Design-build is no longer an alternative to the way America builds — it is becoming the default. According to the 2024 Design-Build Utilization Study produced by FMI Corporation for the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), design-build is projected to represent over 47% of U.S. construction spending by 2028 — totaling more than $2.6 trillion across assessed segments over the 2024-2028 forecast period, growing at a 2.9% compound annual rate.

That trajectory has been building for years, but a new legislative milestone in late 2025 is accelerating federal adoption: the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law by President Trump in December 2025, explicitly authorizes the use of Progressive Design-Build (PDB) for military construction projects — the first time Congress has formally embedded PDB authority for federal military work.

From Alternative to Mainstream

When design-build was introduced to U.S. public procurement in the 1990s, it was genuinely alternative — a departure from the traditional design-bid-build sequence that dominated public contracting for generations. Today, DBIA reports that design-build is "the fastest growing and most commonly used project delivery method in the United States."

The FMI data breaks down projected spending by sector. Manufacturing leads with 21% of design-build construction put in place over 2024-2028, followed by highway and street (16%) and educational (12%). Regionally, Texas, California, and Florida are projected to account for nearly 30% of anticipated design-build spending over the forecast period.

In the prior forecast cycle (2019-2023), design-build accounted for approximately 44% of assessed construction spending. By 2028, that figure is expected to reach 47% — while traditional design-bid-build shrinks to just 11% of the market, with the remaining share captured by other alternative methods including Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR), Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC), Engineer-Procure-Construct (EPC), and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).

"Once considered 'an alternative form of project delivery,' design-build is now the fastest growing and most commonly used project delivery method in the United States," DBIA stated in its market research summary.

Why Owners Are Choosing Design-Build

The shift is being driven by practical outcomes rather than theory. According to DBIA research and practitioner surveys, design-build projects consistently deliver faster completion (33% faster than design-bid-build, per DBIA data), lower cost growth, and single-point accountability that simplifies dispute resolution and change management.

In a construction environment marked by labor shortages, supply chain unpredictability, and intense schedule pressure on large public infrastructure programs, the ability to overlap design and construction phases — and to bring the builder into preconstruction planning early — has clear value. Owners managing complex projects under IIJA funding deadlines have found that design-build and its variants can compress pre-construction timelines in ways that traditional sequential procurement cannot.

States have moved aggressively to expand design-build authority. According to DBIA's news tracking, state legislatures across the country continued to expand and refine design-build authority for transportation, water/wastewater, and public building projects in 2026. The trend is bipartisan and geographically broad — rural states expanding short-line transportation delivery authority, and coastal states expanding water infrastructure flexibility.

The NDAA Milestone: Progressive Design-Build in Federal Military Construction

The December 2025 NDAA provision on Progressive Design-Build is significant for a specific reason: it removes long-standing ambiguity about whether PDB was authorized for Department of Defense military construction.

Progressive Design-Build is a variant in which the owner selects a design-builder through a qualifications-based process, then collaborates on design development before committing to a final guaranteed maximum price. It provides more design influence for the owner than traditional design-build while retaining the integration benefits. "[The NDAA] delivers long-awaited clarity to the Department of Defense and marks a significant advancement in modernizing federal project delivery," DBIA stated in its December 19, 2025 announcement.

Military construction is a major construction market — the DoD's FY2026 Military Construction program is budgeted at approximately $19.7 billion. The NDAA authorization unlocks a delivery method that many project managers within DoD have wanted access to for years but lacked statutory cover to pursue on general MILCON projects.

DBIA is hosting a Federal Design-Build Symposium in Reston, Virginia, on August 11-12, 2026, specifically focused on the new authority — titled "From Authorization to Implementation" — where federal agency representatives and industry practitioners will work through how PDB will function under the new framework.

What This Means for Contractors

For the contracting community, the continued growth of design-build and alternative delivery has direct implications. Contractors who can offer integrated design-build capability — or who have established relationships with design firms capable of joint ventures — have a structural competitive advantage in pursuing the contracts that are growing fastest.

Hourigan Group's 2025 analysis of delivery method evolution notes that "owners are selecting collaborative delivery methods such as CMAR and Design-Build because they align with modern project demands, offering flexibility, transparency, and shared accountability without sacrificing quality." For contractors who have historically relied on plan-and-spec lump-sum bidding, the shift toward these methods changes how relationships, risk, and profit are structured.

The DBIA's 2026 Design-Build Conference and Expo, scheduled for November 4-6 in Cleveland, Ohio, is expected to draw the largest attendance in recent years given the momentum in the market and the federal sector's new openings.

Sources

https://dbia.org/blog/defense-authorization-bill-advances-progressive-design-build-for-military-construction/
https://dbia.org/impact/
https://www.tradeandindustrydev.com/industry/all-industries/2024-design-build-utilization-study-34030
https://dbia.org
https://www.smartbrief.com/original/alternative-project-delivery-isnt-so-alternative-anymore
https://www.hourigan.group/resources/insights/construction-delivery-methods-explained/