Join industry leaders for breakfast and an interactive discussion on helping public owners and agencies navigate today’s evolving infrastructure delivery landscape. This pre-conference session helps attendees better understand when and how to apply alternative delivery methods to achieve greater efficiency, cost savings, and long-term performance — gaining insights into key delivery model considerations, how innovative approaches can streamline procurement, and the first steps to advancing successful infrastructure projects.

Join us as we kick off the conference with an introduction to 2026’s major themes, speakers, and learning objectives, and our grateful acknowledgments of this year’s sponsors and event partners.

In his address, Jim Ray will make the case for a new delivery playbook grounded in early collaboration and strategic transparency. Rather than viewing P3s or alternative delivery as purely financing mechanisms, it highlights why owners, advisors, lawyers, lenders, and contractors must come together from day one to sharpen cost certainty, reduce waste, and manage risk before it escalates. Drawing on real project examples and practical lessons, the talk illustrates how transparency can serve as a true competitive advantage—improving procurement, discouraging counterproductive behaviors, and building public trust. Attendees will leave with actionable steps to apply this approach and elevate expectations for accountable, on-time, and on-budget infrastructure delivery — showing that early investments in teamwork and openness deliver the strongest outcomes for our communities.

As the nation advances historic levels of infrastructure investment, public agencies and industry leaders are working to align federal funding, financing tools, and project delivery strategies to accelerate critical projects. This fireside chat will explore the evolving federal infrastructure landscape, key funding priorities, and how public and private stakeholders can better position projects for successful delivery in today's rapidly changing market.

A forward-looking conversation connecting national infrastructure performance benchmarks to delivery reform, examining how innovation in project delivery can close funding gaps, reduce lifecycle costs, and improve accountability.

As public owners establish dedicated Alternative Delivery Offices, this session explores the organizational blueprint required to effectively embed alternative delivery expertise within a public agency. Leaders from established DOT offices share experience building these specialized units — highlighting the internal culture shifts, staffing models, and legislative authority needed to advance major capital projects from concept through delivery. For DOTs, this session offers a practical roadmap for institutionalizing alternative delivery. For private sector partners, it provides valuable insight into the decision-making processes, priorities, and long-term pipelines shaping the next generation of major infrastructure projects.

Even the most technically sound project can falter without public support. This session focuses on upholding community values, labor standards, and equity when delivering infrastructure via fast-track methods or private partners. Public-sector leaders will share strategies for engaging stakeholders early and often — from listening sessions to project labor agreements and community benefit clauses — and discuss how to address equity concerns proactively, including local hiring requirements and keeping user fees affordable for vulnerable populations.

This interactive leadership forum brings together emerging professionals from across the infrastructure industry for an open discussion on career growth, leadership, and navigating a rapidly evolving sector. Following brief remarks from industry leaders, attendees will participate in small group roundtable discussions focused on career advancement, leadership development, and lessons learned across the infrastructure space. Participants will rotate between tables throughout the session, creating opportunities for meaningful dialogue, peer-to-peer learning, and expanded networking with professionals from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds.

Construction joint ventures are increasing in usage due to the uptick in alternative delivery and complex mega-projects, long-duration projects, and bonding capacity limitations. Yet, entering without careful consideration can expose contractors to financial, operational, and legal risks that jeopardize both project and partnership. This presentation will feature two contractor executives with significant JV experience — one typically the majority partner and one typically the minority. Panelists will examine why contractors choose to joint venture, best practices for due diligence, critical JV agreement terms, and share success stories and lessons learned.

Not another panel. This hands-on, team-based simulation is built around a mega-project case study and the forces that make delivery messy — stakeholder opposition, political pressure, shifting risks, and field realities. You’ll work through guided questions with your table, manage tradeoffs, and keep the project moving. Midway through, facilitators introduce “twists” — and you can phone a friend by pulling in an expert panelist circulating the room. Expect practical tools, peer learning, and real-time solutions you help create.

Many states and local governments have passed legislation enabling Public-Private Partnerships (P3s), yet many still struggle to translate that authority into a reliable pipeline of financeable and deliverable projects. This challenge is especially evident in social infrastructure, where gaps between policy and execution can lead to delayed procurement, missed opportunities, and underperforming partnerships. This panel will examine how public agencies are building the business case for social infrastructure P3s, including approaches to risk transfer, cost effectiveness, market sounding, public engagement, and delivery validation. Featuring representatives from the Maryland Economic Development Corporation, the Colorado P3 Office, and the City of Richmond, the discussion will provide practical insight into how successful social infrastructure P3 opportunities are developed and delivered.

The Potrero Yard Modernization Project in San Francisco represents a new model for delivering infrastructure in dense urban environments. The project replaces a century-old bus yard with a modern, multi-level facility for a growing electrified transit fleet, while integrating affordable housing and community-serving uses — positioning transit infrastructure as a platform for urban development rather than a standalone asset. This session examines how the project is structured and delivered, including procurement strategy, financing, stakeholder coordination, and the challenges of balancing infrastructure needs with housing, cost constraints, and community expectations.

Collaborative delivery has provided tremendous benefits to owners across the country — consistently delivering pricing, schedule, and innovation advantages over traditional design-bid-build. Yet a growing fraction of collaborative delivery projects have resulted in off-ramping. A highly experienced panel of owners and industry experts will discuss the circumstances that lead to off-ramps and the strategies that make collaborative project delivery even more successful.

As infrastructure projects become larger and more complex, traditional delivery models are increasingly challenged by political, technical, and third-party risks. Progressive Design-Build (PDB) has emerged as a practical alternative that emphasizes early collaboration, transparency, and informed risk allocation rather than premature price certainty. Unlike lump-sum design-build, PDB aligns owners, designers, and contractors early in the process, which is especially valuable on projects with evolving scope, utility conflicts, stakeholder coordination, or difficult site conditions. Rather than eliminating risk, PDB improves how risks are identified, allocated, and priced through tools such as open-book estimating and shared risk registers — supporting more realistic decision-making before a guaranteed maximum price is established. A panel with significant PDB experience will discuss the advantages, challenges, lessons learned, and what effective collaboration truly looks like in practice.

Across the United States, public agencies face mounting pressure to replace aging civic infrastructure while managing cost volatility, risk exposure, and long-term operational performance. Traditional delivery methods often struggle to keep pace with these demands — particularly for complex social infrastructure such as courthouses, civic and government centers, airport terminals, and other buildings where security, resiliency, stakeholder coordination, and lifecycle performance are paramount. This panel explores the value proposition of alternative project delivery and P3s through an in-depth case study of the Clackamas County Circuit Courthouse — the first courthouse in Oregon delivered through a P3 model. Faced with an outdated, seismically vulnerable facility and decades of stalled progress, Clackamas County turned to a design-build-finance-maintain (DBFM) structure to realign risk, accelerate delivery, and achieve long-term certainty on cost and performance. This session shares practical insights from one of the most significant U.S. P3s to reach completion, offering transferable lessons for agencies considering alternative delivery.

This session explores how integrating small business participation, community engagement, and local workforce strategies directly supports project outcomes — framing these as core business imperatives rather than administrative requirements. Panelists address contract-based approaches and share lessons from the field.

This session will discuss both legal and practical considerations to help guide agencies develop and deliver projects using qualifications-based selection models, including key procurement terms, project oversight structure, and nuances of applicable federal law.

The Henry Ford Health Central Energy Hub in Detroit highlights how owners are rethinking energy infrastructure as a long-term, performance-based asset. Delivered through a design-build-finance-operate-maintain structure, the project integrates electrification, waste heat recovery, and digital energy management to support a major hospital campus. This session examines how the project was structured — including financing, risk allocation, and long-term operations — and what it means for similar projects across healthcare, higher education, and civic infrastructure.

Former and current state DOT leaders share insights from delivering major projects. This session explores how agencies have structured, procured, and managed programs within broader capital strategies — reflecting on successes and setbacks across governance, enabling legislation, and risk allocation frameworks. The discussion highlights the leadership required to move complex projects forward, and how states are building internal capacity and positioning for alternative delivery. Attendees will gain practical lessons on refining procurement approaches and aligning financing strategies with long-term capital program goals.

This panel explores opportunities to develop new city hall projects through public-private partnerships, including mixed-use development as part of government campus redevelopment. Panelists discuss how government entities can leverage underutilized public property to replace aging infrastructure, revitalize neighborhoods, and generate new revenue — sharing procurement strategies, financing structures, and stakeholder engagement from recent projects.

Airport owners leading some of the nation's most ambitious capital programs discuss how alternative delivery is reshaping airport development. As facilities require modernization, airport sponsors are turning to Progressive Design-Build, CMAR, P3s, and hybrid structures to manage risk, accelerate schedules, and improve cost certainty. Panelists share insights into procurement strategy, risk allocation, stakeholder coordination, and navigating federal requirements — including FAA oversight, airline agreements, and bond financing.

Los Angeles County’s Administrative Offices Building was delivered using 63-20 Progressive Design-Build — completed in October 2021, four months ahead of schedule with $24.75 million in savings returned to the County. The project’s success spurred a second adjacent project now under construction. This conversation uses the LA County projects as a case study to explain how 63-20 PDB combines private sector delivery with tax-exempt bond financing issued by a third-party not-for-profit partner, and how it can benefit state and local governments across California.

City leaders come together for a candid discussion on what it takes to lead and deliver complex capital improvement programs. Mayors are balancing long-term planning with immediate community needs — advancing projects that address affordability, resilience, mobility, and economic development while navigating funding constraints and political realities. This discussion explores how cities prioritize capital programs, align stakeholders, and leverage innovative delivery models. Panelists will share lessons from managing large-scale infrastructure investments, maintaining public trust, and making decisions under pressure. The conversation will also touch on leadership strategies — how mayors set vision, communicate progress, and build consensus to ensure infrastructure investments deliver tangible, equitable outcomes for their communities.

TOD has emerged as a planning model that injects private financing into the delivery of vibrant residential, commercial, and public spaces near transit nodes — while also upgrading critical transit infrastructure. However, financially optimized land use can displace existing communities and constrain multi-modal access. This panel will consider strategies to harness the financial opportunities of TOD while preserving communities and maintaining the core functionality of adjacent transit nodes.

The City of Pflugerville is advancing an ambitious public-private partnership to transform the 29-acre Pfluger Tract into a dynamic extension of its downtown core. The Downtown East Project brings together civic infrastructure and mixed-use development to deliver a new City Hall, recreation center, and a vibrant, community-oriented district. This session will explore how the City is structuring the partnership, allocating risk, and integrating civic and commercial components into a cohesive development strategy. Attendees will gain insight into how mid-sized cities can utilize alternative delivery models to unlock value, accelerate timelines, and create economically and socially vibrant districts.

As water infrastructure demands grow, utilities and public agencies face aging systems, water scarcity, and increasing climate pressures. This panel explores how collaborative delivery models, public leadership, and private investment are accelerating critical water projects while managing financial and operational risk. Through case studies in desalination, potable water, and major infrastructure programs, panelists discuss how Progressive Design-Build, P3s, and other alternative delivery models improve project delivery through early collaboration, shared risk allocation, and innovative funding strategies.

Join conference attendees, speakers, sponsors, and industry leaders for an evening networking reception at Corrientes 348 in Downtown Dallas. Hosted in partnership with YPI + Nossaman LLP, this reception offers an opportunity to continue conversations from the conference in a relaxed setting while connecting with peers across the infrastructure industry. Location: 1807 Ross Ave, Dallas, TX 75201. Transportation is not provided.