Collaborative Project Delivery (Integrated Project Delivery and Collaborative Job Order Contracting) both involve Government Construction Early Contractor Involvement (ECI)
- Non-traditional Program-centric versus Project-centric Administration
- Robust Focus Upon Preconstruction – Early and ongoing team collaboration (owner, design/builder, planning/procurement/project delivery)
- Improved Design Quality – Constructability
- Objective, verifiable, current, standardized, local market granular cost data
- Increased understanding of market conditions
- Pricing feedback from industry during design development
- Fast Tracking
- Earned Value Management Focus
- Shared risk of cost increases
- Mitigated change orders and disputes
- 90%+ On-time/On-budget/Quality outcomes
- Contractor incentivized to collaboratively work with Government team to meet cost objectives
Early contractor involvement ensures consistent quality, timely delivery, and cost control for government real property owners.
Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) offers several significant advantages for government real property owners, regardless of project size. Bringing the contractor on board during the planning and design phase can lead to more efficient and successful project delivery
.
Here’s how ECI helps ensure quality, timely delivery, and cost control:
- Improved quality and constructability: Contractors can provide valuable input during the planning and design process, identifying potential issues and proposing solutions to improve the design’s buildability and overall quality. This can result in better-informed design decisions, leading to fewer errors and rework during the construction phase.
- Reduced delays and enhanced schedule management: Early involvement allows contractors to contribute to the development of a more accurate and realistic project schedule. By identifying potential bottlenecks and planning for long-lead items, ECI helps to minimize delays and keep projects on track.
- Improved cost control and budgeting: Contractors can provide realistic cost estimates and identify cost-saving opportunities through value engineering during the design phase. When combined with the use of locally researched granular cost data more accurate budgets, reduced risk of cost overruns, and efficient resource allocation are enabled.
- Stronger risk management and mitigation: ECI allows for early identification and assessment of potential risks related to the project, enabling the project team to develop strategies for their mitigation or transfer. This proactive approach to risk management can prevent costly delays and disputes later in the project lifecycle.
In essence, ECI fosters collaboration and communication between all project stakeholders (owner and design/builder planning, procurement, and project delivery teams) from the outset. This helps to align expectations, address challenges proactively, and ultimately leads to a higher probability of delivering successful government real property projects – on time, within budget, and to the desired quality standards.
