2025 National Design-Build Student Competition

Each year a unique project is created to challenge our student design-build competitors in the DBIA National Design-Build Student Competition. This year’s project will be no different.

This three-phase competition gives teams from colleges and universities the chance to respond to a Request for Qualifications (the first phase) and a Request for Proposals (the second phase). In phase three, the top three teams after the RFP phase will present their proposals to a panel of industry leaders at the 2025 Design-Build Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, NV, this November. The competition is impressive and provides an incredible opportunity for young design-builders.

This year's competition expands on last year's challenge, which focused on the initial phase one procurement of a major airport expansion, including a new main terminal and airside expansion with an automated people mover (APM). That project was delivered using a fixed-fee, variable scope design-build approach. The 2025 competition takes the next step, challenging student teams to complete the terminal by adding additional gates and concessions on each side of the new main terminal building using Progressive Design-Build (PDB).

The National Design-Build Student Competition provides young design-builders the opportunity to create a project as a team, present it to some of the industry’s leading pros and earn national recognition for their good work. DBIA’s student competition provides an unparalleled opportunity for students to meet and impress design-build industry leaders one-on-one.