Project delivery is the process of designing and building (or renovating) a facility. There are several methods or systems that can be used to perform the design and construction work needed to build or remodel a facility. The most common project delivery systems are:

• Design – Bid – Build
• Construction Manager at Risk
• Design – Build

Many owners are not frequent buyers of facility design and construction services and are not fully familiar with the options available and their benefits. It is also not uncommon for a firm to have a purchasing department that purchases commodities for their manufacturing process and incorrectly assume this is also the way to purchase facility design and construction services.

The method of handling project delivery has changed over time. For centuries the master builder was used to both design and construct structures. Increases in technology and sophistication lead to specialization in design or construction. This specialization lead to increased separation and decreased interaction between the disciplines. Partly as a reaction to perceived or actual corruption in the public sector the Design – Bid – Build process evolved. This system with its inherently poor interaction resulted in higher costs, lengthened schedules, and increased errors.

In the 70’s owners began employing a third party to assist with the process. This party, the Construction Manager, continued to evolve until his role began to include involvement of the design process sometime in the 80’s. At that point the system changed from Construction Manager to Construction Manager at Risk due to the CM’s involvement in design, and guarantees to cost and schedules.