A. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary or the requirements of this Part, if the secretary determines it is in the best interest of the taxpayers, the Department of Transportation and Development may formulate, develop, and implement a program to combine the design and construction phases of a transportation facility or facilities, including but not limited to highways, interchanges, bridges, ferries on the Mississippi River, or tunnels into a single contract.

            B. This program shall allow use of the design-build method to construct the new Mississippi River Bridge at St. Francisville, connection to U.S. Hwy. 61, including approach structures and connecting roadways, which project is included in the Transportation Infrastructure Model for Economic Development program. The secretary may also select additional projects or combine a program of projects to utilize the design-build method.             C. There shall be no challenge by any legal process to the choice of the successful designer-builder other than for fraud, bias for pecuniary or personal reasons not related to the interest of the taxpayers, or arbitrary and capricious selection by the secretary. Once the designer-builder has been chosen and a contract for a stipulated schedule and sum certain price executed, the price of the design-build contract shall not be increased other than for inflation as prescribed in the contract and for site or other conditions of which the designer-builder had no knowledge and should not have had knowledge as a reasonable possibility existing at the site or concerning the design and construction.

            D. The department shall consider a design-build contract to replace the tunnel on Louisiana Highway 23 and shall submit a written report of its recommendation to the House and Senate committees on transportation, highways, and public works not later than February 1, 2016.

            Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 105, §1; Acts 1999, No. 654, §1, eff. July 1, 1999; Acts 2004, No. 81, §§1, 2; Acts 2008, No. 111, §1, eff. June 6, 2008; Acts 2015, No. 30, §2, eff. May 29, 2015; Acts 2021, No. 346, §1, eff. June 15, 2021.