Outdated design-bid-build systems slow development
Federal and state programs have unlocked billions for water and wastewater infrastructure, yet those funds often move too slowly to meet real-world needs. Procurement capacity might be one of the weakest links in America’s infrastructure response because many cities lack the flexibility and staff to manage funds effectively. Procurement rules designed for an earlier era, when projects were simpler and growth steadier, now bog down essential work in layers of reviews, bid protests, and low-bid mandates that reward the cheapest proposal instead of the best long-term solution.
The consequences ripple across growing communities. Housing developments wait years for wastewater capacity, industries cannot expand without an assured supply, and utilities struggle to replace aging assets while complying with new environmental standards. Analysts have warned that without reform, the infrastructure law‘s once-in-a-generation funding boost could become a missed opportunity.
A smarter approach would focus on safe, reliable, compliant water delivery rather than the bureaucratic minutiae of DBB projects. New models like Water-as-a-Service® allow communities to pay for performance while aligning incentives with long-term reliability.
The Cost of Doing Things the Old Way
Traditional procurement in the water infrastructure sector often begins with the best of intentions but ends in delay and cost escalation. Each step introduces new rounds of review and change orders, and room for delay.
Outdated procurement mandates, especially those prescribing specific materials or technologies, drive up costs and constrain innovation. A recent study surveyed procurement practices and correlated them with project cost metrics, finding that the capacity of the procuring agency and the level of competition in contracting markets are two of the most consistent cost drivers. In states with under-resourced procurement offices or monopolistic contractor markets, infrastructure costs rise substantially.
Beyond concrete cost inflation, the hidden consequences are perhaps even more damaging. When municipalities cannot expand utility capacity promptly, they delay housing approvals and economic development. Firms that might expand are held back by uncertainty, and utilities become trapped servicing aging systems under increasing regulatory pressure. Procurement systems built to prevent waste and risk now keep communities from using infrastructure funds efficiently.
By the time contracts are executed, inflation, new regulations, and shifting climate risks can render the project less relevant.
What Procurement Models Get Wrong
Legacy procurement models often mistake process for accountability. The design-bid-build sequence separates engineering, financing, and construction, leaving no partner responsible for long-term performance and leading to a cycle of claims, delays, and costly modifications that no party wants to own.
Delivery, then, is the metric for success rather than long-term performance. The operator inherits the risk of underperforming systems and rising maintenance costs. As procurement experts have noted, separation between capital spending and operational accountability is one of the largest sources of inefficiency in public infrastructure.
Another flaw is risk aversion. In attempting to eliminate uncertainty, agencies often create layers of oversight that increase it, unintentionally penalizing innovation.
Strategies to Streamline Infrastructure Delivery
- Municipalities: Embrace outcome-based procurement (buy service, not facilities).
- Developers: Use leasing to keep projects on track and options open while cities modernize.
- Policymakers: Update statutes to allow flexible public-private models.
Pay for Water, Not Steel and Concrete
Seven Seas developed Water-as-a-Service® (WaaS®) to change the paradigm. Instead of purchasing assets, communities can secure capacity delivered, maintained, and operated by an expert partner.
Under WaaS®, the provider designs, builds, finances, and operates the plant while the community pays only for the water or treatment service delivered, with no upfront capital or bonding. One accountable partner does it all, from design through long-term operations and maintenance, earning revenue by meeting performance benchmarks, not filling out paperwork.
Modular, factory-built units also make for dramatically shorter plant delivery times. Construction risk and change orders disappear, replaced by predictable service pricing and guaranteed compliance throughout the agreement term.
Where more flexibility is needed, customers can begin with a lease, add operations and maintenance if desired, and later upgrade to WaaS® for a full-service experience.
WaaS® in the Real World
In Alice, Texas, WaaS® quickly delivered a brackish groundwater desalination plant that lowered water costs immediately for locally sourced water, locking in that lower rate.
The Alice plant stands as a scalable model for future water solutions across Texas and the nation. With demand for reliable water infrastructure growing, public-private partnerships like this one will be essential to safeguarding communities in the face of climate uncertainty and resource constraints.
The nation has the technology, financing tools, and partners to fill the infrastructure investment gap for a resilient water future. It must find the courage to let go of the familiar and rethink procurement. Schedule a consultation and find out how flexible Water-as-a-Service® models can replace procurement delays with guaranteed results.