As the sun sets on the 2007 state legislative sessions, DBIA can reflect on great progress in design-build legislation this year. Working with DBIA regions, states increased authority for using design-build for public procurement projects. This represents a rapid change from just two years ago.
In 2005, six states - Alabama, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wyoming - had no statutory design-build authority for public procurement. Now, only Alabama, Michigan, and Rhode Island lack such authority, and Michigan and Rhode Island introduced legislation this year, which is eligible for consideration in their respective 2008 legislative sessions. Other states have increased the level of design-build authority this year as well, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas, and Washington.
California Takes Big Design-Build Steps
California Senate Bill 233, which became law Oct. 13, amends existing law and changes the definition of “project” to mean the construction of a building and the improvements directly related to a building or county wastewater treatment facility. The law also enables the following specified counties to use the design-build method for buildings and county sanitation wastewater treatment infrastructure:
20133. (a) (1) This section provides for an alternative procedure on bidding on construction projects in excess of two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) applicable only in the Counties of Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tulare, Yolo, and Yuba, upon approval of the appropriate board of supervisors.
(2) These counties may award the project using either the lowest responsible bidder or by best value.
(b) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to enable these counties to utilize design-build for buildings and county sanitation wastewater treatment facilities. It is not the intent of the Legislature to authorize this procedure for other infrastructure, including, but not limited to, streets and highways, public rail transit, or water resources facilities and infrastructures.
(2) The Legislature also finds and declares that utilizing a design-build contract requires a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each participant in the design-build process.
(3) If the board of supervisors elects to proceed under this section, the board of supervisors shall establish and enforce for design-build projects a labor compliance program containing the requirements outlined in Section 1771.5 of the Labor Code, or it shall contract with a third party to operate a labor compliance program containing the requirements outlined in Section 1771.5 of the Labor Code. This requirement shall not apply to any project where the county or the design-build entity has entered into any collective bargaining agreement or agreements that bind all of the contractors performing work on the projects.
The same day, Senate Bill 416 also became law and authorizes any county — with the approval of the board of supervisors — to enter into design-build contracts in accordance with specified provisions. The law extends the authority to all 58 California counties, ending the need to add counties one at a time to the list of those eligible for design-build contracting.
Senate Bill 614, which became law Oct. 11, expands the current authority of Kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) districts and community college districts to enter into a design-build contract for the construction and design of school facilities as well as:
- Reduces the contract threshold from $10 million to $2 million.
- Expands the authority to enter into design-build contracts to all community college districts.
- Deletes the current sunset on the enacting statute, thereby permanently establishing the authority of K-12 and community college districts to enter into design-build contracts.
Also signed Oct. 11, Senate Bill 645 permits the City of Stanton, with the approval of the city council, to enter into design-build contracts, in accordance with specified provisions. The law requires the city, if it elects to use the method, to make a specified report to the legislative analyst’s office and requires the office to report to the legislature regarding design-build’s effectiveness.
Top Federal Agencies Get DBIA Focus
Building on DBIA’s success in fiscal year 2007, when DBIA’s efforts helped get design-build language into the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs report, DBIA has advocated for language in 2008 federal appropriations bills, particularly encouraging the use of design-build in the Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Department of Health and Human Services, as well as legislation regarding military construction.
As of late October, the president had not yet received any 2008 appropriations bills. DBIA still hopes to insert its language before the bills are sent forward.
Congress Eyes Water Infrastructure
As Congress spends more time on issues such as water infrastructure, DBIA supports an increase in federal funding for such needs. In a related move, the House adopted a resolution commemorating the 35th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, Oct. 16, raising the need for clean water funding and attention to our nation’s aging water infrastructure. Sponsored by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., it had 36 co-sponsors, including Reps. James Oberstar, D-Minn., Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, John Dingell, D-Mich., John Duncan, R-Tenn., and Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md.
The resolution, which noted the importance of clean water as a national resource, the large public support for protecting the country’s water sources, and how essential water quality is for the public health today and in the future, states that the progress since the 1972 Clean Water Act is “substantial.”
“[I]mprovements to the nation’s water quality have resulted from a successful partnership among federal, state, and local governments, the private sector, and the public,” the resolution states.
But it also notes that water pollution remains a national concern and that Congress is intent on maintaining a “commitment to a ‘no net loss’ of wetlands.”
One big concern is the country’s “decaying water infrastructure and a lack of available funding to maintain and upgrade the nation’s wastewater infrastructure,” the resolution adds. And it notes a funding gap of up to $400 billion over 20 years to maintain that water infrastructure.
INFO: DBIA (www.DBIA.org)