An information management contract has been launched to support the collaboration necessary to realise the benefits of BIM and the application of the ISO 19650 standards.
The multi-party Integrated Information Management Contract (IIMC) has been 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.
The new contract builds on the ISO 19650 proposition that “collaboration between the participants involved in construction projects and in asset management is pivotal to the efficient delivery and operation of assets,” and the 2020 Construction Playbook requirement to “align objectives, success measures, targets and incentives so as to enable joint work on improving value and reducing risk.”
In the White Paper on Procurement Strategies for Incentivizing Collaborative Delivery to Optimize Whole-life Outcomes, published alongside the IIMC, the research team that drafted the contract said: “[IIMC] governs the interfaces and relationships between team members who use information management based on BIM. This model will enable team members to agree directly their mutual BIM commitments in relation to one or more projects, and to implement these commitments transparently and collaboratively in order to get the best out of information management.”
“The Integrated Information Management Contract governs the interfaces and relationships between team members who use information management based on BIM.”
They further explained: “The model 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 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.”
According to the research team, the model IIMC describes the integrated relationships and processes that help team members to achieve their information management deliverables by working efficiently together. The model also 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 also enables clients and other team members to plan and agree information management requirements and processes during the early planning stages of a project when the data requirements are not yet fully defined, and to seek improved value throughout all stages in the procurement and delivery cycle.
“It creates an opportunity to agree, cultivate and manage important collaborative behaviours and relationships. It can incorporate amendments that reflect the particular requirements of different clients and team members working in different sectors and in different jurisdictions,” the research team said.
The new model is already being used to combine BIM with early supply chain involvement, modern methods of construction and shared learning on the £1bn Ministry of Justice New Prisons Programme, which includes ISG, Kier, Laing O’Rourke and Wates.
Professor David Mosey, professor of law at King’s College London, said: “Our work with CDBB and industry on the IIMC has created an important new tool for collaborative digital information management. This research led to the recommendation of an IIMC in ‘Constructing the Gold Standard’, which is now approved by government for implementation in all public sector frameworks. Meanwhile, early adopters such as Crown Commercial Service and Ministry of Justice are already using the IIMC to improve whole-life value.”
The IIMC is available on request from: [email protected].
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