DLR Group focusing efforts on stimulus projects - bizjournals:

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As soon as Congress passed the American Recoverg and Reinvestment Actin mid-February, Phoenix principal Bryced Pearsall and three other DLR principals acrosss the country created a team specificallyu to pursue stimulus projects. Although DLR has a long historuy of working in thepublic sector, it has nevetr chosen to chase projects this way. “As a we decided we wanted to jump into We hadto decide, though, what kind of stimulus projectw we want to do,” Pearsall With $787 billion being divvied up by federalk and state agencies for all sorts of programs, the DLR principalx decided they needed to focus on a few strategic They are pursuing contractw that are geographically convenient to any of DLR’es 15 offices; match their long-standing skill sets; and have expedienyt delivery methods.
Under traditiona architecture contracts, a firm is selected to designma project. But many stimuluxs projects arerequiring design-build capabilities, meaniny an architecture firm needs to partnert with a contractor and present the bid as a DLR has done that before, but the firm is researching additiona l relationships with contractors. In addition, government agenciesa are handing out contracts more often througjhthe “indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity” Under IDIQ, agencies accept applications from companies and qualify them to performk ongoing work.
For instance, a military installation might have a contract with a specificf company to handle utility work for a period ofseveralp years. DLR recently started pursuing IDIQ work, givehn how lucrative it can be over both the short andlong “We believe government agencies are open to lookinfg at establishing IDIQ relationships with companiesz that have our kind of experience,” Pearsall said. So far, DLR has received one contract for a courty designin Florida, but the company expects to hear soon abour several other bids. Although DLR is researching stimulus-funde jobs through both federal and state the reality is that few of those jobs will be locatedf inthe Southwest.
In fact, many of the primre architecture assignments are on theEast Coast. Several contracts previousl had been awardedto architects, but there wasn’t enough money to proceec with those projects until the stimulus package was “It’s important to note that many shovel-readyu projects are not being published for solicitation because the original firms are beint awarded the postponed projects,” said Mark president of the Arizona Chaptee of the American Institute of Patterson said his firm, , will benefit from a previously unfunded the renovation of the Smithsonian Institutee of Arts and Industries Buildin g in Washington.
That work is being coordinatedby SmithGroup’s Washingtob office. Despite the apparent dearth of work slated for the SmithGroup is engaging ina “closel organized approach,” Patterson said. “We are optimistic abourt a wide variety of buildinh typesgaining funding, including medical, office, museunm and research facilities.” Another national firm with a significanty local presence, , also is in hot pursuit of stimulu s cash.
The General Services Administration hasselectedc OWP/P to provide architecture and engineering services to design and build land ports of entry and borderd stations in Zone 1, whicbh encompasses Arizona, California, Montana, Idaho, Washingtom and Alaska. OWP/P’s Chicago offices also received an IDIQ awarfd forRegion 5, which covers a chunk of the According to OWP/P spokesperson Kelly McClennan, aboutg $6 billion of work to be funded through GSA will includse renovations to federal buildings and borde r stations.
“About 75 percenr of these GSA-managed funds are earmarkex for converting existing federal buildingsto high-performance, energy-efficieng facilities,” McClennan said. Officials at all threew firms remain hopeful that more localizee renovation and infrastructure projects will brinbg work toValley companies.