Best Practice No. 1 focuses on what kind of assessment before deciding to use DB?

• A. objective
• B. subjective
• C. financial
• D. legal

Answer: (A)

An objective assessment is what Best Practice No. 1 focuses on before deciding to use design-build. It means evaluating the project with data, defined criteria, and measurable goals rather than relying on opinions or gut feel. You weigh factors like schedule certainty, cost predictability and lifecycle value, risk transfer, project complexity, and owner objectives using a consistent decision framework. This data-driven approach helps determine whether the integrated design-build method is likely to meet the project goals more effectively than other methods.

Relying on subjective judgments can bias the choice, which is why objective assessment is preferred. Financial and legal factors are important parts of the overall analysis, but they’re components within the objective framework rather than the type of assessment itself.