Op-Ed: How collaboration is a strategic advantage in transit project delivery

The construction industry is evolving quickly. The old playbook of lowest bid contracts, siloed design teams and sequential handoffs don’t always deliver consistent results. 

Today, the difference between successful project outcomes and projects peppered with changes and claims often comes down to how well the collaboration was. 

Projects which are rooted in collaboration consistently perform better on all levels. These projects typically improve productivity, reduce change orders, mitigate impacts on stakeholders and accelerate project completion. To that end, collaboration must be seen and used as a strategic advantage and no longer kept in the soft skill bucket.  

Recently, we have seen an increase in alternative delivery contracts due to the complexity and challenges that exist with large infrastructure projects. Simultaneously, because of this rise in alternative delivery, there is a shift in delivery models.  

Design-Bid-Build is no longer the default. Instead, owners (such as your public agency, private tolling authority, water district, etc.) ask which method and model manages risk best? Which provides the most cost certainty? How do we have a project without claims? Increasingly, the answer points to delivery models that elevate collaboration. Owners are prioritizing the value of delivering complex projects as a team.  

Design-Bid-Build method  

Design-Bid-Build is a linear construction model. Designers operate independent of the team doing the building. Contractors arrive late, leaving little room for early problem-solving and almost eliminating opportunities for innovation. It still works well for simple projects that don’t have complex infrastructure, multiple stakeholders and challenging interfaces. Owners now prioritize contractor input, risk management and positive community outcomes on these complex projects. 

Design-Build was developed as a solution to drive early contractor involvement in the design to maximize innovation by combing design and construction under one contract. This delivery model has been shown to deliver projects 102% faster, with 3.8% less cost growth than traditional design-bid-build models. 

Teams align early, communicate continuously and solve problems in real time. Owners develop performance criteria to guide the design-build team on a project’s intended outcome. Prices are often set early but limit flexibility for the owner to make changes or modifications in complex projects.  

Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) method 

CM/GC brings the contractor into the design early while the owner retains oversight and can adjust the design requirements as coordination develops with stakeholders. Collaboration is strong in preconstruction, where contractor input on constructability, schedule and risk all improve the outcome. This allows the owner to evaluate design alternatives with real-time cost estimates from the contractor and adjust the design to meet the project budget constraints. 

Progressive Design-Build (PDB) method 

PDB combines Design-Build with CM/GC. Design responsibility is transferred to the contractor from day one while the owner retains oversight and flexibility to make changes during its development. The validation phase defines scope, schedule and budget collaboratively as a team. Collaboration doesn’t taper after preconstruction. Rather, it continues through every phase. This early alignment builds trust, enabling teams to respond efficiently if unforeseen challenges arise. 

PDB and CM/GC create environments where collaboration is essential to maximize the project’s success. These alternative delivery models bring teams together earlier and provide transparency—even using a tactic such as open book estimating—leading to consensus-driven decisions, more cost certainty and broader buy-in by all parties. This establishes a successful project as the common objective.  We call this a “project-first mentality.” This mentality often determines success or failure, and in complex projects, PDB and CMGC keep owners, designers and contractors fully engaged, improving performance and schedule.  

Ensuring effective collaboration 

Collaboration can be outlined in a scope, but without clear expectations for outcomes, it risks becoming a box-checking exercise. Endless workshops and meetings mean little if they don’t lead to alignment. The real question isn’t, “Are we collaborating?” Rather, it’s, “Has collaboration done its job?” 

The projects that stand out are not defined by the delivery model. They are defined by how the level of collaboration turns challenges into opportunities. 

I recall a CM/GC project in Salt Lake City where the team wanted to experiment with an “alliance” concept within the project. As the design evolved, it was determined that an additional bridge structure over the rail yard would be required. The project team developed a budget and agreed to share savings or overages equally between parties. When it came to evaluating requirements and cost-efficient alternatives, a solution was developed through preconstruction collaboration that was ultimately greater than 15% below the budget. Working together as a team yielded financial results for all parties. 

Collaboration matters, but only if it produces a result and yields success. Success is the equation we’re all solving as constructors. 

Collaboration is the degree to which team members work toward common goals, share risks and rewards, communicate openly and make joint decisions. The contract delivery model and all associated functions, such as the shared risk, level of stakeholder involvement and transparency, are the collaborative variables that drive a project’s success. 

When thinking of collaboration as a function of a project’s success, you can hypothetically predict that in a fixed-price, traditional design-bid-build model, risk sharing is lower, stakeholder involvement is later and the collaboration is on the lower end. Whereas, in any of the alternative delivery contract models, risk sharing is enhanced, stakeholder involvement is earlier and collaboration is heightened by necessity. The future of infrastructure delivery will favor contracting methods and delivery models that believe in shared risk, embrace transparency, prioritize value over price and treat collaboration as a practical necessity that yields a project-first mentality. 

At the end of the day, collaboration will set the most successful project apart from the others.