BIM underlines the need for a procurement process and a collaborative contract that answer questions as to who provides what information, when it is best provided and how it is used and relied upon. It enables and depends upon increased integration and collaborative working among team members by setting out:
■ Standards and processes that enhance both human and technological interactions throughout a construction project
■ A digital information management framework that supports the creation of improved and more robust information
■ Agreement as to how information can best be managed and exchanged.
The ISO 19650 series 'Organisation and Digitisation of Information about building and civil engineering works, including Building Information Modelling (BIM) - Information Management using Building Information Modelling' ('ISO 19650') states that:
■ 'Collaboration between the participants involved in construction projects and in asset management is pivotal to the efficient delivery and operation of assets'
■ 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'.
BIM raises questions that challenge the following traditional procurement characteristics:
■ The absence of direct connections between team members and the dependence on a project manager as an intermediary
■ Lack of clarity in the timing and integration of consultant and contractor design deliverables
■ Fragmented responses to early warning of a problem
■ The slow progress of payments down the supply chain
■ The use of project information systems primarily as a source of evidence to support later claims rather than as a forecasting and rapid response system to manage and resolve problems.
BIM offers a clearer view of the mutual dependencies between the activities of team members if they agree to share design, cost, quality and time information in the levels of detail required and at the times when this information will be most useful to the project. The direct mutual connections established through collaborative procurement reflect the overarching ISO19650 requirements for 'information container based collaborative working' and 'collaborative production of information'.