaborative delivery through advocacy, education, and research
Water Design-Build News
June 23, 2021
Issue Highlights
WDBC Briefs Members of Congress on Collaborative Delivery
Have You Registered for Online Education Sessions Yet?
Blog Feature - When Changing Enabling Legislation - Keep it Flexible
Legislative Corner - See What's Happening on Capitol Hill
WDBC Briefs Members of Congress on Collaborative Delivery
Last week, members of Congress, their staff, and staff of key congressional committees who have jurisdiction over water policy were invited to a virtual panel discussion sponsored by Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS-3). A panel of Water Design-Build Council members educated the attendees on the benefits of collaborative delivery and discussed the role Congress can play in promoting collaborative-delivery methods for water projects as part of a broad infrastructure package Congress is currently debating.
Mark Alpert, Executive Director of the Water Design-Build Council, served as moderator and panel participants included WDBC members from Burns & McDonnell, Garney Construction, HDR, Kiewit, and Sundt. The panel delved into the elements that comprise collaborative delivery, walked through implementation on specific projects, and answered questions from attendees. The goal of this Congressional briefing was to better educate Congress on ways it can promote collaborative delivery and to shed light on how Congress can leverage the benefits of collaborative delivery to speed up project delivery times and ensure projects are delivered in a quality manner.
To watch the panel discussion, please click here. Password: eFNBCv5M
Six-Session Package of Online Education Begins Again in July - Registration Open Now!
Due to the popularity of this course, the WDBC is repeating this package of sessions beginning in July 2021.
Join the WDBC for a six-session package of online education sessions designed for owners and practitioners in the water industry. Officials, managers, and engineering and O&M staff of public water/wastewater facilities who are looking to gain essential knowledge needed to procure and deliver design-build and CMAR projects should attend these
classes.
Each morning session will include a review of the principles and best practices of collaborative delivery followed by the topic of the day in the afternoon:
July 22: Deciding to Implement a Collaborative-Delivery Project
August 26: Risk Management
September 23: Contracts
October 28: Conducting the Procurement Process
November 18: Managing and Implementing Collaborative-Delivery Projects
December 16: Getting to Project Completion & Transition
Time: 10:00 - 1:30 p.m. MST (break 11:30 - 12:00 MST) All sessions will be conducted on Microsoft Teams
Package includes a hard copy and PDF of the 5th edition Water and Wastewater Design-Build Handbook. See registration page for single-session options.
Water Design-Build Council (WDBC) research confirms a significant increase in growth in the use of collaborative-delivery methods for water and wastewater projects in the U.S. For certain public owners, including some cities, counties, districts, agencies, special purpose entities, and states, where historically only design-bid-build (DBB) has been utilized for implementing capital works projects, enabling legislation modifications may be required so these public agencies can utilize collaborative-delivery methods such as fixed-price design-build (FPDB), progressive design-build (PDB), and construction management at-risk (CMAR). Enabling legislation modifications can be unique to each public owner and frequently come in the form of a charter amendment, ordinance change, or municipal code modification. Regardless of the required process, WDBC supports the best practice of engaging each public owner’s legal counsel and governing body to guide and implement modifications to enabling legislation.
House Drinking Water Legislation Advances Legislation that would invest $105 billion over the next decade for the country’s drinking water systems, including $45 billion to fully replace lead service lines throughout the country, was advanced by a House subcommittee last week. The bill, the Assistance, Quality, and Affordability, or AQUA, Act of 2021 (H.R. 3291), would authorize $53 billion over 10 years for a critical state drinking water financing program, the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The House Energy and Commerce Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee approved the legislation on a 14-9 vote along party lines. It now goes to the full committee. The AQUA Act is expected to be one of two major water infrastructure measures incorporated into the larger infrastructure package Congress now is assembling. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the other portion, which focuses on wastewater and stormwater. The Energy and Commerce subcommittee also approved on voice vote a bipartisan bill (H.R. 3293) that would create a permanent water assistance program at the EPA. The full House also passed two pieces of water legislation related to environmental restoration and protection. H.R. 610, introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), would establish a grant program to support the restoration of the San Francisco Bay, while H.R. 1144, introduced by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA), would protect water quality in Puget Sound.
5th Edition of the Water and Wastewater Design-Build Handbook
Learn the Best Practices on Collaborative-Delivery Methods for Water and Wastewater Projects
Member Companies
The Water Design-Build Council stands ready to contribute its expertise, resources, innovation, and enthusiasm to the challenge of strengthening our water and wastewater infrastructure.
