Title 49TransportationRelease 119-73

§47142 Alternative project delivery

Title 49 › Subtitle SUBTITLE VII— - AVIATION PROGRAMS › Part PART B— - AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT AND NOISE › Chapter CHAPTER 471— - AIRPORT DEVELOPMENT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - AIRPORT IMPROVEMENT › § 47142

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation can let an airport use an alternative contract to design and build a project if the FAA Administrator approves the airport’s application and the contract form. The Administrator must use set approval criteria and be sure the work will be awarded competitively, include a schematic design, be cost effective and speed up the project, avoid conflicts of interest, and use a selection process as open, fair, and objective as normal competitive bidding with at least 3 bids for each project. The Administrator may pay back an airport for design or construction costs spent before a grant if the project was approved in advance and followed the same grant rules. Within 270 days the Secretary must start a pilot program to allow up to 5 airport building projects to use “integrated project delivery” under similar approval rules, but with at least 2 proposal sets per team. Reimbursements under the pilot must use transparent or open-book accounting. Covered project delivery contract — either a design-plus-construction contract using alternative methods (for example, construction manager-at-risk or progressive design-build) or a single contract that includes the sponsor, builder, and architect-engineer, aligns their interests, and requires transparency and collaboration.

Full Legal Text

Title 49, §47142

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Transportation may approve an application of an airport sponsor under this section to authorize the airport sponsor to award a covered project delivery contract using a selection process permitted under applicable State or local law if—
(1)the Administrator approves the application using criteria established by the Administrator;
(2)the covered project delivery contract is in a form that is approved by the Administrator;
(3)the Administrator is satisfied that the contract will be executed pursuant to competitive procedures and contains a schematic design adequate for the Administrator to approve the grant;
(4)use of a covered project delivery contract is projected to be cost effective and expedite the project;
(5)the Administrator is satisfied that there will be no conflict of interest; and
(6)the Administrator is satisfied that the selection process will be as open, fair, and objective as the competitive bid system and that at least 3 or more bids will be submitted for each project under the selection process.
(b)The Administrator may reimburse an airport sponsor for design and construction costs incurred before a grant is made pursuant to this section if the project is approved by the Administrator in advance and is carried out in accordance with all administrative and statutory requirements that would have been applicable under this chapter if the project were carried out after a grant agreement had been executed.
(c)(1)Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish a pilot program under which the Administrator may award grants for integrated project delivery contracts, as described in subsection (d)(2), to carry out up to 5 building construction projects at airports in the United States with a grant awarded under section 47104.
(2)(A)A sponsor of an airport may submit to the Secretary an application, in such time and manner and containing such information as the Secretary may require, to carry out a building construction project under the pilot program that would otherwise be eligible for assistance under this chapter.
(B)The Secretary may approve the application of a sponsor of an airport submitted under paragraph (1) to authorize such sponsor to award an integrated project delivery contract using a selection process permitted under applicable State or local law if—
(i)the Secretary approves the application using criteria established by the Secretary;
(ii)the integrated project delivery contract is in a form that is approved by the Secretary;
(iii)the Secretary is satisfied that the contract will be executed pursuant to competitive procedures and contains a schematic design and any other material that the Secretary determines sufficient to approve the grant;
(iv)the Secretary is satisfied that the use of an integrated project delivery contract will be cost effective and expedite the project;
(v)the Secretary is satisfied that there will be no conflict of interest; and
(vi)the Secretary is satisfied that the contract selection process will be open, fair, and objective and that not less than 2 sets of proposals will be submitted for each team entity under the selection process.
(3)(A)The Secretary may reimburse a sponsor of an airport for any design or construction costs incurred before a grant is made pursuant to this section if—
(i)the project funding is approved by the Secretary in advance;
(ii)the project is carried out in accordance with all administrative and statutory requirements under this chapter; and
(iii)the project is carried out under this chapter after a grant agreement has been executed.
(B)Reimbursement of costs shall be based on transparent cost accounting or open book cost accounting.
(d)In this section, the term “covered project delivery contract” means—
(1)an agreement that provides for both design and construction of a project by a contractor through alternative project delivery methods, including construction manager-at-risk and progressive design build; or
(2)a single contract for the delivery of a whole project that—
(A)includes, at a minimum, the sponsor, builder, and architect-engineer as parties that are subject to the terms of the contract;
(B)aligns the interests of all the parties to the contract with respect to the project costs and project outcomes; and
(C)includes processes to ensure transparency and collaboration among all parties to the contract relating to project costs and project outcomes.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of enactment of this section, referred to in subsec. (c)(1), probably means the date of enactment of Pub. L. 118–63, which added subsec. (c) and was approved May 16, 2024.

Amendments

2024—Pub. L. 118–63, § 723(a)(1), substituted “Alternative project delivery” for “Design-build contracting” in section catchline. Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 118–63, § 723(a)(2)(A), substituted “Secretary of Transportation” for “Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration” and “award a covered project delivery” for “award a design-build” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 118–63, § 723(a)(2)(B), substituted “covered project delivery” for “design-build”. Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 118–63, § 723(a)(2)(C), substituted “covered project delivery contract is projected to” for “design-build contract will”. Subsecs. (c), (d). Pub. L. 118–63, § 723(a)(3), added subsecs. (c) and (d) and struck out former subsec. (c). Prior to amendment, text of subsec. (c) read as follows: “In this section, the term ‘design-build contract’ means an agreement that provides for both design and

Construction

of a project by a contractor.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section applicable only to fiscal years beginning after Sept. 30, 2003, except as otherwise specifically provided, see section 3 of Pub. L. 108–176, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2003 Amendment note under section 106 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

49 U.S.C. § 47142

Title 49Transportation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73