The Big Kahuna is speaking, and we had all better listen up.
For quite a while now, it has been obvious to me that Owner/Operators (O/Os) will drive the technology revolution in AEC. O/Os are the ones who stand to gain the most. Now the US Federal Government, the biggest O/O of them all, is saying enough is enough, let’s get serious about improving the process with technology. The US General Services Administration, Uncle Sam’s facilities manager, is requesting input on the use of IFC-BIM (Industry Foundation Classes, Building Information Modeling) technology. This is an excellent opportunity for concerned industry players—anybody who ever hopes to be involved in a federal construction project—to affect policy.
Note the specifics of the request. This is about the use of Industry Foundation Classes, the set of standards created by the International Alliance for Interoperability—and not about the use of vendor-specific BIM technology. Bentley and Autodesk have in the past given lukewarm support to IFC standards, preferring to concentrate their resources on proprietary and competitive approaches to building information modeling. More recently, Bentley seems to have become more interested. They recently posted a web page offering to help their clients prepare a statement to the GSA. (Graphisoft, by comparison, has long made strong support of IFCs a competitive differentiator.)
The IFC standards are designed to be a vendor-neutral approach to building information modeling. Software vendors, who love to confuse tools with processes, historically are happier when such open, common approaches just disappear. To be fair, proprietary solutions are generally leaner and more efficient than processes written by a committee—as long as you stay within the vendor’s boundaries. But projects in which everyone uses the exact same CAD tools (engineering tools, accounting tools, etc.) are rare.
Follow the first link above to the original GSA announcement and then click on the button at the bottom of the page to be added to the GSA’s mailing list.
This topic will definitely be on the agenda at COFES 2005—if you don't have an invitation to attend, ask for one; I think there are still a few openings.