Alternative Public Works Legislation Fails

HB 2780 failed to pass the 2008 session of the Washington State Legislature.

The bill did pass in the House by an overwhelming vote of 93 in favor with none opposed. The bill was the result of discussions and negotiations by members of the Capital Projects Advisory Review Board (CPARB) that helped promoted the legislation. However, in this short session of the Legislature, the bill failed to move forward in the Senate and did not come up for a vote even on the floor of the Senate.

This is a setback for alternative public works contracting in the state. The bill was drafted to clean up some issues remaining from the reauthorization of the alternative public works law that went into effect on July 1, 2007. It is likely that CPARB will continue to push for this legislation in the 2009 session along with other clean up and modifications to the law.

Alternative public works offers three additional project delivery or contracting methods above the traditional "Design Bid Build" method. The three alternative methods are: General Contractor/Construction Manager (GC/CM), Design-Build, and Job Order Contracting.