The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is preparing to ask a design-build team to begin work before anyone knows the final price. Progressive design-build (PDB) with other transaction authority (OTA) can deliver a usable facility sooner, but only if government and industry build a working partnership before design and price are settled.

The planned Multi-Domain Cyber and Intel Operations Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland shows the method in practice. The Corps programmed about $986 million for the project and plans to select one design-builder based on qualifications and experience. That team will refine the design and develop costs in an open-book process before the parties agree on a construction price.

During the third round of an eight-round professional fight, the nerves branching out from my neck that control my right arm gave out. A neuropraxia of my right brachial plexus left that arm hanging like it weighed a thousand pounds. My fingers were too heavy inside the glove to close into a fist. In my head, I watched what came next: getting beaten with no way to defend myself, dropping to a knee, telling the referee I could not continue.

Then I accessed my mammalian brain and processed. My legs worked. I was in shape. I could still think, and I had one good arm. I am a West Point graduate. He still had to beat me.