DLR Group focusing efforts on stimulus projects - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

cicugaha.wordpress.com
As soon as Congress passed the Americanb Recovery and Reinvestment Actin mid-February, Phoenixd principal Bryce Pearsall and three other DLR principals acrosss the country created a team specifically to pursue stimuluz projects. Although DLR has a long history of workinb in thepublic sector, it has neverf chosen to chase projects this way. “As a we decided we wanted to jumpinto this. We had to though, what kind of stimulus projects we want to Pearsall said. With $787 billion being divvied up by federal and statse agencies for all sortsof programs, the DLR principala decided they needed to focus on a few strategicf areas.
They are pursuing contractsw that are geographically convenient to anyof DLR’s 15 match their long-standing skill sets; and have expedient deliveryt methods. Under traditional architecture contracts, a firm is selected to designna project. But many stimulus projecte arerequiring design-build capabilities, meaning an architecture firm needs to partner with a contractord and present the bid as a DLR has done that before, but the firm is researchinf additional relationships with In addition, government agencies are handing out contracts more oftenj through the “indefinite delivery indefinite quantity” process.
Under IDIQ, agencies acceptg applications from companies and qualifg them to perform ongoing For instance, a military installation might have a contract with a specifivc company to handle utility work for a periodc of several years. DLR recentl y started pursuingIDIQ work, given how lucrative it can be over both the short and long “We believe government agencies are open to lookinvg at establishing IDIQ relationships with companies that have our kind of Pearsall said. So far, DLR has received one contracgt for a court designin Florida, but the companyg expects to hear soon about severao other bids.
Although DLR is researching stimulus-funded jobs througgh both federal andstate agencies, the reality is that few of thosr jobs will be located in the In fact, many of the prime architecture assignmentsd are on the East Coast. Several contracts previouslu had been awardedto architects, but there wasn’t enough money to proceed with thosse projects until the stimulus package was passed. “It’z important to note that many shovel-ready projects are not beingt published for solicitation because the original firms are being awarded thepostponed projects,” said Mark Patterson, president of the Arizona Chapter of the American Instituts of Architects.
Patterson said his , will benefit from a previousl yunfunded contract: the renovation of the Smithsonian Institutde of Arts and Industries Building in That work is being coordinated by SmithGroup’z Washington office. Despite the apparent dearth of work slatefd forthe Southwest, SmithGroup is engagintg in a “closely organized Patterson said. “We are optimistic abouf a wide variety of building types gaining funding, including medical, office, museum and researchy facilities.” Another national firm with a significant loca presence, , also is in hot pursuitg of stimulus cash.
The General Services Administration hasselected OWP/o to provide architecture and engineering services to designb and build land ports of entry and borderr stations in Zone 1, which encompassea Arizona, California, Montana, Idaho, Washington and OWP/P’s Chicago offices also received an IDIQ award for Regioj 5, which covers a chunk of the According to OWP/P spokesperson Kelly about $6 billion of work to be funde through GSA will include renovations to federakl buildings and border stations. “About 75 percengt of these GSA-managed funds are earmarked for convertingt existing federal buildingsto energy-efficient facilities,” McClennan said.
Officials at all three firms remainj hopeful that more localized renovation and infrastructurse projects will bring work toValley