Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR)
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Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) is a project delivery method in which a construction manager joins the project during design, commits to a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP), and assumes financial responsibility for cost overruns above that ceiling.
Why CMAR Changes the Pursuit Dynamic
Unlike design-bid-build, where the owner selects a contractor on price alone after design is complete, CMAR brings the builder into the owner's team early enough to influence constructability, phasing, and budget. This means the owner is selecting a construction partner on qualifications and relationship fit before a firm price exists. For BD teams, this shifts the competitive evaluation heavily toward preconstruction expertise, past GMP performance, and the perceived trustworthiness of the CM's cost estimating. A firm that cannot demonstrate a track record of GMPs that held is at a structural disadvantage regardless of its portfolio.
Where CMAR Pursuits Diverge from Other Delivery Methods
Proposal teams often underweight the preconstruction services section in CMAR submissions, treating it as boilerplate before the "real" project experience pages. This is a critical error: the owner's selection committee knows they will be working alongside this CM for months before a GMP is ever set, so evaluators scrutinize the proposed preconstruction team almost as carefully as the project executive. Staffing continuity commitments carry unusual weight here; if the person named as preconstruction manager will not stay on as the project superintendent or executive, make that transition explicit and justify it. Fee structure transparency also matters more than in lump-sum pursuits because the GMP hasn't been set yet and owners are nervous about cost exposure.
Strategic Implications for AEC Marketing Teams
The intelligence that matters most in a CMAR pursuit is not the owner's published budget; it is whether the owner has used this delivery method before. First-time CMAR owners frequently do not understand the GMP negotiation process and may default to selecting the lowest proposed fee rather than the most credible cost manager, which changes how your firm should frame its value proposition. Experienced CMAR owners, by contrast, often have internal benchmarks for acceptable contingency percentages and preconstruction fees drawn from prior projects, so vague ranges in your proposal will read as a red flag. Tracking an owner's delivery method history across past projects, and flagging when they are piloting CMAR for the first time, is the kind of pursuit context that Kantiv surfaces so BD directors can adjust pursuit strategy before the RFQ drops.
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