The following definitions and acronyms apply to the design-build guidelines, processes, and procedures:

1. (1)

   1. (A) “Adjusted price” means the value calculated at the completion of the proposal evaluation whereby the combination of the FMP, provided by the proposer in the price proposal, is combined with the technical score, determined by the Arkansas Department of Transportation through an evaluation of the technical proposal, by a predetermined and advertised formula.
   2. (B) Although the formula may be presented in many variations from project to project, generally the lowest adjusted price is considered to represent the best value for the project;
2. (2) “Agreement” means the design-build agreement;

3. (3)

   1. (A) “Alternative technical concept (ATC)” means the process by which a proposer requests the Arkansas Department of Transportation accept a change in the project requirements, that is equal to or better than presented in the RFP, into the DBA.
   2. (B) If the Arkansas Department of Transportation approves the ATC, then the proposer is authorized to include the ATC into the proposal.
   3. (C) A request for consideration of an ATC will normally occur in the RFP phase when the Arkansas Department of Transportation is meeting and communicating privately with each short-list proposer;

4. (4)

   1. (A) “Baseline project documents (BPD)” means the group of preliminary documents provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation when a variable scope design-build project is developed.
   2. (B) These documents are included in the procurement documents which represent the acceptable base scope, design, and schedule of the project and are in contrast to the final project documents prepared by the design-builder and included in the proposal.

   3. (C) The BPD may include, but not be limited to, a baseline project:

      1. (i) Description;
      2. (ii) Scope;
      3. (iii) Layout;
      4. (iv) Schematics;
      5. (v) Schedule;
      6. (vi) Right-of-way map; and
      7. (vii) Utilities map;
5. (5) “Best value (BV)” means the best adjusted price represented by the submitted proposals as determined by the Arkansas Department of Transportation at the completion of the proposal evaluation period;
6. (6) “Commission” means the State Highway Commission;
7. (7) “Confidentiality agreement” means a written, signed agreement between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and a firm, or an employee of a firm, whereby the parties wish to share information and agree that the information shall remain private between the parties, generally for a specified period of time, for the good of the project;
8. (8) “Conflict disclosure statement” means a written statement signed by a firm, or an authorized employee of a firm, that discloses any and all potential connections, association, relationship, or ownership issue that may currently exist, or known to exist in the future, between the party and another party or condition that may be interpreted as potentially impacting the operation, implementation, or outcome of the project;
9. (9) “Contract closure” means the end of the project period where all terms of the DBA have been completed including all warranty and maintenance obligations and all financial obligations have been resolved;
10. (10) “Department” means the Arkansas Department of Transportation;
11. (11) “Department implementation team (DIT)” means the group of individuals with the collective responsibility to perform contract administration, design reviews, and monitor, or oversee, the design-builder during the implementation phase of the project;

12. (12) “Department procurement team (DPT)” means a group of individuals including Arkansas Department of Transportation and non-Arkansas Department of Transportation personnel who collectively:

    1. (A) Assist in the preparation of the procurement documents;
    2. (B) Manage the procurement process; and
    3. (C) Participate in recommending a design-builder for the project;

13. (13)

    1. (A) “Department project office (DPO)” means an Arkansas Department of Transportation office which may house Arkansas Department of Transportation and non-Arkansas Department of Transportation personnel provided to administer the project, usually in a separate, off-site location.
    2. (B) After selection of the design-builder, the DPO may be moved to a common location with the design-builder personnel to more efficiently operate and manage the project.
    3. (C) The process is generally referred to as “co-location”;

14. (14)

    1. (A) “Department request for clarification (DRFC)” means an Arkansas Department of Transportation generated formal request to a particular proposer requesting additional information to clarify certain elements of the proposer’s submitted SOQ or proposal documents.
    2. (B) Any request of this type is at the sole discretion of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, implemented on an as needed basis, to allow an individual proposer to provide additional information to clarify certain aspects of their proposal during evaluation;
15. (15) “Design-bid-build (DB-B)” means the more traditional project delivery method for design and construction of highways where the Arkansas Department of Transportation, or a consultant working for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, designs the project and then the Arkansas Department of Transportation solicits bids and subsequently enters into an agreement with a contractor to construct the project;
16. (16) “Design-build (D-B)” means an alternative project delivery method whereby the design and construction phases of the project are combined into a single contract between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and one (1) entity, generally composed of a single contractor or a joint venture between multiple contractors and design firms;
17. (17) “Design-build agreement (DBA)” or “contract” means the entirety of the agreement between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and the design-builder to deliver the project, including the signed and executed agreement, all exhibits, appendices, completed forms, and general and technical provisions, along with the design-build proposal elements provided by the design-builder prior to selection which cumulatively represent the complete agreement between the parties;

18. (18)

    1. (A) “Design-build proposal”, hereinafter referred to as the “proposal”, means the submission from a short-list proposer which includes a sealed technical proposal and a sealed price proposal submitted in response to the RFP released by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) The proposal establishes the short-list proposer’s preliminary design, schedule, and price to meet the requirements of the project scope;

19. (19) “Design-build to a budget”, also known as fixed price-best design, means a particular variable scope D-B method where the Arkansas Department of Transportation establishes the project baseline project cost, and subsequently evaluates the proposals for both:

    1. (A) Compliance with the RFP requirements; and
    2. (B) Maximizing the scope to be delivered by the proposer, above the requirements of the baseline project documents (BPDs) provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation as part of the procurement documents;

20. (20)

    1. (A) “Design-builder” means the short-list proposer selected at the completion of the RFP phase of the procurement process who will be offered the opportunity to enter into the DBA with the Arkansas Department of Transportation for the project.
    2. (B) The design-builder may by comprised of any company, firm, partnership, corporation, association, joint venture, or other legal entity permitted by law to include, but not limited to, the practice of engineering, architecture, and construction contracting, as appropriate, in the State of Arkansas;
21. (21) “Director of the Department” or “director” means the Director of State Highways and Transportation;

22. (22)

    1. (A) “Evaluation observer” refers to an individual representing an interested or responsible party, such as Arkansas Department of Transportation administration or Federal Highway Administration personnel, that the DPT will allow access to confidential information and meetings during the procurement process, in particular, the evaluation phases of the process leading to selection of the short-list proposers and subsequently, the design-builder.
    2. (B) All such observers must be required to sign a confidentiality agreement prior to any involvement in the procurement process;

23. (23)

    1. (A) “Evaluation scoring criteria (ESC)” means the established and documented evaluation criteria in the RFQ or RFP whereby the SOQ or proposal, respectively, can be uniformly and objectively evaluated and allow a quantitative score to be assigned to the respective submission.
    2. (B) Separate ESC will be prepared for the SOQ evaluation and the proposal evaluation stages and will be referred to hereinafter as the “SOQ ESC” and “proposal ESC”, respectively;

24. (24)

    1. (A) “Final acceptance (FA)” or “project final acceptance” means the occurrence or date where the design-builder has completed or satisfied all of the obligations, events, and conditions of the DBA to the satisfaction of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) The Arkansas Department of Transportation will provide a formal letter to acknowledge that final acceptance has been confirmed for the project;
25. (25) “Final design” means the design performed by the design-builder which results in the preparation of the final plans and final specifications to be utilized in the construction of the project;

26. (26) “Final geotechnical information” means the collection of documents prepared and documentation of activities prepared or performed by the design-builder and provided to the Arkansas Department of Transportation to supplement the preliminary geotechnical information (PGI) and form the basis of the final design of the project, including:

    1. (A) Borings;
    2. (B) Laboratory testing;
    3. (C) Investigations; and
    4. (D) Professional report or reports;

27. (27)

    1. (A) “Final plans” means the construction plans prepared by the design-builder during the project implementation phase which are utilized to construct the elements of the project.

    2. (B) The final plans will consist of design-builder prepared:

       1. (i) Plans;
       2. (ii) Details;
       3. (iii) Project specific standard sheets; and
       4. (iv) Arkansas Department of Transportation standard sheets;

28. (28)

    1. (A) “Final specifications” means the specifications compiled and prepared by the design-builder during the project implementation phase to construct the elements of the project.
    2. (B) The final specifications will be a compilation of Arkansas Department of Transportation standard specifications and project-specific special specifications/provisions;
29. (29) “Final warranty completion (FWC)” means the occurrence of passing the warranted date or dates for all elements in which a warranty applies in the DBA and the warranted elements are confirmed by the Arkansas Department of Transportation to meet the requirements of the DBA or are restored by the design-builder to sufficiently meet the warranty requirements;
30. (30) “Fiscal management information system (FMIS)” means the latest version of the financial tracking, analysis, and reporting information system utilized and supported by the Federal Highway Administration Office of Budget and Finance to monitor the use of projects financed, in whole or in part, by federal-aid highway funds;

31. (31)

    1. (A) “Fixed maximum price (FMP)” means the lump-sum maximum price provided in the price proposal by a short-list proposer in response to the RFP released by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) The FMP represents the design-builder’s proposed total price to complete all project work requirements;
32. (32) “Implementation phase” means the period in a D-B process from the selection of the design-builder to the project final acceptance including the final design and construction of the project;
33. (33) “Independent assurance (IA)” means one of the quality assurance responsibilities of the Arkansas Department of Transportation during the implementation phase of the project, whereby the Arkansas Department of Transportation performs checks or audits of the methods, procedures, and personnel assigned by the design-builder to provide sampling and testing on the project;
34. (34) “Instructions to proposers (ITP)” means a component of the RFP intended to provide information and instruction to short-listed proposers relative to general information, a description of the procurement process, formulation and processing of ATCs, submittal requirements, and a description of the procurement selection process;
35. (35) “Inter-agency agreement (IAA)” means an agreement required between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and another agency, whether federal, state, or local jurisdictions, required to complete the project scope;

36. (36)

    1. (A) “Key personnel” means individual positions or personnel in the proposer organization, as described in the RFQ and RFP, that are of high importance to the successful completion, performance, and management of the project.
    2. (B) These key personnel positions are evaluated by the Arkansas Department of Transportation during the SOQ and proposal evaluations;

37. (37)

    1. (A) “Notice to proceed (NTP)” means a formal notice from the Arkansas Department of Transportation to the design-builder authorizing the design-builder to proceed with all or some portion of the work.
    2. (B) The NTP may provide authorization to proceed with all aspects of the work, however, many times the NTP provides only limited authorization to perform certain portions of the work.
    3. (C) When multiple notices/authorizations are to be utilized as part of the DBA, the notices are usually identified as “NTP1”, “NTP2”, etc.;
38. (38) “One-on-one meeting” means a private meeting held after the release of the RFP between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and an individual short-list proposer to convey information and discuss project issues and potential modifications to the design to be included in the respective proposal;
39. (39) “Over-the-shoulder (OTS)” means an informal meeting or observation process during the project implementation phase whereby the design-builder provides preliminary information concerning design concepts and issues for input by the Arkansas Department of Transportation and/or the DIT participation in design-builder meetings during final design;
40. (40) “Owner verification, testing, and inspection (OVTI)” means one (1) of the quality assurance responsibilities of the Arkansas Department of Transportation during the implementation phase of the project whereby the Arkansas Department of Transportation performs a limited amount of inspections and testing to confirm, verify, and provide confidence in the testing and construction procedures performed by the design-builder;

41. (41)

    1. (A) “Preliminary design” or “preliminary engineering” means the project preliminary or schematic design performed by the Arkansas Department of Transportation and provided to the proposer during the procurement process.
    2. (B) The preliminary design provides the basis for the proposer to develop an understanding of the requirements of the project scope;

42. (42)

    1. (A) “Preliminary geotechnical information (PGI)” means all the geotechnical information provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation to the short-list proposers in the procurement documents to facilitate the preparation of the proposal.
    2. (B) The information could include a combination of existing geotechnical information prepared for previous projects in the project area, with current project geotechnical investigations, and possibly reports, prepared specifically for the project.
    3. (C) The PGI may be provided as part of the RID;

43. (43)

    1. (A) “Preliminary geotechnical report (PGR)” means a report that may be prepared at the conclusion of any preliminary geotechnical investigation or investigations performed by the Arkansas Department of Transportation or by an authorized firm representing the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) If prepared, the PGR should provide a summary of general geological conditions, summary and conclusion of geotechnical investigations, and boring logs, and may or may not include preliminary recommendations for bridge and wall support systems, bearing and sliding capacities, and factors of safety and recommendations regarding limitations on certain construction methodologies, and should be released with the procurement documents as part of the RID;
44. (44) “Price proposal” means the sealed package including documents which supply support for and will contain the fixed maximum price (FMP) submitted by a short-list proposer in response to the RFP released by the Arkansas Department of Transportation;
45. (45) “Procurement documents” means all documents released by the Arkansas Department of Transportation as part of the procurement process to select a design-builder for the project;
46. (46) “Procurement phase” or “procurement process” means the entire process of steps by which the Arkansas Department of Transportation offers to outside parties (proposers) an opportunity to submit a proposal to undertake the project, including the RFQ and RFP, leading up to selection of the design-builder to design and construct the project;
47. (47) “Project” means all the work to be included as part of the project scope as described in the procurement documents;

48. (48)

    1. (A) “Project budget” means the maximum amount of funds available to finance the project.
    2. (B) The project budget is determined by the Arkansas Department of Transportation prior to the procurement phase;
49. (49) “Project description” means the written description of the project, including project limits and specific features, provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation in the procurement documents;
50. (50) “Project design criteria (PDC)” means the design criteria provided in the RFP which establishes the basis of the design to be provided in the proposal;

51. (51)

    1. (A) “Project director (PD)” means the individual selected by the Arkansas Department of Transportation to manage and administer the project and represent the Arkansas Department of Transportation in all matters except those matters that require a higher authority by law.
    2. (B) The PD is usually an Arkansas Department of Transportation employee;
52. (52) “Project environmental documents (PED)” refers to the cumulative documents, usually completed by the Arkansas Department of Transportation prior to the issuance of the RFQ and RFP, required to meet the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq., requirements and any other federal or state environmental obligations required of the project;
53. (53) “Project evaluation team (PET)” means a select group of individuals who are selected to perform the evaluation of the submissions by the proposer or proposers during the procurement process;

54. (54)

    1. (A) “Project limits” means the defined termini of the project and is included in the project scope.
    2. (B) The project limits are usually established by the Arkansas Department of Transportation prior to the procurement phase and are presented in the procurement documents and confirmed in the PED.
    3. (C) In some instances, minor adjustments are implemented during final design with the approval of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    4. (D) When the design-build to a budget methodology is utilized for the project, the project limits may be different for each proposal submitted to the Arkansas Department of Transportation in response to the RFP;
55. (55) “Project management plan (PMP)” means the overall plan submitted by the design-builder, subject to approval by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, that describes the methods used by the design-builder to manage their delivery of all aspects of the project scope of work including the quality management plan;
56. (56) “Project manager (PM)” means the individual who is selected by the design-builder organization to manage the project and represent the design-builder in all project matters;

57. (57)

    1. (A) “Project review team (PRT)” means the group of individuals selected to monitor and review the final design plans and documents from the design-builder.
    2. (B) The PRT is part of the department implementation team (DIT) and may consist of Arkansas Department of Transportation personnel only or a combination of Arkansas Department of Transportation and non-Arkansas Department of Transportation personnel;
58. (58) “Project right-of-way map” means a graphic document prepared by the Arkansas Department of Transportation which summarizes and presents all of the existing and proposed rights-of-way, easements, and access limits along the project corridor which would be provided to the proposers as part of the RID in the procurement documents;

59. (59)

    1. (A) “Project risk allocation matrix (RAM)” means an Arkansas Department of Transportation prepared document which identifies the anticipated project risks and establishes the method of addressing each identified risk.
    2. (B) The document also addresses the level of risk that the Arkansas Department of Transportation is willing to accept and how much risk will be assigned to the design-builder and allocates the risk mitigation to the party, or combination of parties, best able to manage the risk;

60. (60)

    1. (A) “Project schedule” means the baseline project schedule prepared by the Arkansas Department of Transportation prior to the procurement phase and provided to the proposers in the procurement documents which covers the time frame allowed for the design-builder from the DBA execution through the final acceptance of the project by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) The time period defined by the project schedule covers the periods to design and construct the project as well as meet all interim and final completion milestones including final acceptance.
    3. (C) The final schedule presented in each proposal submitted to the Arkansas Department of Transportation may vary from the project schedule presented in the procurement documents, if proposal-specific schedule adjustments were allowed in the RFP;
61. (61) “Project scope” means the baseline project scope of work which defines the overall project as provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation in the procurement documents including, but not limited to, the RFQ and RFP which represent all the work and tasks to be included in the DBA;

62. (62) “Project timeline” means the overall schedule that includes all of the project activities from initial programming to completion of the project including the:

    1. (A) Environmental document process;
    2. (B) Right-of-way acquisition;
    3. (C) Preliminary design;
    4. (D) Final design; and
    5. (E) Construction;

63. (63)

    1. (A) “Project utility agreement (PUA)” means an agreement between the Arkansas Department of Transportation and a utility company, either formal or informal, to authorize the appropriate utility adjustment, whether relocation or protection of the existing utility in place, as required by the project scope.
    2. (B) A PUA is normally obtained by the Arkansas Department of Transportation prior to the issuance of the RFP, although there may be circumstances where a PUA may not be completed until the design-build proposals have been submitted to the Arkansas Department of Transportation;

64. (64)

    1. (A) “Proposal scope of work” means the scope of work defined in a submitted proposal from a short-list proposer in response to the requirements of the RFP.
    2. (B) The scope of work included in the proposal must be equal to, or exceed the requirements of, the baseline project documents in a variable scope project development provided in the RFP which represent the minimum requirements of the project;

65. (65)

    1. (A) “Proposer” or “proposer team” means an organization that completes all the requirements of the RFQ and submits an SOQ to the Arkansas Department of Transportation in response to the RFQ.
    2. (B) The proposer may consist of a single firm but normally consists of a collection of firms which have organized together to pursue the project;
66. (66) “Proposer request for clarification (PRFC)” means a proposer-generated formal request to the Arkansas Department of Transportation for additional information or clarification of previously released information during the RFQ and RFP stages of the procurement process;

67. (67)

    1. (A) “Public involvement program” means the Arkansas Department of Transportation plan to inform and engage the public with information concerning the project.

    2. (B) The public involvement program may include:

       1. (i) Providing the public an opportunity for input;
       2. (ii) Education about the project; and
       3. (iii) Meeting with impacted businesses, residential parties, and other project stakeholders to discuss the project;
68. (68) “Quality management plan (QMP)” means a plan submitted by the design-builder, subject to approval by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, that describes the methods used by the design-builder to deliver, verify, and control quality on the project, inclusive of quality management in design and construction activities;

69. (69)

    1. (A) “Reference information documents (RID)” means the aggregate collection of documents provided by the Arkansas Department of Transportation to the short-list proposers for reference during proposal preparation, which may include the project:

       1. (i) Schematics;
       2. (ii) Standards;
       3. (iii) Details;
       4. (iv) Manuals;
       5. (v) Industry standards and references;
       6. (vi) Existing or proposed utility plans;
       7. (vii) Right-of-way maps;
       8. (viii) PED and approvals;
       9. (ix) Utility agreements;
       10. (x) Existing as-built plans;
       11. (xi) PGI; and
       12. (xii) PGR.
    2. (B) The RID, as a whole, is not considered part of the contract and is generally provided in the RFP “FOR INFORMATION ONLY”, and without representation of warranty by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, except to the extent select RID documents may be incorporated into the DBA by a specific reference;

70. (70)

    1. (A) “Request for proposals (RFP)” means the compilation of documents which define the requirements, the essential components, and criteria of the project prepared by the Arkansas Department of Transportation for the short-list proposers to prepare and submit a proposal to the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) The RFP includes, but is not limited to, the project scope, project design criteria, project schedule, and instructions to proposers (ITP) that describes the procurement process and submittal requirements for the proposal to be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Transportation;

71. (71)

    1. (A) “Request for qualifications (RFQ)” means the document or documents which describes project definition and scope of work, along with other requirements, and possibly criteria, for a potential proposer to determine their interest in the project.
    2. (B) An interested proposer will submit an SOQ to the Arkansas Department of Transportation to evaluate whether the proposer exhibits the requisite experience and ability to perform the work included in the project scope;

72. (72)

    1. (A) “Schedule of values (SOV)” means the cost breakdown provided by the short-list proposer which provides the breakdown of the FMP included in the price proposal into the individual schedule items, tasks, and milestones which make up the totality of the work of the project.
    2. (B) The SOV is utilized by the Arkansas Department of Transportation to anticipate the financial requirements of the project, review the monthly invoices submitted by the design-builder, and for analyzing the impacts of any potential changes in the DBA throughout the project;

73. (73)

    1. (A) “Short-list proposer” means a proposer who has been selected at the end of the SOQ evaluation process as among the most highly qualified respondents to the RFQ.
    2. (B) A short-list proposer will subsequently be invited to submit a proposal in response to the RFP released by the Arkansas Department of Transportation;

74. (74)

    1. (A) “Solicitation of interest (SOI)” or “request for letter of interest” means a letter or brief document released by the Arkansas Department of Transportation requesting a letter of interest from interested firms in regards to pursuing and/or proposing on the project.
    2. (B) The SOI is intended to raise industry awareness of the project and gauge industry interest in participating in the procurement process;

75. (75)

    1. (A) “Statement of qualifications (SOQ)” means the document or documents prepared by the proposer and submitted to the Arkansas Department of Transportation in response to the RFQ.
    2. (B) The SOQ provides the proposer qualifications and experience relative to performing the project work as presented in the RFQ;

76. (76)

    1. (A) “Stipend” means the payment by the Arkansas Department of Transportation to any unsuccessful short-list proposer as partial compensation for the effort and expenses required to develop a complete proposal in response to the RFP issued by the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) Proposals which are considered nonresponsive by the Arkansas Department of Transportation are not normally provided a stipend;

77. (77)

    1. (A) “Substantial completion” or “project substantial completion (SC)” refers to the occurrence or date where the design-builder has completed or satisfied all of the obligations and conditions sufficient to meet the DBA requirements to the satisfaction of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
    2. (B) The required tasks, obligations, and conditions to be completed by the design-builder for substantial completion should be specifically noted in the DBA and the Arkansas Department of Transportation should provide a formal correspondence to the design-builder acknowledging that SC has been obtained;
78. (78) “Technical proposal” means the sealed compilation of documents which contain the entirety of the short-list proposer’s technical approach to the project including the approach to design, quality, schedule, management, and construction parameters for performing the work included in the project scope in response to the RFP released by the Arkansas Department of Transportation;

79. (79)

    1. (A) “Technical score (TS)” means the compilation of various factors required to evaluate the technical proposal, typically including, but not limited to:

       1. (i) The overall time needed for completion of the work;
       2. (ii) Innovative design included in the proposal;
       3. (iii) The scope and quality of the work;
       4. (iv) Quality of the project management;
       5. (v) Project aesthetics;
       6. (vi) Environmental compliance; and
       7. (vii) Other criteria.
    2. (B) The factors are determined on a project-by-project basis to reflect the important scope items, goals of the project, elements the Arkansas Department of Transportation has determined to be most important in delivery of the project, and to differentiate the short-list proposers.
    3. (C) The technical score is determined by the PET at the end of the evaluation of the technical proposal;
80. (80) “Unsolicited project proposal (UPP)” means a formal proposal submitted to the Arkansas Department of Transportation by a potential design-builder to perform work that has not been formally advertised/solicited by the Arkansas Department of Transportation; and

81. (81)

    1. (A) “Value engineering study (VES)” refers to an Arkansas Department of Transportation process where the preliminary design and/or development of the project is evaluated by individuals both inside and outside the department project office.
    2. (B) The VES can review the design and the development plans for the project and offer suggestions as to how to reduce costs, improve schedules, or add efficiencies into the project development or otherwise add value to the project.
    3. (C) For design-build projects, a VES typically is conducted before the RFP is issued, and the VES includes an evaluation of the contract requirements that are intended to be included in the RFP.