Reflections from U.S. Infrastructure Development Conferences

Public sector owners are under pressure to deliver larger, more complex infrastructure programs with tighter budgets, volatile markets, and increasing scrutiny over value for money. A recurring theme at Infrastructure Development Conferences throughout this year was how stronger commercial governance is becoming essential to successful infrastructure delivery.

Alternative procurement models, including progressive design-build, Construction Manager At-Risk, alliance contracting, P3s, and other collaborative delivery models, can improve market engagement, constructability, risk allocation, and schedule certainty. However, because scope, pricing, and risk often evolve during procurement or preconstruction, they also require stronger, and more frequent, independent cost oversight. Given these factors, the role of an Independent Cost Estimator is becoming more important.

Why Independent Cost Estimation Matters

Independent Cost Estimators give owners an objective view of project cost, risk, contingency, escalation, and commercial assumptions. Throughout the project, they help answer crucial questions, such as:

• Is the proposed target price reasonable?
• Does the estimate accurately reflect project scope and market conditions?
• Have risks been appropriately identified and allocated?
• Are contingencies justified and defensible?
• Have alternate options been evaluated for phasing and sequencing?
• Have construction methodology ideas been introduced by fresh eyes?
• Is the owner negotiating from a position of knowledge?
• Can the project be delivered on budget?

For programs involving hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars in public investment, these questions are central to protecting value and maintaining confidence.

The Unique Need in Alternative Procurement Models

Independent cost advice is especially valuable when pricing, scope, risk, and commercial terms evolve through procurement or preconstruction.

Many alternative procurement models involve earlier contractor, developer, or construction manager input than traditional fixed-price bidding. Owners and delivery partners may refine design, scope, risk, and pricing before final commercial commitments are made. As competitive tension changes, owners need an independent benchmark to test pricing against scope, market conditions, risk allocation, and delivery strategy. The stakes become even higher when negotiating early partial Guaranteed Maximum Price contracts ahead of contracting for the full construction project scope, which creates a natural information imbalance.

An Independent Cost Estimator helps level the playing field by developing parallel estimates, validating assumptions, benchmarking costs, and identifying commercial risks. The results are greater transparency, stronger and more educated negotiations, an informed design team, and more confidence that the final price represents fair market value.

The Risks of Not Having an Independent Cost Advisor

Without independent cost oversight, owners face several avoidable risks:

• Inadequate project budgets
• Weak visibility into market pricing
• Reduced leverage during negotiations
• Undetected scope gaps, duplicated contingencies, or mispriced risks
• Greater exposure to overruns, funding challenges, and public scrutiny
• More risk for claims and change orders during construction

The absence of an independent benchmark can create significant commercial and reputational risk. One of the worst possible risks is that the project Owners may take the “off-ramp” of not continuing the selected alternate delivery contractor’s involvement through to a construction contract.

When Should Owners Engage an Independent Cost Advisor?

One common mistake is waiting too long to engage independent cost advice. The greatest value comes when cost expertise is embedded throughout the project lifecycle:

• Business case and planning – Validate budgets, affordability, and funding assumptions
• Procurement strategy – Evaluate delivery options, risk allocation, and commercial structure
• Procurement and bid evaluation – Assess proposals and establish an independent benchmark. Additionally, establish the rules for pricing submissions
• Preconstruction or negotiation – Support design development with detailed cost and constructability input, validate assumptions, and support commercial negotiations
• Construction delivery – Evaluate changes, provide cost assurance, confirm cash flow, and maintain alignment with approved budgets

Early engagement gives owners a clear commercial baseline well before decisions on commitment of costs need to be made.

Cost estimating requires proper planning, and the best way to ensure alignment on scope and costs follows this four-step process at each stage of design:

Step 1 – Review the project scope to ensure general alignment. This process is easier said than done, as complicated projects suffer from a lack of scope clarity, especially at early design stages.  Also reconcile estimate formats and any constants at this stage, such as the labor rates to be incorporated into the estimate.

Step 2 – Prior to any pricing, complete a full quantity take-off, and then perform a quantity reconciliation between the Independent Cost Estimator and contractor.

Step 3 – Enter the quantities agreed to during that reconciliation, and then independently begin unit pricing based on crew build-up and productivity assumptions.

Step 4 – Upon approval from the Owner, the Independent Cost Estimator and contractor will compare full cost estimates and then reconcile the differences.

This process greatly increases the probability of alignment, and should diminish any chances that the Owner would ever need to use an “off-ramp.”  It is also an involved and highly coordinated process, and while it may seem complex on the surface, with experts on both sides of the table, it will actually cut down time on the preconstruction schedule because it facilitates quicker scope and design decisions.

Practical Steps for Public Sector Owners

• Engage independent cost advice along with, or before, procurement of the alternate delivery contractor
• Establish a baseline estimate early and update it as design develops
• Test scope, escalation, risk allowances, contingency, lifecycle obligations, and affordability with each milestone estimate
• Align cost advice with risk allocation, funding strategy, feasibility, and value-for-money decisions
• Use findings to support negotiations, approvals, stakeholder communications, and audit trails

How RLB Helps Owners Deliver with Confidence

Effective independent cost estimation requires more than quantity takeoffs and pricing data. It requires a clear understanding of procurement strategy, risk allocation, market conditions, project controls, and infrastructure delivery.

RLB brings this perspective through its experience across transportation, transit, aviation, water, energy, healthcare, education, civic, and public real estate programs.

RLB combines independent cost estimation with commercial advisory, risk management, critical path method scheduling, value engineering, feasibility analysis, and project controls. This helps owners validate business cases, test affordability, support negotiations, and maintain cost assurance through delivery.

The outcome is stronger governance, reduced commercial risk, more transparent decision-making, and greater confidence for boards, councils, oversight bodies, and stakeholders.

Looking Ahead

As alternative procurement on complex projects expands across North America, owners will need to balance collaboration, flexibility, and innovation with commercial precision. Independent Cost Estimators help create that balance by providing objective cost intelligence at critical decision points.

The message from the market, highlighted in the Infrastructure Development Conferences RLB has participated in, is that independent cost estimation is no longer discretionary. It is a strategic function that helps public sector owners protect value, manage risk, demonstrate accountability, and deliver infrastructure projects with confidence.