The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, Mission Bay, is successfully using a virtual form of IPD for its project, as are San Francisco General Hospital and Camino Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif. The virtual IPD concept allows the public entities to enter into three-party collaborations even though laws prohibit actual three-party contracts between such entities.

IPD is a collaborative effort that brings together all parties involved at the beginning of the planning process. Instead of joining the project at different stages of the game, the owner, architect, agency, engineers, and contractors work together on mutual goals through the design and build phases so their relationship becomes a partnership rather than the traditional one of adversarial roles.

Since IPD requires more work to be done earlier, the first few phases of design have been redefined, notes Zigmund Rubel, principal at Anshen + Allen Architects. In place of the traditional Pre-design, Schematic Design, Design Development, and Construction Documents are Conceptualization, Criteria Design, Detailed Design, and Implementation Documents. The rest of the process is basically the same, from permitting agency involvement through construction and closeout.

“We’re really focusing on what, who, and how we’re doing the design up front. That’s the focus of the change. IPD puts the project at center stage. It’s a different way of doing business,” says Rubel.

Project Phases Redefined

In traditional construction models, the architect and the engineer are the only players up front, with general contractors and trades involved later. In IPD, all the players are involved by the second phase of the project, Criteria Design.

During the Conceptualization phase of IPD an integrated team is assembled, so it’s not just the owner and architect or the owner and the builder working on the ideas.

“This phase is where you start thinking about defining what success is on your IPD project,” says Rubel.

“Given our volatile market, we need to do a better job on cost controls and this phase is where we start doing so,” he continues. “As the project progresses, the ability to influence costs diminishes and the cost of change increases. This is where you should make most of your decisions.”

This phase is also where IPD users start creating a more informed cost structure. Instead of assigning a specific cost per square foot, the IPD team allocates the budget into detailed cost targets for all major systems. The targets are used to drive the design says Stuart Eckblad, director of design and construction for the UCSF Medical Center.

The team works on rigorous performance goals and defines the success metrics, and how they will share both the rewards and the risks involved in the project. Different aspects of the project, including cost, and possibly schedule, design quality, and more are boiled down to numerical scores. Based on the outcome, everyone sees a gain or a loss, depending on the percentage they signed up for at the beginning of the project.

“When you run into a problem, the only thing that anyone has left to do is solve it.  Finger pointing doesn’t work,” says Jim Bedrick, vice president of virtual building and design for Webcor Builders. “If the project team has a good idea, the project makes more money; if there is a mistake, they make less money.”

Criteria Design Phase

The next phase, renamed Criteria Design, involves a change in the traditional design fee structure. With more people involved, the owners spend more money up front.

“It doesn’t mean they’re going to be spending more money overall, but it is going to change the distribution,” explains Rubel.

Criteria Design is also where work on the Building Information Model (BIM) needs to begin, with involvement by the contractors.

“With the BIM, basically what you see is what you pay for. You really need to get all your rooms laid out. As contractors get involved in the construction phase, there’s a lot more cost for change,” says Rubel.

At Mills Peninsula Hospital in Northern California, the use of BIM detected a possible drainpipe issue that could have caused flooding. BIM helped planners do smart design and coordination to avoid the problem.

Detail Design Phase

Next comes Detail Design, where the design is fully, unambiguously defined, coordinated, and validated. The team should think about suppliers and vendors and gauge their expense. Material quality levels should be discussed as well, to establish what fits in the budget and what can be documented. Lastly, the tolerances are established between the trades to enable pre-fabrication.

This IPD phase requires more effort than the traditional Design Development phase, but accomplishes more, thereby lessening the work in the next phase, Implementation Documents.

“It’s a very important concept that by the end of the detailed design, everything is fully worked out. We’re not changing what we’re going to build any more,” says Bedrick.

By the time the Implementation Documents phase is reached, the focus is on how to realize the project goals. The cost is known with certainty because of the work already done. Early buy-out can commence, as can pre-fabrication. Rehearsal of construction is enabled through four-dimensional computer models.

Agency review is included in the IPD process earlier than in traditional construction planning. BIMs provide an opportunity for automated code analysis and permit approval. The extensive detail design work helps with the final buy-out.
 
“In an IPD project, the major parts of the work are already bought out by this time. Cost criteria is set early, and as long as the participants stay within those criteria, they continue on the project.  All that’s left in the buy-out phase is the few work packages that were not in the original alliance,” adds Bedrick.

The Construction Phase is where the IPD payoff comes. Construction begins with documents that have already worked out the process and have taken into account things like phasing, scheduling, and sequencing, plus the physical relationship of the parts. Procurement items with long lead times are available when needed. The early involvement of regulatory agencies allows timely permit approval, and the pre-fabrication leads to less waste and fewer injuries.

“It is possible to go into a project and not have any changes. This can all be worked out beforehand,” says Bedrick.

Virtual IPD is Another Option

Another way of incorporating IPD into a project it by using “virtual IPD”—meaning an IPD relationship exists, even though it’s not in writing. This method works especially well for public entities which may be prohibited by law from entering three-party contracts, notes Eckblad, of UCSF Medical Center.

“Even though there’s no contract, there are cross agreements. It’s a virtual organization because it’s not a legal entity in and of itself,” he explains. “Some organizations can’t do three-party contracts, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a virtual organization.”

The Camino Medical Center used virtual IPD to build a 250,000-sf ambulatory facility with a 500,000 sf of parking. There were six Requests for Information (RFIs) and only two containers of waste on the entire project because they prefabricated everything.

“They used BIM to the biggest extent possible,” says Rubel. “It’s really happening; it’s not pie-in-the-sky ideas.”

Another virtual IPD project is the San Francisco General Hospital, currently in pre-construction. The subcontractors as well as the general contractor were on board early to help inform the design. Costs for the various systems were set in Criteria Design and as the project progresses, as long as these subcontractors stay within the cost parameters they continue with construction, says Bedrick.

The UCSF Medical Center project had Best Value Contractor Selection capability. UCSF was able to pre-qualify general contractors. Once the bidders were pre-qualified, they submitted formal qualifications as it related to the project and a cost for their team for the pre-construction part of the project, says Eckblad.

UCSF then scored the submitted qualifications, without knowing what the bid was.  After the qualifications were scored, the bids were opened up and a value was established for each team; the highest point per dollar won the bid.

“The design service contract still has the traditional AIA names, however the builder is on board the design team and is working collaboratively with them,” says Rubel. “This is not an IPD agreement, but what I would call a virtual IPD relationship.”

IPD can be useful in public projects but much depends on city and state laws governing the contractual process. Even if virtual IPD is possible, one of the biggest hurdles is changing attitudes and the traditional mindset. Risk managers for public owners often have difficulty getting on board with IPD because it does not follow the traditional design-bid-build delivery method, says Eckblad.

Lessons Learned

The key to assembling a strong IPD team is in the writing of qualifications, says Rubel. Obviously, knowledge of IPD is a must, and it helps if the parties have worked together before. Another key ingredient is chemistry, and this often can’t be determined in a one-hour session.

“The process can’t be rushed. Take your time to really get to know these people,” advises Rubel.

With group decision-making, the initial process also doesn’t move as quickly as those involved might like. It’s important to have a hierarchical structure, with a core team representing the three major parties—owner, designer and builder—then sub-teams clustered together to address specific parts of the project.

Comprise the team only of people who are delegated to make decisions, emphasizes Rubel. Hire an IPD coordinator as one who facilitates the team, and manages the relationships of the team. The coordinator has the project’s interests first and foremost in mind and remains objective.

The clusters can make decisions and then pass them up through the coordinator.

“It’s a much more efficient process,” adds Rubel.

Another emerging part of successful IPD is a monthly partners’ meeting, attended by the key principals of each organizations. They discuss whether project goals are on target and if not, how to fix problems.

“Both the IPD Coordinator and this group’s job is to look ahead, to make sure the business relationships are working, and anticipate any major problems in the future,” says Rubel.

“When we collaborate, get that expertise in early, it improves just about anything you can measure about the project,” adds Bedrick. “A five percent cost reduction on a $700-million hospital is a lot of money.”

By Taitia Shelow