NEWSLETTER

BIM and Contract Documents

Many architects and engineers have been experimenting with Building Information Modeling, or BIM, without any clear
understanding of the legal issues surrounding this new technology. Now there is help available. In July of 2008, ConsensusDOCS
released the very first construction industry standard document designed to address the legal uncertainties surrounding BIM.
ConsensusDOCS 301 – Building Information Modeling (BIM) Addendum is intended for use on projects in which the owner and
other major project participants have made an early commitment to use BIM or virtual design and construction.

ConsensusDOCS is a consortium of 22 organizations within the construction industry that have collaborated to produce standard
contract forms that are fair and balanced, allocating risk equitably among the participants working on a construction project. A
collection of over 70 standard construction contract forms is available from ConsensusDOCS in electronic form, and the second
release of this collection includes the new BIM Addendum.

BIM is a technology that promises a more streamlined and less expensive construction process through the achievement of better
coordination and the elimination of potential systems conflicts during the design stages of a project. However, because of the
fundamental changes in architectural and engineering practice that effective use of BIM demands, there are many legal questions
associated with its use. The BIM Addendum is expected to serve as a catalyst to help accelerate the use of BIM within the
construction industry by clarifying the responsibilities and risks of the various parties.

According to the press release announcing the availability of this new contract form, there is actually less legal risk in moving from
the 2-D CAD world to the 3-D world of BIM. Richard Lowe of Duane Morris LLP, who chaired both the ConsensusDOCS BIM
Taskforce and the AGC BIM Forum Legal Subcommittee, says that “Introducing the ConsensusDOCS 301 BIM Addendum does
much to allay these fears, by providing a balanced, fair and practical way for all in the industry to proceed with a project using BIM. Now, hesitating to act may actually pose a greater legal risk.”

Building Systems Design, Inc. (BSD) developed the DocuBuilder® software that delivers the ConsensusDOCS contract forms in   collaboration with the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), one of the founding members of ConsensusDOCS.
The software will look and feel familiar to users of BSD SpecLink, since it was derived directly from the BSD product.

Additional information about the BIM Addendum, DocuBuilder, and the entire collection of ConsensusDOCS standard contract forms is available on the ConsensusDOCS website at www.consensusdocs.org, and on the AGC website at www.agc.org/cs/docubuilder.

The product can be purchased and downloaded from either website.

A more comprehensive look at ConsensusDOCS documents and how they compare with standard contract forms issued by the AIA and EJCDC can be found in the article “New Construction Contracts from Three Sources,” published in the Winter 2007
edition of BSD’s LinkLine.