Washington, D.C. – June 20, 2013 – The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Contract Documents team announced today several additions and updates to its suite of offerings: a brand new family of Program Management documents; a new, free Guide for Small Projects; an updated Guide for Sustainable Projects; and updated BIM and Digital Practice Documents. The new documents and updates will improve the contract negotiation experience for architects, building owners, general contractors and other design and construction professionals.

The new documents and guides are available in the latest version of AIA Contract Documents software, which is now compatible with Microsoft Office 2013 and Windows 8.

“We are very pleased with the new offerings and updates, as they truly will assist owners, design professionals and contractors in the process of contract negotiation, and project collaboration and integration,” said Ken Cobleigh, Managing Director and Counsel at the AIA. “We worked with a wide variety of industry professionals– including architects, contractors, lawyers and insurance professionals on these new documents. As a result, they are fair and balanced, and help appropriately manage risk throughout the design and construction process.”

New Document Family for the Program Manager

The role of the program manager is one that has grown in the last decade as owners hire representatives to act as the coordinators of the design process for multiple projects, in order to ensure consistency. This has been an especially popular trend in institutional design, in which several buildings (such as those within healthcare or educational facilities) usually need to be upgraded simultaneously and share similar design elements.

Using the input of industry liaisons, the AIA Contract Documents Committee developed a family of documents so that program managers, as well as design managers, can oversee projects in a more systematic fashion.

The documents in this new family include:

• B171™-2013, Standard Form of Agreement between Owner and Design Manager for use in a Multiple Project Program
• B172™ -2013, Standard Form of Agreement between Owner and Architect for Architect of Record Services
• C171™-2013, Standard Form of Agreement between Owner and Program Manager for use in a  Multiple Project Program

Free samples of the Program Management documents can be found at http://www.aia.org/progammgmtdocs.

Updated Digital Practice Documents and New Digital Practice Documents Guide

In any project or collaboration – particularly those involving new technologies like BIM – it’s critical that all participants understand roles and responsibilities. The updated AIA BIM and Digital Practice Documents establish expectations around, and the process for, the use of digital data, including building information modeling, on a project.

Rachel Riopel Wiley, AIA NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, the Central Region BIM Director at HDR Architecture, Inc. was involved in reviewing the BIM and Digital Practice Documents when they were made available for public comment in August 2012. She is among the first architects to put these documents to use in a real-world setting, recently in a multiple facilities project, including housing research facilities, outpatient treatment center, and a new hospital tower – totaling 575,000 square feet. HDR Architecture, Inc. has applied the new BIM and Digital Practice Documents to address issues related to integration and liability between owner and architect upon the introduction of building information modeling. Specifically she says, “The AIA BIM and Digital Practice documents help by highlighting the pieces of a project that should be addressed early in the design process which can often cause unnecessary stress later, such as fee terms and scheduling. Because the forms can be customized and tailored, it provides flexible guidance which allows for all parties to come to terms that can be agreed upon from the very beginning. The ability to clarify the expectations affords all parties greater protection than was previously available.”

The updated documents and free guide include:

• C106™ -2013,Digital Data Licensing Agreement
• E203™-2013, Building Information Modeling and Digital Data Exhibit
• G201™-2013, Project Digital Data Protocol Form
• G202™-2013, Project Building Information Modeling Protocol Form
• New & Free – Guide, Instructions and Commentary to the 2013 AIA Digital Practice Documents

Free Samples of the BIM and Digital Practice documents and new Digital Practice Documents guide can be found at www.aia.org/digitaldocs.

New Free Guide for Small Projects

Designed to help small firms and small project practitioners gain awareness of the documents and resources available for their particular needs, the new Guide for Small Projects is the result of several months of collaborative work and is expected to serve as an important asset to anyone who works on small projects.