The importance of bringing contractor know-how into early construction project phases has long been recognized by the construction industry. Although experts and practitioners have considered new forms of procurement and management for construction projects, no significant solutions have been identified until now. It should be mentioned in this context that the Austrian government initiated the implementation of a new procurement approach in 2015 by reducing the opportunity for public clients to award the contract to the bid with the lowest price in conformity with the European guidelines. Austria's infrastructure industry is thus seeking new approaches that are able to implement the know-how of all parties involved in a project. The aim of this paper is to identify possibilities for early contractor involvement and its potential for optimizing the project management in the Austrian infrastructure industry.