By Steve Rizer
If an owner is restricted to a design-bid-build delivery method, can building information modeling (BIM) be advantageous for the project? This is one of several questions addressed during the “Q&A” period of WPL Publishing’s “Negotiating BIM Scope” webinar, a recording of which recently was added to the ConstructionPro Network (ConstructionProNet.com) Download Library free of charge for members.
In response to this question, Forrest Lott, principal at Savannah, Ga.-based Lott + Barber, said, “Absolutely.” However, he pointed out that under such a scenario, “we would be missing some opportunities for contractor input.” He noted that the American Institute of Architects’ Integrated Project Delivery Guide “delves into the different delivery methods that are currently out there and in use [and makes it] pretty clear that a design-bid-build delivery method is much more limited than a CM at Risk or CM as Advisor delivery method or design-build or the newer model of integrated project delivery.”
Lott further explained that “bringing expertise to the table early in a model-based environment requires some commitments and expectations among the parties. A contractor who has not yet been awarded a contract is going to be at a disadvantage to participate at that level, no doubt.”
Earlier in the webinar, Patrick Suermann, Construction Division chairperson at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, discussed BIM requirements within that branch of the military. Among other things, he provided information about the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment’s version of (AFCEE) Attachment F, a contractual-requirements document for directing A/E firms on how to design and build projects according to Air Force-specific BIM-based requirements.
The figure below outlines the strengths and challenges associated with Attachment F, according to Suermann.
Also during the webinar, Tammy McCuen, assistant professor of construction science at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Architecture, discussed the history and purpose of the National BIM Standard Interactive Capability Maturity Model (I-CMM). She additionally focused on a case study involving the I-CMM tool and M.A. Mortenson Construction Co.’s completed BIM project for the Benjamin D. Hall Research Building at the University of Washington.
For immediate access to the complete webinar (full audio and visual) -- as well as more than three dozen other construction-related webinars that are available for download -- sign up to become a member of WPL Publishing’s ConstructionPro Network, a complete training, education, and development resource for the construction industry, at http://constructionpronet.com/info/Charter2012.aspx.
