Purpose The purpose of this study is to suggest an improvement plan for the engineering PDM (Project Delivery Method) by exploring elements that should be considered important in the selection criteria for the public engineering projects and analyzing the expert perception of the PDM operation direction. Methods After reviewing 10 precedent studies on PDM and public engineering project characteristics, selection factors of PDM were extracted and stratified. A survey was conducted targeting 130 engineering experts, and valid responses verified by CR (Consistency Ratio) were analyzed using the AHP method in order to calculate the weight of each PDM selection element and the expansion need for each PDM type. Results ① Importance of PDM selection criteria in main areas was in the order of project characteristics > project·policy goals > industrial·institutional environment > owner characteristics. ② In the importance of detailed elements, project difficulty, government policy goals, budget reduction, and life cycle cost minimization were high. ③ As for the expansion need of PDM type, design-bid-build was much higher than that of technical bid, and qualification assessment method was the highest in detailed PDM types. Conclusion In engineering PDM selection criteria, project characteristics and industry environment should be considered more important than project size. It is also necessary to reflect the project difficulty and social responsibility in the selection criteria of comprehensive evaluation method currently being debated.