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DBIA’s Project Delivery Primer, announced October 17, 2023, consolidates two earlier guides into one owner-focused framework for choosing a capital-project delivery method. It compares design-build, construction management at risk (CMAR), and design/bid/build, while linking delivery system, procurement method, and contract format to a broader strategic acquisition plan. DBIA says the revised guide is more favorable toward design-build than its 2015 comparison, but it still tells owners to select the approach that best fits their project goals.
What changed in the DBIA Project Delivery Primer
The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) announced the updated primer on October 17, 2023. The document combines two previous resources—What is Design-Build? and Choosing a Project Delivery Method—into one guide for owners making an early project-delivery decision. DBIA says the consolidation reflects changes in the market, including the growth of design-build and the decline of design/bid/build. The announcement is available at DBIA’s October 17, 2023 release.
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The change is more than a renamed booklet. DBIA positions the primer as part of acquisition planning: an owner should decide how a project will be delivered before procuring design and construction services, then align procurement rules and contract terms with that decision. The guide also addresses how the selected system determines when and how designers, builders, construction managers and other participants are brought into the project.
DBIA explicitly acknowledges that the new version is more supportive of design-build than the organization’s 2015 comparison. That positioning is advocacy, not a universal instruction. The stated objective remains a deliberate choice based on the owner’s desired outcomes, capabilities, risk tolerance and project conditions.
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Who should use the primer?
The intended reader is an owner—public or private—planning a capital project and deciding how to acquire design and construction services. It is most useful before a solicitation is written, when the owner can still change the delivery strategy without redesigning procurement documents or reorganizing internal responsibilities.
Potential users include an owner’s executive sponsor, capital-program manager, procurement officer, facilities director, legal adviser and owner’s adviser. A design professional or construction professional can help test assumptions, but the owner must make the strategic decision because the delivery method determines authority, interfaces, timing and the information required from the market.
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The three decisions owners must keep together
DBIA’s framework treats three choices as connected rather than sequential checkboxes:
- Delivery system: the overall arrangement for assigning design and construction responsibilities and coordinating the project team.
- Procurement method: how the owner solicits, evaluates and selects the team or contractor.
- Contract format: the legal and commercial structure that governs payment, risk, scope, changes, schedule and performance.
Changing one element can make the other two unsuitable. For example, a qualifications-focused selection process requires contract provisions that allow scope and price to develop in phases. A fixed-price commitment made before the design is sufficiently defined creates different risks and information needs. The primer’s value is its insistence that owners plan these elements as one acquisition strategy.
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How the three delivery methods fit the primer’s comparison
DBIA identifies three approaches for comparison: design-build, construction management at risk (CMAR), and design/bid/build. The primer’s accessible announcement does not reproduce its complete comparison matrix, so owners should use the guide as a decision framework rather than treat a summary chart as a substitute for project-specific legal and procurement advice.
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Design-build places design and construction under a single owner contract. One team is responsible for coordinating both functions, giving the owner a single primary contractual relationship for delivery. DBIA presents this as the method’s defining structure and argues that it can support earlier team integration and a more deliberate allocation of responsibility when the owner’s goals and procurement authority allow it.
Construction management at risk
CMAR is one of the alternative methods the primer asks owners to examine. The owner should determine which design responsibilities, construction packages, cost commitments and risk obligations will remain with the owner, the designer and the construction manager. Those details vary by jurisdiction and contract, so the method’s label alone is not enough to predict the owner’s exposure.
Design/bid/build
Design/bid/build is the traditional comparison point in DBIA’s announcement. Owners should test whether a sequential design-then-bid process fits their schedule, design maturity, procurement rules and appetite for managing the designer–builder interface. The approach may be familiar to an organization, but familiarity does not remove the need to define responsibilities, contingencies and change procedures.
Design-build procurement options described by DBIA
DBIA identifies two prominent ways to procure design-build. They are not interchangeable, and the applicable public-procurement authority may differ by state, country, agency or project type.
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| Procurement variation | How the owner selects | How design and price develop | Best fit to investigate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-step best-value design-build | The owner first identifies qualified teams, then evaluates design and cost proposals. | Teams submit proposals against the owner’s requirements; design and price are considered in the competition. | Projects where the owner can define requirements clearly enough for comparable proposals and has authority to evaluate best value. |
| Progressive design-build | The owner selects primarily on qualifications. | The owner and selected team develop the design and cost collaboratively toward an agreed concept and price. | Complex or uncertain projects where early collaboration and phased definition are more valuable than competing fully developed solutions. |
These descriptions come from DBIA’s design-build guidance at What Is Design-Build?. They describe common procurement structures, not a guarantee that every jurisdiction permits both. An owner should confirm statutory authority, selection rules, protest risk, insurance requirements and required contract language before issuing a solicitation.
How do I choose the right project delivery method?
Use the primer’s logic as a documented decision process. The following sequence keeps the method choice tied to outcomes instead of selecting a familiar form by habit.
1. Define the outcomes that cannot move
List the project’s non-negotiables: an occupancy date, operating continuity, life-safety performance, energy target, funding deadline, resilience requirement, community commitment or maximum capital cost. Distinguish true constraints from preferences. A method should be judged by how well it supports these outcomes, not by whether it is fashionable.
2. Measure owner readiness
Record the owner’s available staff, technical expertise, procurement capacity, risk-management capability and ability to make timely decisions. Also document the quality of existing surveys, programming, site information, utility data and performance requirements. A method that depends on rapid owner decisions or sophisticated cost validation may be inappropriate if those capabilities are not available internally or through an owner’s adviser.
3. Decide when reliable cost information is needed
Ask whether the owner needs a meaningful price before design is substantially developed, can fund early design while scope is refined, or must preserve flexibility until unknown conditions are investigated. Two-step best-value design-build generally asks teams to compete on proposals and cost; progressive design-build develops the concept and price with the selected team. CMAR and design/bid/build require their own analysis of when estimates become commitments and who carries the consequences of scope changes.
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4. Map responsibilities and interfaces
Write down who will provide design criteria, obtain permits, coordinate existing conditions, manage trade packages, approve changes, validate estimates and accept completed work. Then identify every interface where information can be lost. The delivery method should reduce avoidable gaps without giving the owner responsibilities it cannot perform.
5. Match procurement to the market
Assess whether capable teams are likely to compete, how much proposal effort is reasonable, and whether the owner can evaluate technical quality as well as price. A qualifications-focused process needs defensible criteria and negotiation rules. A proposal competition needs clear requirements so teams can be compared fairly. Market sounding, where legally permitted, can reveal whether the planned schedule, contract terms and risk allocation are realistic.
6. Select a contract structure that supports the method
Specify the payment basis, allowances, contingencies, design responsibility, insurance, bonding, schedule obligations, changes, dispute procedures, commissioning and acceptance standards. Do not select a delivery label first and attempt to force unsuitable terms into it. Contract format should make the chosen allocation of authority and risk enforceable.
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Create a short decision memorandum that states the project goals, owner capabilities, market conditions, alternatives considered, reasons for selection and conditions that would trigger a change. This record helps governing boards, funders and procurement reviewers understand why the method was chosen and prevents later decisions from drifting away from the original objectives.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the 2023 update means for design-build decisions
The revised primer gives design-build greater prominence than DBIA’s 2015 comparison. That reflects DBIA’s view of industry direction, but it should not be read as evidence that design-build always produces lower cost, faster delivery or better quality. DBIA’s announcement describes the guide’s intended benefits and attributed forecasts; it does not establish guaranteed results for an individual project.
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For an owner, the practical implication is to evaluate design-build deliberately rather than dismiss it as unsuitable or adopt it automatically. The key questions are whether a single design-and-construction contract improves accountability, whether the owner can define performance requirements, whether the procurement authority supports the desired selection process, and whether the organization can manage the decisions required after award.
Market figures: useful context, not promises
DBIA’s current design-build page reports an FMI Corporation projection of more than 47% of U.S. construction spending by 2028, representing $2.6 trillion in spending from 2024 through 2028. This is a forecast, not a completed-market result, and it measures spending rather than the share of projects.
DBIA’s October 2023 announcement also referred to a forecast that 47% of construction projects would be design-build by 2026. That is a different measure and time horizon; it should not be presented as an observed 2026 outcome. In a March 3, 2026 announcement, DBIA reported an FMI 2024 Design-Build Utilization Study finding that progressive design-build represented roughly one-third of design-build procurements. The figure is attributed to FMI and concerns procurement utilization, not project success.
How the primer fits DBIA’s current guidance
DBIA’s Best Practices page lists Project Delivery alongside primers on universal best practices, progressive design-build, owner advisers, federal work, transportation and aviation, water and wastewater, public-private partnerships, and virtual design and construction. DBIA separately offers contract documents and deeper-dive materials through its bookstore; those resources should not be assumed to be free or interchangeable with the Project Delivery Primer.
On March 3, 2026, DBIA announced a separate free Progressive Design-Build Best Practices primer. DBIA says that guide addresses owner readiness, qualifications-focused procurement, phased contracting, and transparent cost development and validation. It provides useful follow-on context for an owner considering progressive design-build, but it is not evidence that the Project Delivery Primer itself received a new edition after 2023. Read the two resources as complementary: the Project Delivery Primer frames the broad method choice, while the newer primer concentrates on one design-build variation.
Owner checklist before issuing a solicitation
- Confirm the exact edition and current availability of the Project Delivery Primer.
- Define measurable project outcomes and rank them by priority.
- Document owner staff capacity, delegated authority and decision turnaround times.
- Choose the delivery system, procurement method and contract format as a linked package.
- Verify statutory authority and required approvals for the proposed procurement.
- Test whether the scope is mature enough for comparable proposals or better suited to progressive development.
- Set rules for estimate validation, contingencies, allowances, changes and open-book information.
- Identify design, construction, permitting, commissioning and operational interfaces.
- Check the availability and capacity of qualified teams in the project’s market.
- Obtain jurisdiction-specific legal, insurance and procurement advice before publication.
What the primer cannot decide for you
The primer is a planning aid, not a project-specific legal opinion, cost estimate or procurement document. DBIA’s public announcement does not reproduce the complete comparison matrix, and the full downloadable text and edition metadata have not been independently verified here. Owners should therefore confirm details in the current document and adapt them to applicable law, funding conditions and agency rules.
The strongest takeaway is procedural: make the delivery decision early, connect it to procurement and contract design, and explain the choice in terms of the outcomes the project must achieve. Design-build may be the right answer, but the primer’s stated test is whether the selected method best supports the owner’s particular goals.
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