Called construction manager at risk, the contract procurement method has been used in the public sector for years, and has recently gained popularity in public building in the Lower 48.

The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has signed a contract using this method for the remodel of concourses A and B at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, at a cost of about $179 million.

DOT also plans to use CM at risk to build a $24 million virology lab in Fairbanks for the Department of Health and Human Services.

The state is also using the method at the Fairbanks International Airport terminal work, a project totaling about $90 million.

CM at risk is a delivery method that brings a construction manager into a project at the beginning stages, working with the designers to give input on considerations regarding materials, costs and whether the designer's ideas can actually be built - one of the leading causes of project delays and cost overruns.

The construction manager acts as project overseer, watching out for the owner's best interests in the project's design and cost. When construction starts, the CM acts as the general contractor and hires the necessary subcontractors needed to complete the job.

Through it all, the CM is responsible to keep the project on schedule and within budget, offering a guaranteed maximum price. If the project goes over budget, the construction manager pays the difference.

Contractors favor the method because it puts them in charge of a project from the beginning. In more traditional methods, such as for design-bid-build contracts, the designers generally are the overseers.

"We like it because it gives us control, and control over a project is key to us making money on it," said Dave Collett-Paule, vice president of Criterion General Inc., a company that has had CM at risk contracts in private construction.

Owners also keep a greater amount of control over the project they pay for, but the method shifts a lot of the monetary risks over to the contractor.

"The construction manager gives us a guaranteed maximum price, and if it's over, it's theirs," said Mike Ruckhaus, senior project manager at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

UAF plans to use the CM at risk method to build a $13 million, 30,000-square-foot research facility in Lena Point, near Juneau. UAF managers wanted to use this method because of Juneau's volatile construction market, Ruckhaus said.

The Juneau area has several large jobs underway, he said, making it more difficult to secure contractors and subcontractors to complete jobs. A few projects recently had to be re-bid several times because of the unpredictable market, he said.

Rebidding delays work for months, and leads to cost overruns that, with traditional procurement methods, the owner pays for. With CM at risk, those added costs would fall to the construction manager.

Owners and contractors said they liked how the method fostered teamwork among the owner, the construction manager and the design team.

"The process and the results were very good for us," said Mike Price, construction manager for the Anchorage School District's facilities department. "It was one of those jobsites everyone wanted to go to because everything was so smooth. Issues always come up, but here they just got solved."

The Anchorage School District used the method to build the Eagle River High School, which opened last fall.

"We wanted to bring in a contractor who knows the markets, materials, subcontractors, how to get the best firms, that kind of thing," Price said. "And we wanted a general contractor rather than a straight construction manager, which is more like a guy with a briefcase."

The district has asked for school board approval to use the method to remodel Clark Middle School, an old building that is probably hiding a lot of secrets that would rack up delays and costs using other methods.

Since the CM would be responsible for the bulk of those overruns, he would be more likely to better explore those potential problems before agreeing to a price.

Bruce D'Agostino, executive director of the trade group Construction Management Association of America, said that one of the disadvantages to the method could come at the point where the construction manager becomes the general contractor.

That switch offers the potential for the builder's focus to move from looking out for the owner to looking out for the builder.

Local contractors who have used the at-risk method in the private sector say that's not likely if the builder wants to get that next job.

"We like jobs where we're partners," said Criterion's Collett-Paule. "Our well-being is linked to the owner's. We've done our share of public work and our share of battles with agencies over the bottom line. That's why we don't do it anymore. That's just not us. The way we get our work is through relationships."

Incentives are good, too. Roger Hickel of Roger Hickel Contracting Inc. said one way to keep the contractor on the team is for owners to share any money that falls under the budget.

"If it's structured so the CM returns 100 percent of the savings to the owner, then you can see how (an adversarial partnership) would happen," Hickel said. "If the owner is going to keep it all, then there's no incentive to come up with better ways."

D'Agostino said he believes the procurement method will gain popularity nationwide as more public sectors begin to accept it, and as their education curves increase.

"If you don't have the education, and jobs go bad, word gets out that this procedure stinks and no one will ever use it," he said. "It's a good delivery method, and I don't see it going away. But I hope owners will use experienced people to help them decide if it's the best delivery method for them."

Still, the method isn't right for every job. CM at risk is better for the more complicated projects, such as for schools and hospitals. That's why the state is using it for its virology lab, which will require complex mechanical and venting systems.

"It's just another tool in the box," said ASD's Price. "There are no perfect answers, no one method that will work for everything. If there was, we'd know by now what it is. I mean, people have been building since the pyramids."