Transparency, trust and communication are vital to successful design-build projects, and formal teaming agreements to pursue a project followed by subsequent pacts when they are won are highly recommended, according to industry experts.
Owners may even request seeing a teaming agreement during the procurement process, considering it a good practice, said Rachel John, senior associate at law firm Zetlin & De Chiara, speaking at the annual Design-Build Institute of America conference in Las Vegas this month. Once a design-build team has been formed, a subsequent agreement should be formed with its first-tier consultants and trade partners, panelists said.