Notice of Future Progressive Design-Build Project
Little Miami Wastewater Treatment Plant and Four Mile and Little Miami Pump Stations
(Cincinnati, OH)

Owner: Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati

This fall, the City of Cincinnati will solicit the services of a progressive design-build team to construct a 115 mgd high rate treatment facility at the Little Miami Wastewater Treatment Plant and upgrade the Four Mile and Little Miami pump stations to reliably pump 215 mgd. Additional scope may include screening, disinfection, construction of a new outfall, and demolition of existing facilities. The total project cost, including owner advisor services, is anticipated to be approximately $327 million.

The City hired Brown and Caldwell (BC) as the owner advisor to support development of this procurement. Through BC, the City will seek market input prior to initiating a formal procurement for this project. This market sounding will be an informal conference call and an opportunity to provide input around the project, design-build approach, and collaborative best practices that the City has in mind for the procurement.

If you are interested in hearing more about this project, intend to participate as a prime contractor or engineer of record, and would like to participate in the market sounding, please contact Sabrina Hutchinson at shutchinson@brwncald.com. If this project is not on your list, you may still want to participate in the market sounding to support or promote your vision of progressive design-build best practices to inform future MSD procurements and projects.

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Request for Proposals
Research Project: Environmental and Financial Drivers of Collaborative Delivery Adoption in the Water Sector
(Project involves participation in virtual/in-person meetings/presentations, locations TBD)

Client: Water Collaborative Delivery Association

WCDA is issuing this RFP to identify and obtain data throughout the water utility market sector in order to evaluate the environmental and financial drivers of collaborative delivery adoption. For purposes of this proposal, “water” refers to all water, wastewater, treatment, distribution, conveyance, and reuse systems and services.

Water utilities across the United States are investing significant capital in infrastructure upgrades and expansion while facing increasing challenges related to funding constraints, regulatory requirements, workforce limitations, contractor market capacity, and supply chain volatility. Project delivery approaches that involve early collaboration among owners, designers, and constructors are increasingly used to address these challenges. However, adoption varies significantly across utilities and regions. Utilities must also manage significant uncertainty when planning and delivering infrastructure projects. These uncertainties may include cost escalation, regulatory compliance requirements, schedule pressures, technology implementation challenges, and contractor market capacity. CD approaches are often used to address these uncertainties by enabling earlier coordination among project participants and earlier identification of potential risks.

This research will examine the environmental, financial, organizational, and market conditions associated with the adoption of collaborative delivery, including how collaborative approaches may support risk management across the project life cycle.

Research Objectives
The objective of this research is to identify patterns and trends associated with the adoption of collaborative delivery in Water infrastructure projects.

Key research questions include:
1. What environmental and organizational conditions lead utilities to adopt collaborative delivery?
2. How do funding structures and capital planning processes influence delivery method selection?
3. What project, market, and organizational conditions correlate with successful collaborative delivery outcomes?
4. How do project complexity and regulatory drivers influence delivery decisions?

The research will also examine whether collaborative delivery approaches are more frequently adopted in situations where utilities face elevated financial, regulatory, technical, or market risks.

For full details including WCDA details, project background, scope of work, timeline, and submission guidelines, and evaluation criteria, please download the RFP here.

WCDA Contact:
All correspondence regarding this RFP, including RFP submissions, should be addressed to:
Bob Golden
Business Operations Manager
Water Collaborative Delivery Association
rgolden@watercollaborativedelivery.org
(303) 641-0550