Evaluating Design-Build-Operate-Maintain Delivery as a Tool for Sustainability

Abstract

Building and other capital projects usually have a clear distinction between project development phases (i.e. design and construction), and the operations and maintenance phases of a facility. Over the life of the facility, operations and maintenance expenses often far exceed the initial cost of a facility. Importantly, the decisions made early in a project have a strong affect on the life cycle costs of a building. Operation and maintenance knowledge needs to be incorporated early in design to make these critical decisions. High performance green building projects extensively use methods to evaluate the impact of design features over the life of the facility. Techniques such as life cycle cost analysis, energy modeling, and daylight simulation help to evaluate long term impacts of building features. Project delivery methods strongly affect the way project teams are brought together, thus impacting the quality of decisions made in a project. Design-Build has been shown to introduce often crucial and reliable construction input during design to improve the performance of a project. Likewise, the Design-Build-Operate-Maintain (DBOM) project delivery system brings critical operations and maintenance knowledge into design. With this knowledge, better decisions can be made resulting in a higher performing building. As a result, a more efficient and sustainable facility will be turned over to the owner. A review of literature reveals that DBOM has not yet been widely adopted to achieve sustainable project goals. This paper defines the DBOM delivery system, explores the benefits of DBOM, investigates the ability of DBOM to achieve important sustainable initiatives and concludes that this is a promising development for the advancement of sustainable projects.

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