Design-Build
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is entering a new era of collaboration and innovation. Moving I-4 Forward, through the Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative, championed by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature, the Department is committed to completing this series of projects more than a decade ahead of schedule.
Before the Moving I-4 Forward Program began taking shape, the visionaries for this infrastructure initiative knew collaboration and innovation would be essential to the success of each project. This program is not just about enhancing the drive for motorists; it is about creating safer, more efficient travel for everyone, including the communities that rely on this vital corridor every day. Keeping the community top of mind for the Corridors Program Office (CPO), the team is dedicated to implementing these improvements as quickly as possible.
Typically, the design process for a road project can take months or even years to finalize before construction begins. Now, the Moving I-4 Forward Program is establishing a groundbreaking and faster contracting method called the Modified Phased Design-Build (MPDB).
FDOT’s new MPDB approach takes the best practices from existing contracting methods and enhances them with a focus on collaboration. Instead of awarding the design contract to a single firm, FDOT selects three firms based on their experience to collaboratively design an innovative, cost-effective plan throughout design and construction. This plan also allows for more collaboration at the beginning, accelerating the process by months compared to existing contracting methods that can take up to a year before the project moves to the construction phase.
The phased design-build process allows for collaboration to develop a cost-effective plan, however this approach can be less competitive.
Traditional design-build process is the other contracting method. While innovative, this process leaves project price open to outside factors such as inflation.
Under the Modified Phase Design Build (MPDB), the Accelerated Innovation and Collaboration (AIC) phase is the initial step in advancing the Moving I-4 Forward project.
AIC Defined: AIC includes time, services, and work conducted before the Design Phase begins and is approved. The goal is to collaborate with the Department, its representatives, and stakeholders to develop the project’s plan, schedule, and costs.
How the AIC Phase Works: Three Design-Build Firms are selected based on their qualifications, and the highest scoring firms will enter into separate contracts for the AIC phase. These firms then will collaborate with the Department to provide innovations that align with the project goals and optimize the project design.
Goals for Moving I-4 Forward:
- Enhance Safety and Efficiency
- Improve the Interstate 4 (I-4) corridor’s safety and efficiency quickly.
- Congestion Relief
- Provide lanes to reduce congestion and ensure traffic keeps moving during construction.
- Interchange Improvement
- Enhance interchange accessibility and efficiency.
- Minimize Roadway Impact
- Reduce impacts on the surrounding road network.
- Safety through ITS
- Use Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) strategies to enhance safety.
What AIC means for Moving I-4 Forward:
- Faster and streamlined process
- Multiple Design-Build Firms will be selected based on their qualifications to present their best ideas and innovations. Through collaboration with the Department, each team will optimize the project design and plan for efficiency. This supports an accelerated timeline by 15 to 20 years ahead of schedule.
- Price certainty
- The Project Guarantee Maximum Price (PGMP): a fixed maximum price is established from the beginning of the process that includes the cost for Design and Construction Phases of a project segment. This ensures the project cost will not exceed its budget due to supply costs, saving money in the process.
- Improvement with each project
- The AIC process of innovation and collaboration will be repeated for each Moving I-4 Forward project within the 14 miles of improvements.
What’s next?
Firms will submit a Request to Continue (RtC) package. This package includes the list of approved innovations the firms established with the Department, and a Project Guaranteed Maximum Price (PGMP). A qualitative selection will then be made by the Department and task work orders will be issued to one team to continue work, design, and construction for that section of the project.
By continuously evolving its processes, FDOT embraces new ideas and visions to accelerate its programs with safety as a priority, ensuring that Floridians can experience congestion relief sooner.