Alternative Project Delivery

The demands of owners today to reduce risk and expedite project/program availability require new approaches to project delivery.

Owners increasingly employ a variety of alternative project delivery (APD) approaches to meet their unique objectives, timelines, and constraints, including:

Design-build.
Progressive design-build.
Integrated project delivery.
Construction management at-risk and turnkey.
Public-private partnerships.

Gannett Fleming has extensive experience with a wide variety of project delivery approaches. Each project is unique and our delivery approach considers each project’s distinctiveness. We work with owners and contractors to develop the best project delivery approach to meet their needs and the project requirements.

Our Expertise

Diverse Experience

With decades of experience across diverse markets and industries worldwide, our industry-leading design and construction management professionals offer clients a true collaboration of disciplines. We are routinely involved in the early phases of our projects to help make certain they are ultimately designed, constructed, and operated in the most efficient manner.

Specialized Delivery & Self-Performance

Through specialized project expertise and an ability to perform most services in-house, we offer deep expertise tailored to the specific needs of our clients and their programs. With more than 2,500 team members across over 50 offices throughout North America, we bring the collaboration, agility, and responsiveness that help our clients successfully deliver their largest, most challenging projects.

We use a schedule-driven approach and a thorough knowledge of industry trends, issues, and best practices to fast-track deliverables, drive innovation, and meet or accelerate project milestones.

Responsive, Efficient Collaboration

We streamline decision-making and eliminate bureaucracy by giving you immediate access to our subject matter experts. We promote collaborative partnerships and efficient communication throughout the project life cycle—seamlessly co-locating key staff when appropriate—serving as trusted advisors to our clients and maintaining an unwavering commitment to teamwork and project excellence.

A Culture of Innovation

Our culture of innovation fuels everything we do. We approach each project as an opportunity to be creative, to evolve, to look at things in new and innovative ways, and to depart from the “way-it’s-always-been-done” mindset, ever cognizant of the need for constructability and fiscal responsibility. At every turn, we leverage our expertise to deliver greater value for our clients and to drive continuous performance improvement.

With a focus on exceptional project delivery, we integrate planning, design, procurement, and construction to create cost-effective capital solutions.

Gannett Fleming’s expertise with alternative project delivery methods allows us to deliver challenging projects with greater control, increased quality, accelerated schedules, maintainable budgets, and, perhaps most importantly, intelligently managed risk.

CONTACT US

Are you looking for a reliable, collaborative partner? Do you have a planning, design, or construction challenge? We want to hear from you.

Get in Touch

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ACHIEVING PROJECT EXCELLENCE WITH DESIGN-BUILD

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Alternative Project Delivery Options

Design-Build
Infrastructure owners engaged in design-build projects demand the highest quality at the best value while allocating certain risks to a partner. Our proven, experienced delivery teams employ a sensible, schedule-driven approach to deliver projects efficiently, at the lowest practical cost, balanced with the least possible impact to project stakeholders. With a well-balanced portfolio and demonstrated track record representing contractors and project owners, we understand how to successfully blend contractor efficiencies with owner preferences.
Gannett Fleming has played a significant role in the delivery of hundreds of design-build projects with a total constructed value in the billions of dollars.
We strive to identify and create opportunities for efficiency. Our design-build teams are adept at all phases of project delivery, from initial project and proposal development through project execution. We consistently seek ways to design smarter and use resources and technology more effectively while seamlessly integrating design and construction services. Our ability to perform most services in-house yields greater project control, increased quality, reduced risk, and more predictable schedule and budget performance.
At Gannett Fleming, we’re serious about design-build. We have experienced, Professional DBIA™ credentialed project managers who are dedicated full-time and exclusively to projects using the design-build delivery method. Clients trust our collaborative design-build professionals to respond quickly, tailor resources, and deliver agile approaches that streamline teaming agreements, expedite decisions, and eliminate bureaucracy.
Progressive Design-Build
Owners choose progressive design-build to streamline the project delivery life cycle and help ensure collaboration with the delivery team from start to finish. With this level of close partnership, owners need to select a firm that they can trust to provide honest and knowledgeable solutions. We ensure design-build projects are delivered successfully with active involvement from all stakeholders.
Selected by a qualifications-based or best value process, owners choose Gannett Fleming teams to progressively step toward a design and contract price together. We provide owners with transparent cost estimates from the initial stage of preconstruction services, ensuring a collaborative partnership throughout the project. Together, we take an in-depth look at design costs, schedules, quality, and life cycle considerations. Our strong project controls and cost estimating expertise bring the best value possible to each project.
We prioritize project excellence and client satisfaction through close-knit relationships between talented Gannett Fleming professionals and the project team. Once the preliminary design is advanced to the owner’s defined percentage, we progress to a formal proposal that defines a fair-market price and schedule—and then deliver a top-quality project through the final design and construction phases.
Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)
All primary parties (including the owner, designer, builder, and key suppliers) enter into a contractual relationship to form a partnership and collaborate to deliver the project, sharing risk, responsibility, and liability throughout all project phases. Per the American Institute of Architects (AIA), IPD “integrates people, systems, business structures, and practices into a process that collaboratively harnesses the talents and insights of all participants to optimize project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction.”

CM-at-Risk & Turnkey
Construction manager (CM)-at-risk is a cost-effective alternative to design-bid-build delivery and an excellent option for projects that are difficult to define, may change in scope, or are time-sensitive.
Through a qualifications-based selection, owners trust Gannett Fleming to serve as the designer or construction manager for a wide variety of projects. We also provide turnkey services, such as engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC), skillfully working as designer and builder to reduce administrative burden, fast-track deliverables, and provide a single point of responsibility.
Our CM-at-risk and turnkey services enable us to offer owners the best possible design and construction management experience. Whether serving as designer, construction manager, or builder, our broad range of capabilities support the entire project life cycle, from bid evaluations to commissioning services.
In each of these roles, we facilitate open, proactive communication to enhance cost control, foster a collaborative environment, optimize design, and accelerate construction schedules.
Successful CM-at-risk and turnkey delivery require the designer and construction manager to engage early and collaborate effectively. We bring in-depth expertise in both design and construction and have a proven track record of balancing design with construction means and methods to meet project goals. We identify and mitigate constructability challenges, skillfully accelerate project schedules, and diligently manage fluctuating supply chain costs.
For each project, we create a team with specialized technical, regulatory, and management expertise tailored to meet your needs. Our team is highly responsive—24/7 as projects demand—and we continue to serve as a long-term partner after projects are completed.
Public Private Partnerships (PPP or P3)
These are typically long-term agreements through which the government contracts with a private sector partner to deliver and fund public services—such as major highways, bridges, or utilities—using a capital asset, and the parties share the associated risks. PPP teams are usually comprised of a developer, financier, engineer, contractor, and operator. These arrangements can assume many forms, but usually involve several, or all, of the requirements to finance, design, construct, maintain, and operate public sector infrastructure.
Technical Advisor
Launching large-scale infrastructure projects requires numerous considerations, including program vision, public impacts, value of money, and engineering design evaluation. We provide owners and concessionaires with the sound advice and documentation needed to make confident, informed decisions.
Our experts draw on diverse technical and alternative project delivery expertise to mitigate risk, identify opportunities for efficiency, and adapt our global delivery experience and design strategies to meet our clients’ needs.
We specialize in preparing project documentation, developing criteria, evaluating the optimal modes of project delivery, and identifying innovative and progressive funding methods. We assess technical solutions prepared by engineers of record to uncover new and different ways to do things better—evaluating the planned design, materials used, and constructability to help ensure the best possible solution.
We offer a level of expertise many firms don’t—an in-depth understanding of how risk impacts owners and contractor partners and how to skillfully manage and mitigate that risk. With the Professional DBIA™ and Project Management Institute (PMI) Risk Management Professional designations, our corporate risk team is dedicated full time and exclusively to this critical component of projects.