Dear DBIA Northwest Region Colleagues,
With the dedication of our Regional Committees and Chapters leadership, we have made excellent progress toward making 2022 a very special year. In an effort to demystify the multiple ways in which we support our members, I promised in the last newsletter to describe DBIA’s four Membership Engagement Pillars over the course of 2022 with specifics on who in our region is leading the charge and links to available resources. These pillars include Delivering Expertise (covered last time), Ensuring Access, Fostering Collaboration, and Inspiring Innovation. In this letter, the focus is Pillar 2: Ensuring Access. It is our goal to make access simple and available to all.
Diversity:
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, led by co-chairs Blanca Rodriguez and Herb Yamamoto, are working to enhance DEI within our design-build community by creating networking opportunities, providing a consolidated place for resources to be shared, and educating members about unique opportunities that design-build delivery offers for MWDBEs to be an integral part of successful project teams. Please help us spread the word that MWDBE membership dues are offered at a 50% reduction. Links to resources? Ask Carissa or co-chairs
Scholarships:
Our Scholarship Committee, led by Stacy Shewell, assists public owners to attend the National DBIA Conferences, talented students who are participating in the student competition, and members who need support to participate and flourish. The Annual Chapter Golf events (links? Ask Carissa?) are coordinated by Dave Stolecki, Matt Godt, and Mariel Acevedo to raise proceeds that directly impact scholarships. The Owners Committee, led by Janice Zahn, ensures DBIA NW is aware of and responding to Owner’s needs to be successful in design-build delivery.
Student Chapter Support:
Student chapters at OSU, U of O, Portland State, and WSU are actively growing with more members and events, competitions, and partnership programs. Thanks to all the faculty advisors and student leaders for bringing DBIA to the forefront. Please see the Student Chapter Update section of this newsletter. (link)
If you are interested in getting involved in any of these committees, please contact us at Office@DBIANW.org.
As a national organization, DBIA Northwest Region is supported by nationwide research and foundational Design-Build resources. The following is a summary of some key documents with links for access.
Trends:
Stay on top of emerging opportunities in the field. In 2018 DBIA partnered with FMI to assess the design-build construction market across the nation. The 2021 update was released at the end of last year providing detailed geographic and sector data, market analysis, and forecasts for the next five years. A couple of key takeaways include impressive design-build growth despite the pandemic, growth of Progressive Design-Build especially in the Pacific Northwest, and greater MWDBE participation within this delivery method. The original 2018 report is located here.
Resources:
DBIA has prepared a series of Best Practices to achieve higher quality outcomes on projects. They cover universally applicable Design-Build Done Right®, market sector specifics for Transportation, Water/Wastewater, and Federal, along with Progressive Design-Build and Public-Private Partnerships.
A full suite of design-build contract templates and RFQ/RFP guidelines are available through the DBIA bookstore.
Database:
Be sure to utilize a collaboration tool that was recently launched by DBIA National – Industry Match. This customer-facing directory allows project leaders nationwide to search for qualified team members by region, specialty, sector, and MWDBE designation.
We want our members’ experience with DBIA to be an environment where you can more easily learn, collaborate, and translate design and construction best practices and connections into career and business opportunities. We hope to see you at our 3rd Annual DBIA Northwest Regional Conference that will be held at the Seattle Marriott Bellevue, May 19-20. With attendance continuing to grow year over year, we expect this flagship event will be our best!
It is an honor to serve as your Northwest Region Board President. I want to thank our talented Board and volunteer committee members for their tireless dedication and leadership, and want to wish all of you, our valued members and colleagues, a very healthy and prosperous 2022.
Katie Popolow, AIA, Principal
The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP