2024 AIA Design-Build Contract Forms at a Glance

• Pages: 14-24
• Date: 01 January 2026
• Published date: 01 January 2026
• Author: Thomas S. O'Leary,Andrea G. Woods
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

Published in The Construction Lawyer Volume 45, Number 1, ©2026 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with

permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any

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Forum on Construction Law The Construction Lawyer Winter 2026

14

2024 AIA Design-Build Contract Forms at a Glance

By Thomas S. O’Leary and Andrea G. Woods

Thomas S. O’Leary is a partner in Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino, LLP’s Tysons Corner, Virginia,

office. His practice focuses mainly on construction litigation involving private projects and government

contracts.

Andrea G. Woods, J.D., LL.M., is senior legal counsel with Gilbane Building Company, providing

comprehensive legal support, identifying and managing legal risks, and advising senior management on

legal matters.

Introduction

As design-build teams across the industry enhance collaboration to deliver stronger client outcomes,

the American Institute of Architects (AIA) continues to develop contract resources that reflect evolving

project trends. In furtherance of this eort, the AIA 2024 Design-Build Documents oer improvements

to the AIA’s “Traditional Design-Build” document family, consisting of the AIA Document A141-2024,

Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Design-Builder, and inclusive of Exhibit A (Insurance

and Bonds), Exhibit B (the Design-Build Amendment setting the agreed contract sum), and Exhibit C (the

Sustainable Projects Exhibit).1

In addition, the AIA released the inaugural publication of its “Progressive Design-Build” document family,

further aligning its design-build documents with feasible approaches currently in use.2 This “progressive”

approach to design-build projects is represented in the AIA Document A141 Progressive Design-Build

2024 documents consisting of the A141 PDB-2024, Agreement Between Owner and Design-Builder for

a Progressive Design-Build Project and its companion documents, and inclusive of Exhibit A (Insurance

and Bonds), Exhibit B (Design-Build Amendment), and Exhibit C (Sustainable Projects Exhibit).3 The

Design-Build Amendment, in this case, is executed when the owner and design-builder have agreed on the

contract sum in the form of a guaranteed maximum price.4

This article highlights notable differences between the AIA’s 2024 “Traditional Design-Build,”

“Progressive Design Build,” and the 2014 Design-Build contract documents relevant to contract drafting,

negotiation, and risk transfer mechanisms associated with the owner and design-builder contractual

relationship.5 The authors also note examples of gaps identified in reconciling the AIA Design-Build

documents with common contracting practices.

Insurance and Bonds

The AIA continues to provide a foundation for insurance and bond terms in Exhibit A6 to the A141

forms. Largely viewed as a preferred approach,7 insurance and bond terms are incorporated as a stand-

alone document, Exhibit A, for both the traditional and Progressive Design-Build versions of the A141.

This approach increases the ease of identifying and comparing inconsistencies between, on the one

hand, the original, default approaches for insurance and bonds (i.e., the A141 standard language) and,

on the other hand, the unique needs of the specific project. Drafters and risk professionals can redline

Exhibit A to fit each project and create templates for common situations—like creating an exhibit built

for the owner providing Builders Risk Insurance and an exhibit for when the design-builder provides