by Andrew Ausel  |  January 29, 2015

Today, the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) celebrated  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s action to include emergency design-build authorization as a part of his State of Emergency Declaration for the Commissioner of Transportation and the Commissioner of General Services. The Declaration, issued in response to Winter Storm Jonas, specifically allows, “the Commissioner of Transportation or the Commissioner of General Services to award design-build and best value contracts without following the proscribed procurement process.”

“DBIA applauds Governor Cuomo for addressing the challenge of rebuilding through the utilization of design-build, an essential component of any effective recovery effort,” said Lisa Washington, CAE, the Executive Director/CEO of DBIA. “Design-build integrates all aspects of project delivery under a single team, with a single point of contact for the government. The resultant streamlined collaboration is essential for completing projects quickly and avoiding change orders, especially for projects in disaster or recovery situations.”

Over the years, design-build has proven itself particularly capable of handling disaster recovery efforts. Used in the rebuilding after Super Storm Sandy, this is not the first time the state of New York relied on design-build to help the state quickly rebound from a natural disaster. Also playing a large role in rebuilding Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, design-build and its single point of contact for design and construction forgoes many of the inefficiencies of traditional project delivery that are unworkable during an emergency situation.