New AIA offerings

Last month, The American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., released six new AIA Contract Documents—a new Building Information Modeling exhibit, two new Integrated Project Delivery agreements, two new Design-Build agreements and a Scope of Services document. These new documents are collectively called the 3.5 Release. The first of its kind in the industry, the new E202-2008 was written by industry practitioners as a practical tool for managing the use of BIM across the entire project. It sets the requirements and authorized uses for BIM content and identifies BIM authors at five progressive levels of development. It also establishes protocols for model ownership, conflict resolution, storage, viewing and archiving. Although written primarily to supporta project using IPD, E202-2008 may also be used with more traditional methods of project delivery. The two IPD Agreements, C196-2008 and C197-2008, round out the IPD Single Purpose Entity family of AIA Contract Documents and provide the contractual structure the SPE needs to secure funding and to design and construct the project. These agreements take care of the details, such as how insurance will apply, how members may be paid for their services and limit their liability, which costs are “allowable,” how a member can earn profit through incentive compensation and what happens at the end of the project. The two new design-build agreements, A441-2008 and C441-2008, complete the AIA’s Design-Build Family of documents by communicating to the architect’s consultants and subcontractors the essential provisions of the original 2004 agreements. They address contractor/subcontractor and architect/consultant relationships, including respective rights and responsibilities, roles, communications, compensation, dispute resolution and payment. The new On-Site Project Representation scope of services document, B207-2008 (formerly B352-2000), adds to the more than 30 existing AIA Contract Documents B-Series documents for use in establishing agreements between owners and architects. The B207-2008 document provides agreement on the number of architect’s representatives stationed at the project site, the services to be preformed and the owner’s responsibilities. B207-2008 eliminates the need to create a custom scope of services document, thus saving time and money. The new documents are available electronically in AIA Contract Documents software, as well as in paper form (E202-2008 will only be available in AIA software). Visit www.aia.org/docs for details.