AIA contract document updates include new BIM, digital data provisions

The AIA Documents Committee has revamped standard contract documents regarding Building Information Modeling (BIM) and other digital data.

The first standard forms for BIM were released a decade ago, and much has changed regarding BIM practices since then. The 2017 release updates digital practice documents including AIA Document E203–2013, Building Information Modeling and Digital Data Exhibit; AIA Document G201–2013, Project Digital Data Protocol Form; and AIA Document G202–2013, Project Building Information Modeling Protocol Form.

The updated documents are structurally different from their predecessors. They require all members of the building team to agree upon protocols for the transmission and use of instruments of service or other documentation in digital form. They also address the risks and responsibilities associated with sharing project information in digital format.

Members of the building team must spell out requirements for the various elements of the model at various stages of the project. These details should be well documented so that allowed uses of the model and how it is to be used are well understood by all parties.

Revised documents clarify that the contractor may maintain contract documents, change orders, construction change directives, and other modifications at the site in electronic format. The documents also now address the issue of notice in electronic format.

For more information on AIA contract documents, visit: https://www.aiacontracts.org/

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.