On June 1, 2007, Governor Bill Ritter signed into law Colorado House Bill 1342, "IPD Methods and Public Projects," an important piece of legislation allowing for public entities to use Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) methods for the "design, construction, alteration, operation, repair, improvement, demolition, maintenance or financing for a public project."  

The bill, which becomes effective August 8, 2007, provides omnibus statutory authority to all public and quasi-public entities in Colorado the option to use any integrated project delivery method deemed appropriate in the award of contracts for public projects.

The legislation was sponsored by Representative Cheri Jahn in the Colorado House of Representatives and Senator Abel Tapia in the Senate.  Previously, IPD was generally available on a statutory basis to certain limited state agencies, such as the Department of Transportation, and home rule cities.  The use of IPD essentially allows public building projects to be completed for less money and in less time than under traditional design-bid-build methodology.

The new Colorado law also includes a pre-qualification process, followed by a Request for Proposal (RFP) process.  The RFP process may include a stipend, and the proposal may be evaluated on either "relevant budget considerations or the life-cycle cost analysis for an IPD contract that includes operation or maintenance services."  The agency's selection may then be on the basis that the proposal, in its estimation, represents the best value to the agency. 

Barbara J. Kelley Researches, Drafts Original Legislation; Testifies Before House

Since 2004, a number of Colorado organizations and companies have worked to pursue legislation to implement a statewide authorization permitting the use of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) methods.  In a process using an integrated project delivery method, the owner or project sponsor engages a private contractor, which may be a single company, joint venture or other teaming effort, to perform the design and construction function, as well as the operation, maintenance and/or  financing services under the terms of a single contract.  Among early participants in this effort was Barbara J. Kelley, partner with Kamlet Shepherd, who did the original research for and original draft of the bill and who testified before the House subcommittee on the proposed legislation.