In an effort to foster best practices for integrated project delivery (IPD) and design-build, the American Institute of Architects is publishing six new documents. Two are contract documents coordinated with C195-2008, or the Standard Form Single Purpose Entity (SPE) Agreement for IPD, issued earlier this year.

C195 sets up a limited liability company that contracts with a team to design and construct a project. The new documents, C196-2008 and C197-2008, enable the SPE to contract with its owner- and nonowner-members. C196 makes the owner a collaborating partner and spells out the terms for funding the SPE. C197 specifies services and compensation for nonowner-members (architects, engineers, contractors). Both C196 and C197 provide for dispute resolution and encourage all members to work toward mutually agreed upon goals.

A third document, E202–2008, or Building Information Modeling (BIM) Protocol Exhibit, provides a customizable structure to establish terms of use for digital models throughout a project. One of the document’s authors, Jim Bedrick, AIA, vice president of virtual building and design for Webcor Builders, says as an early adopter of BIM, he found the technical challenges formidable—but the cultural and administrative obstacles even more so. E202 will ease those challenges, he says, by creating “a process that lays out what the different members of the team can expect from each other, the precision of the model, and what it can be used for.” For architects, engineers, contractors, and owners to share a set of digital models representing an entire building requires rethinking traditional processes. E202 removes ambiguity surrounding ownership of and responsibility for models, and clarifies the level of detail subcontractors and others can rely on. Importantly, the document establishes standards for the team to adhere to.

Two of the new AIA documents are standard agreements for use in design-build practices; they establish relationships between contractors and subcontractors (A441–2008) and between architects and their consultants (C441–2008). They outline rights and responsibilities of the parties and scope of work to be performed, and they address various key issues such as shared risk, dispute resolution, communications, and compensation.

The sixth new AIA document is B207–2008, or Standard Form of Architect’s Services On-Site Project Representation. This scope-of-services document outlines responsibilities of and compensation for architect’s representatives on job sites, replacing B352–2000.

The six new documents will be available October 17, at www.aia.org/docs.