To support its decision to procure the final segment of the Presidio Parkway as an availability payment DBFOM project, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) stated in 2009 that “the P3 method of delivery will reduce costs, free up state funding for other uses, transfer cost-overrun risks to the private developer, and ensure a high maintenance standard during the 30-year contract.”

Now the regional planning agency aims to find out whether that’s true. SFCTA held its kick-off meeting this month with an academic team that it paid to do a three-year study of the advantages and disadvantages of the design-bid-build (DBB) approach used to build the first segment of the Parkway and the DBFOM P3 contract underway on segment two.