Delegated design and deferred submittals answer two different questions. Delegated design decides who engineers a component: the engineer of record assigns it to a specialty engineer, usually one working for the contractor, the fabricator, or a supplier. A deferred submittal decides when the documents for that component reach the building official: after the permit is issued, with the official’s prior approval, and before the item is installed.
Many delegated packages on a commercial project also travel as deferred submittals, which is why the two terms get used as if they were one. They are not. One is a scope arrangement. The other is a permitting schedule with its own approvals and its own review time, and treating it as automatic is how a stair package or a canopy becomes a schedule problem nobody budgeted for.
Key takeaways
- Delegated design is about scope and who performs the engineering. A deferred submittal is about permitting and when the documents arrive.
- Deferral is not a default. The International Building Code requires the building official’s prior approval, and the deferred items must be listed on the construction documents.
- Two reviews stand between a specialty engineer’s calculations and installation: the design professional in responsible charge, then the building official.
- Delegation does not move responsibility. The engineer of record still owns the adequacy of the structure and the coordination of the delegated work.
- The most common cause of a rejected delegated package is an incomplete handoff: loads given without saying whether they are service or factored.
Delegated design vs deferred submittal: the short answer
Delegated design, as STRUCTURE magazine describes it, is “deferring the structural design of certain components or systems on a project” to a specialty structural engineer hired by the contractor (STRUCTURE, September 2017). The engineer of record sets the criteria and the interfaces. The specialty engineer designs the component and seals that design.
A deferred submittal is defined by the International Building Code in Section 202 as “those portions of the design that are not submitted at the time of the application and that are to be submitted to the building official within a specified period” (code text as reproduced in WABO/SEAW White Paper 6b-2023). It is a permitting mechanism, and it only exists because the building official agreed to it in advance.
Two different questions
Delegated design and deferred submittal, side by side
The same stair package can be both at once, and each one has to be satisfied separately.
| Delegated design | Deferred submittal | |
|---|---|---|
| Decides | Who performs the engineering | When the documents are submitted |
| Set up by | The design documents and specifications | Prior approval of the building official |
| Performed by | A specialty engineer, often working for the fabricator | The same specialty engineer, on the permit clock |
| Reviewed by | The engineer of record, through the approval process | The design professional in responsible charge, then the building official |
| Governing text | AISC Code of Standard Practice, Section 3.2.3, for steel connections | International Building Code, Sections 202 and 107.3.4.1 |
What delegated design transfers, and what it does not
Delegation moves the design of a component. It does not move the responsibility for the building. STRUCTURE states it without hedging: “The ultimate responsibility for the safety and adequacy of the design of a structure rests with the SER,” and coordinating the delegated design with the overall project stays with that engineer. The specialty engineer owns the component. The engineer of record owns the structure that the component hangs on.
Steel connections are the clearest example of how the handoff is supposed to work. Section 3.2.3 of the AISC Code of Standard Practice gives three methods for connection design, and the third is the delegated route: the connection is designed by a licensed engineer working for the fabricator (STRUCTURE, Strategies for Better Delegated Design in Structural Steel). Picking that method puts obligations on the engineer of record, not just on the fabricator. The structural design documents have to carry project-specific details showing the conceptual configuration and the order of magnitude of the forces, any restrictions on the connection such as bolt types or prohibited connection types, the loads including transfer forces, and a clear statement of whether those loads are service or factored and whether ASD or LRFD governs.
That last item is the one that sinks schedules. A delegated engineer handed a reaction with no basis stated either guesses or asks, and both cost time. The same article notes that the connection engineer confirms in writing that the shop drawings incorporate the connection design, and that this written confirmation does not replace the engineer of record’s approval process. Two signatures, two different jobs. Our guide to structural steel design covers how those connection requirements get set in the first place.
What a deferred submittal requires, in order
Section 107.3.4.1 of the International Building Code sets a sequence, and every step has a named owner:
- “Deferral of any submittal items shall have the prior approval of the building official.” Nothing is deferred by assumption.
- “The registered design professional in responsible charge shall list the deferred submittals on the construction documents for review by the building official.” The list is part of the permit set.
- The specialty engineer designs the component and seals those documents.
- “Documents for deferred submittal items shall be submitted to the registered design professional in responsible charge who shall review them and forward them to the building official with a notation indicating that the deferred submittal documents have been reviewed and found to be in general conformance to the design of the building.”
- “The deferred submittal items shall not be installed until the deferred submittal documents have been approved by the building official.”
Section numbering has moved between code editions, and jurisdictions amend this section, so confirm the wording in the edition your project is permitted under. The structure of the requirement has been stable: approve the deferral first, list it, seal it, review it for general conformance, then approve it before anything is installed.
The WABO/SEAW guidance adds three limits worth knowing before you plan around a deferral. The primary structural frame of a building, or any portion of it, should not be permitted to be a deferred submittal. Deferred submittals are not a method for submitting design revisions or change orders. And deferred submittal plans are stamped and sealed by the registered design professional responsible for those elements, with the project’s design professional in responsible charge adding a separate review stamp.
Which items usually run on both tracks
The components that get delegated and deferred are the ones whose final geometry depends on a supplier’s product. The WABO/SEAW list of common deferred submittals includes floor and roof trusses, prefabricated stairs, guards and guardrails, curtain walls and cladding systems, canopies and awnings, precast and post-tensioned concrete panels, buckling-restrained braced frames, non-bearing prefabricated wall panels, raised floor systems, fireproofing, and specialized foundation systems such as helical piles and ground improvement.
Steel connections sit on the other side of the line in most jurisdictions. They are delegated under the AISC Code of Standard Practice, then resolved through shop drawing approval rather than a separate trip to the building official. WABO/SEAW draws that boundary directly: rebar dimensioning, materials lists and fabrication instructions are shop drawings and are not deferred submittals, while “shop drawings that contain an engineered design and require an engineer’s stamp should be submitted to the building official for review.” Ask the question early, because the answer changes the fabrication release date.
Where the two get confused, and what it costs
Four failures show up again and again on delegated packages:
- Loads without a basis. A reaction table that does not say service or factored, ASD or LRFD, forces the delegated engineer to stop and ask. The AISC requirement exists because this happens constantly.
- Deferral assumed, never approved. The item never appeared on the deferred submittal list, so the building official is seeing it for the first time while the crew is on site.
- One review budgeted instead of two. The design professional in responsible charge reviews first, then the building official. Schedules written around a single review run out of time before installation.
- Written confirmation read as approval. The connection engineer’s written statement that the shop drawings carry the design is not the engineer of record’s approval, and it is not the building official’s.
None of these are engineering problems. They are handoff problems, and they are cheapest to fix in the specification, before a fabricator has priced the work.
How XCEED works inside a delegated scope
XCEED Engineering performs delegated structural and mechanical design, working with owners, engineers of record, contractors and fabricators to turn performance specifications and design intent into fully developed, buildable systems. That work includes steel connection design and connection analysis, design validation using SolidWorks and ANSYS, and coordination with suppliers and fabricators for manufacturability.
A delegated scope is also where constructability decisions still have room to move. On the articulating solar array XCEED engineered at Syracuse University’s Intermodal Transit Facility, the original concept used a fully custom ball-screw tracking mechanism. XCEED re-engineered it around a high-capacity off-the-shelf actuator rated for 10 tons of force and 6 feet of travel, which removed the lead time and the risk that came with the custom mechanism. That is the kind of decision a delegated engineer is positioned to make and a drawing-set reviewer is not.
The structural engineering side of that work is done by licensed professional engineers, for clients ranging from utilities to state universities. The component engineering is ours; the general conformance review and the permit relationship stay with the project’s design professional in responsible charge.
Frequently asked questions
Is a delegated design always a deferred submittal?
No. Delegated design is a scope decision inside the design team. A deferred submittal is a permitting decision the building official approves in advance. Nearly every deferred submittal is also a delegated design, because a specialty engineer prepares it, but the reverse does not hold. Steel connection design is routinely delegated to an engineer working for the fabricator and handled through the shop drawing process instead.
Who stamps and seals a deferred submittal?
The registered design professional responsible for the deferred element stamps and seals those documents. The project’s design professional in responsible charge then reviews them and adds a review stamp before forwarding them to the building official. That review confirms general conformance with the design of the building. It is not a redesign of the component.
Can the primary structural frame be a deferred submittal?
It should not be. The WABO/SEAW guidance states that the primary structural frame of a building, or any portion of it, should not be permitted to be a deferred submittal, and that deferred submittals are not a method for submitting design revisions or change orders. Staged work on a primary frame belongs in a phased approval instead.
Are shop drawings deferred submittals?
Usually not. Rebar dimensioning, materials lists and fabrication instructions are shop drawings, and the WABO/SEAW guidance says those do not go to the building official as deferred submittals. The same guidance adds that shop drawings containing an engineered design that requires an engineer’s stamp should be submitted for review. Jurisdictions differ, so confirm the local rule before the fabrication release.
Does delegated design move liability away from the engineer of record?
No. The ultimate responsibility for the safety and adequacy of the design of a structure rests with the structural engineer of record, and coordinating the delegated work with the overall project stays there too. The specialty engineer is responsible for the component. The engineer of record is still responsible for the structure.
Talk to XCEED about a delegated package
If you are writing a specification that delegates a component, the useful work happens before anyone bids it: stating the loads and their basis, naming the restrictions, and deciding whether the package is going to the building official or through shop drawing approval. If you are the fabricator or contractor holding that scope, you need an engineer who can take criteria and return a sealed, buildable design on the schedule the permit allows.
See what XCEED covers under delegated design, or contact our team to scope a package.