Developers of major public and private projects in the United States and elsewhere are using a variety of project delivery methods to complete those projects. In the United States, transit projects have been traditionally carried out through a design-bid-build process. There is considerable interest on the part of transportation agencies in alternative forms of project delivery and their potential benefits. However, a comprehensive discussion of the benefits and disadvantages of these methods in the context of the United States transit environment is lacking.

Furthermore, while U.S. transit agencies have considerable experience contracting for the operation and maintenance of facilities and services, there is a need to explore the benefits and drawbacks of linking this practice with project delivery methods (e.g. design-bid, design-bid-build, and construction manager-at-risk).

The objective of this research is to develop a guidebook to help transit agencies (1) evaluate and select the most appropriate project delivery method for major capital projects and (2) evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of including operations and maintenance as a component of a contract for the project delivery system. The project delivery methods to be discussed in the guidebook are (a) design-bid-build, (b) design-build, and (c) construction manager-at-risk.

Status: The report is published as TCRP Report 131.

Product Availability: TCRP Report 131 examines various project delivery methods for major transit capital projects.  TCRP Web-Only Document 41 explores pertinent literature and research findings related to various project delivery methods for transit projects.