Design-Build Saving Over 50 Years and $1.4 Billion On Just 42 City Projects

City Completes Concrete Structure for New $128 Million Brownsville Multi-Service Center in Seven Months; Whole Project to be Completed at Least Two Years Faster with Design-Build

Adams Administration Task Force Continues to Streamline Procurement and Expand Opportunities with Good Paying Construction Jobs

City Advocates for Greater Expansion of Design-Build and Similar Tools in Albany to Save More Time and Money

Ian Michaels, 646-939-6514, michaelia@ddc.nyc.gov

(New York, NY – February 20, 2025) Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi and Commissioner Thomas Foley of the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) today announced that the city is saving 50 years of project time and $1.4 billion on just 42 current capital projects that are using the design-build method of contracting. The projects, including at DDC, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), and New York City Health and Hospitals (H+H), are on track to be completed more than two years faster and with anticipated 10 percent cost savings compared to projects using the traditional system of lowest bidder contracting. The announcement coincides with the release of the Design-Build Program 2024 Progress Report to the New York State Legislature, tracking progress in the city’s growing design-build program.

Deputy Mayor Joshi and Commissioner Foley joined the NYC Department of Social Services (DSS) on Tuesday at the $128 million Brownsville Multi-Service Center at 444 Thomas S. Boyland Street in Brooklyn to celebrate the completion of the building’s concrete superstructure, which was built in just seven months using design-build. DDC is managing the project for DSS and anticipates delivering the entire Center at least two years faster than would be possible with lowest bidder contracting and with cost savings of at least $12 million for taxpayers.

“Today’s major construction milestone at Brownsville Multi-Service Center demonstrates that with the right tools, announcing a project and waiting years to see progress can be a thing of the past,” says Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi. “Design-build is already showing tremendous potential, shaving decades off capital projects at NYC DDC, NYCHA, and NYC H+H – and avoiding millions in unnecessary costs. Building on this success, our Capital Process Reform Task Force is advocating for Albany legislators to expand alternative delivery to increase the impact, translating these results to more project types – saving taxpayer dollars and delivering for New Yorkers.”

“We are introducing a new era of city project delivery. Design-build is speeding up projects, reducing delays, saving money, and delivering important capital projects faster than we’ve ever been able to before outside of emergency situations,” said DDC Commissioner Tom Foley, who last month was named Chair of the National Board of Directors of the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). “We said for years that design-build and other forms of contracting outside of the lowest bidder system were the best ways to improve capital project delivery and it’s proving true. This shows that we can also use other alternate contracting methods such as CM-Build and progressive design-build responsibly and effectively.”

“New York City’s commitment to design-build is transforming how public projects are delivered, demonstrating the immense benefits of collaboration, efficiency and innovation,” said Lisa Washington, CAE, CEO and Executive Director of the DBIA. "The NYC Department of Design and Construction has been a national leader in advancing Design-Build Done Right®, and under Commissioner Foley’s leadership – both at DDC and as DBIA’s National Board Chair – design-build continues to prove its value in saving time and taxpayer dollars. DBIA is proud to support these efforts and advocate for even broader use of design-build to meet the growing infrastructure needs of communities nationwide."

With 46 additional design-build projects in planning and procurement across several agencies, the City continues to expand the use of design-build even as it advocates for additional construction reforms that integrate construction expertise in the design process, provide cost control, and reduced timelines and mitigate risk. Last November, Governor Hochul signed state legislation – sponsored by New York Senator Leroy Comrie and New York Assemblymember Ed Braunstein – that expands the city’s ability to use progressive design-build and construction manager-build (CM-Build), two additional contracting models which cut time-consuming and expensive steps out of the outdated lowest bidder model, resulting in faster, more efficient project delivery. 

DDC successfully used CM-Build during the COVID-19 pandemic to build field hospitals, clinics and testing and vaccination centers in record time, including a 470-bed field hospital in Queens in just 11 days. The average DDC construction timeline using CM-Build for 28 COVID testing sites was seven days.

These additional project delivery tools were preliminarily authorized by the State for use by DDC only, and only for certain buildings projects and for resiliency infrastructure, in an ‘expanded alternative delivery’ bill that passed as a single piece of legislation that was signed into law in November 2024. This year, the Governor included in her Executive Budget proposal an expansion that would give additional City entities (NYCHA, H+H, DCAS, DEP, DOT, and Parks) the ability to use those same tools, paving the way for even more construction reforms in the future.

How Design-Build Works

Unlike traditional lowest bidder contracting, design-build teams designers and builders together under one contract with common business goals. It allows designers to innovate with builders when developing designs so that projects go more smoothly; it lets designers and builders work together to solve problems in the field as they arise; and it allows construction to begin even before a project’s final design is completed. By contracting with a designer and builder at one time, it eliminates a roughly nine-month procurement process to hire a contractor once a design is complete. Design-build also allows the city to contract for the best value project instead of just the lowest price.

Design-Build Program 2024 Progress Report to the New York State Legislature

The new design-build report shows that DDC’s pilot design-build program has already accelerated and improved generational projects across New York City. Thirteen NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) public buildings and infrastructure projects that are now using the design-build method of contracting are on track to be completed an average of 1.5 years faster and with anticipated 10 percent cost savings, eliminating more than 20 years of total construction time and saving taxpayers more than $85 million. An additional 24 years of construction and $1.35 billion is being saved in the Borough-Based Jails program for site preparation and design and construction of the four new, more humane jails closer to courthouses and the family members of detainees.

DDC’s current design-build portfolio includes the $141 million Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in Brooklyn, which will be completed this year. Other design-build projects due to be completed this year by DDC include a new $34 million maintenance and operations center for NYC Parks at Orchard Beach in the Bronx, and the $92 million Mary Cali Dalton Recreation Center in Staten Island. All three of these projects represent at least two years of savings each, delivering important assets to the community much faster than is possible with lowest bidder contracting.

NYCHA is using design-build to complete comprehensive modernization projects as well as pneumatic systems, waste yards, and systems upgrades for heating and hot water. NYC H+H is using design-build at two sites scheduled to receive enhancements to their space supporting Labor & Birthing, and Women’s health programs, one site developing a new clinic to provide healthcare services to a community that needs additional healthcare resources, and one creating a hub co-locating several programs aimed at providing care for substance abuse.

Design-Build Legislative History

In 2018 the City received authorization to use design-build in Borough-Based Jails and a limited selection of other programs. On the last day of 2019, after years of advocacy in Albany, the City including DDC, DOT, DEP, Parks, H+H, NYCHA, and SCA received permission to use the design-build for a variety of different projects. In April 2022, the Administration launched its Capital Process Reform Task Force to perform a comprehensive review of the city's capital process with the goal of developing recommendations to reform capital project delivery.  Since publishing the initial recommendations in a 2022 year-end report, the Task Force has supported implementation of reforms that streamline delivery, making it easier to participate in projects, and saving time and money.

In November 2024, the Task Force released an updated report demonstrating progress with each recommendation, including securing an expansion of alternative delivery to use progressive design-build and construction manager-build – two contracting models which cut time-consuming and expensive steps out of the outdated design-bid-build model, resulting in faster, more efficient project delivery. This new legislation enables DDC to use construction manager-build for library and cultural institution projects, and progressive design-build on resiliency infrastructure.

About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City’s primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor Adams’ long-term vision of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, and new or upgraded roads, sewers and water mains in all five boroughs. To manage this $33 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative and environmentally-conscious design and construction strategies to City projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.