The multi-party Integrated Information Management Contract (IIMC) was launched recently. Developed by the King’s College London Centre of Construction Law and the University of Cambridge Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology, it supports the collaboration necessary to realise the benefits of BIM and the application of the ISO 19650 standards.
Here, Professor David Mosey of King’s College London Centre of Construction Law and Dr Paolo Ettore Giana of Buro Happold delve deeper into the IIMC.
The Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB), as a partner in the Construction Innovation Hub, launched the IIMC after two years of research and consultation with digital information experts.
The IIMC governs the interfaces and relationships between team members who use information management based on BIM. It enables team members to agree directly their mutual commitments and to implement these commitments transparently and collaboratively to get the best out of BIM.
The IIMC complies with the ISO 19650 series and brings to life the ISO 19650 propositions that “collaboration between the participants involved in construction projects and in asset management is pivotal to the efficient delivery and operation of assets”, and that a significant outcome from collaboration is “the potential to communicate, re-use and share information efficiently and to reduce the risk of loss, contradiction or misinterpretation”.
Supporting ISO 19650 requirements
The multi-party structure and processes of the IIMC support the implementation of specific ISO 19650 requirements, which are defined, quoted and cross-referenced throughout. The direct mutual connections established by the model also reflect the overarching ISO 19650 requirements and recommendations for:
- “appointing, lead appointed and appointed parties to work collaboratively together” (ISO 19650-1 clause 4.2);
- “information container based collaborative working” (ISO 19650-1 clause 9); and
- “collaborative production of information” (ISO 19650-2 clause 5.6.6).
“The multi-party structure and processes of the IIMC support the implementation of specific ISO 19650 requirements.”
The IIMC supports a collaborative approach to the adoption of digital information management in conjunction with early supply chain involvement, modern methods of construction, whole-life procurement and joint risk management. It is supported by the newly published White Paper on Procurement Strategies for Incentivizing Collaborative Delivery to Optimize Whole-Life Outcomes, which explores how a collaborative approach to procurement can help to deliver better, faster, greener and safer projects that focus on whole-life outcomes, net-zero targets and improved building safety.
The IIMC is suitable for public and private sector use on any one or more projects. Research case studies revealed the success of UK and international IIMC prototypes and led to the creation of an IIMC being approved by UK government in Constructing the Gold Standard, the 2021 review of public sector construction frameworks. The model IIMC implements the recommendation in Constructing the Gold Standard for the use of a framework alliance contract as a means to deliver digital integration and whole-life value.
The IIMC provides a shared timetable for the incremental development of information management deliverables and a system for additional information management contributors to join the team. It enables clients and their team members to plan and agree their information management requirements and processes during the early planning stages of a project, before the data requirements are fully defined, and to seek improved value throughout all stages in the procurement and delivery cycle.
Connecting standard form contracts
Varying mechanisms and guidance for digital information management are provided in standard form project contracts such as FIDIC 2017, JCT 2016, NEC4 and PPC2000. However, to optimise the effectiveness of whole-life integrated information management on one or more projects, a team needs an overarching, multi-party IIMC that supports and connects the separate appointments.
This model for an IIMC is designed for use as an integrator for any range of FIDIC 2017, JCT2016, NEC4, PPC2000 contracts and for other standard or bespoke forms in any jurisdiction, and the collaborative systems set out in the IIMC have already been proven on multiple projects.
The model IIMC is based on learning from teams who have shown how the combination of information management with a collaborative integrator can deliver improved value and reduced risks. Case studies include UK government ‘Trial Project’ teams at Cookham Wood and HMP Berwyn, the Liscate School team in Milan and the Construction Playbook case study project at Five Wells, Wellingborough.
“The model IIMC is based on learning from teams who have shown how the combination of information management with a collaborative integrator can deliver improved value and reduced risks.”
The model IIMC is currently being used by Ministry of Justice with ISG, Kier, Laing O’Rourke and Wates for the procurement and delivery of the £1bn Ministry of Justice New Prisons Programme, which combines BIM with early supply chain involvement and MMC.
Starting with the Framework Alliance Contract
The IIMC uses the FAC-1 Framework Alliance Contract as its starting point, creating a multi-party collaborative integrator for the management of digital information over the whole life cycle of any project or asset. This model does not amend the individual roles and appointments agreed with each team member. Instead, it provides the contractual systems that are needed to integrate these roles and appointments and to create and sustain a shared understanding of information management systems.
FAC-1 is widely recognised by the construction industry and its clients as a flexible and effective collaborative integrator for team members working on a single project or on multiple projects. It has been adopted on procurements with a total value of more than £90bn and its users include Crown Commercial Service, NHS Shared Business Services, LHC, London Borough of Southwark, Surrey County Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Kier and Skanska.
The Construction Playbook emphasises that a “successful framework contract should be based around principles that align objectives, success measures, targets and incentives so as to enable joint work on improving value and reducing risk”, and it states that FAC-1 “is a good example of a standard form framework contract that can achieve this and many of the ambitions set out in this Playbook”.
The Construction Playbook’s ambitions include the further embedding of digital technologies through “a common framework of standards and protocols that will enable secure, resilient data sharing across organisations and sectors”.
Complying with ISO 19650-2
The IIMC complies with the following requirements of ISO 19650-2 clause 5.1.8 to “establish the project’s information protocol” by using FAC-1 provisions that connect:
- “specific obligations of the appointing party, prospective lead appointed parties and prospective appointed parties relating to the management or production of information, including the use of the project’s common data environment”:
- The multi-party structure of the IIMC ensures that alliance members share transparently their agreed specific obligations at framework level and at project level under the FAC-1 framework brief, framework proposals, project briefs and project proposals;
- FAC-1 clause 10.3 provides that the alliance members owe a duty of care in respect of their framework proposals and project proposals only to the client and not to each other.
- “any warranties or liabilities associated with the project information model”:
- FAC-1 clause 1.4 states the responsibility of each alliance member for the consequences of any error or omission in, or any discrepancy between, the documents that it prepares or contributes to, except to the extent of its stated reliance on any information provided by any one or more other alliance members;
- FAC-1 clause 10.1 states that, unless agreed otherwise, the alliance members owe a duty of reasonable skill and care appropriate to their agreed respective roles, expertise and responsibilities;
- The duty of care of the alliance members under their respective project contracts is stated in those project contracts, the terms of which are shared in FAC-1 Schedule 5 in order to ensure transparency and consistency.
- “background and foreground intellectual property rights of information”:
- The multi-party structure of FAC-1 ensures that the intellectual property rights stated in FAC-1 clause 11 are agreed and enforceable directly between alliance members rather than only via the client.
- “the use of existing asset information”:
- The multi-party structure of FAC-1 ensures that alliance members agree transparently the arrangements stated in the framework brief and each project brief for the use of existing asset information.
- “the use of shared resources”:
- The multi-party structure of FAC-1 ensures that alliance members agree transparently the arrangements stated in the framework brief and each project brief for the use of shared resources.
- “the use of information during the project, including any associated licensing terms”:
- The multi-party structure of FAC-1 ensures that alliance members agree transparently the arrangements stated in the framework brief and each project brief for the use of information during each project;
- FAC-1 clause 11.3 creates mutual licences to copy and use documents prepared by each alliance member and limits these licences to the agreed alliance activities.
- “the re-use of information following the appointment or in the event of termination”:
- The multi-party structure of FAC-1 ensures that alliance members agree transparently the arrangements stated in the framework brief and each project brief for the re-use of information following appointment or in the event of termination;
- FAC-1 clause 11.3 creates mutual licences to copy and use documents prepared by each alliance member and limits these licences to the agreed alliance activities.
Clients and industry are invited to examine and adopt the model IIMC as a new means to improve value and reduce risks, and prospective users can obtain a copy by contacting [email protected].
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