Best-value procurement in design-bid-build construction projects: Empirical analysis of selection outcomes

Best-value (BV) procurement is increasingly used in conventional design-bid-build (DBB) delivery, which raises questions regarding the influence of qualifications-based evaluation criteria when selecting construction contractors. The objectives of this study are to (1) examine BV procurement outcomes that can be expected from DBB projects, (2) determine which evaluation criteria have the greatest dispersion among competing contractors, and (3) identify whether a relationship exists between cost- and qualifications-based proposal submissions. A sample of 162 public institutional BV-procured DBB projects was collected that include evaluation results of 684 contractor proposals. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used, including coefficient of variation and correlation analysis of evaluation criteria. The results show that BV-selected contractors offer substantial qualifications benefits in comparison with lowest- and average-bidder alternatives. Certain qualifications-based criteria, such as technical proposals, contractor interview scores, and safety proposals were found to have a greater dispersion among competing bidders than cost proposals. Contributions of this study to the body of knowledge include a sizable empirical data set of BV-procured DBB projects in the vertical sector and a unit of measure that considers dispersion among competing contractor proposals. In current construction industry practice, it is recommended that project owners consider BV for complex DBB projects and prioritize certain qualifications-based criteria that are well-suited for differentiating between competing contractor proposals.