Adapting the alliancing model Here in the U.S., it appears that no major owner has taken the plunge by sponsoring a “pure” project alliance on the National Museum model. However, a number of owners have committed themselves to collaborative, single-contract project delivery systems, in which interests are aligned and risks are shared to a greater extent than in traditional contractual structures. One such owner is Sutter Health Care in California, which has been using a multiparty “integrated agreement” for its $6.5 billion building program. The project alliancing method teams contractor and consultant early on, and provides them with financial incentives

Errors, omissions, inefficiencies, delays, coordination problems, cost overruns, productivity losses—the list of complaints against (and often by) architects and contractors is a long one. The Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) has characterized the difficulties experienced in typical projects as “artifacts of a construction process fraught by lack of cooperation and poor information integration.” The historical reasons for this dysfunctionality are many, including a multiplicity of participants with conflicting interests, incompatible cultures, and limited access to necessary information. In an influential 2004 white paper titled in part, “Collaboration, Integrated Information, and the Project Lifecycle,” CURT said, “The goal of everyone in the