Using computer technology for plan review, the plan approval process, and code checking streamlines building department operations and can be a boon for local economies. Fiatech and the International Code Council (ICC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that supports a shared vision to advance the effectiveness and efficiency of building design, construction, and code compliance through the use of advanced technologies and practices represented by the Fiatech AutoCodes Project. AutoCodes—automated code checking—is a significant development that moves regulatory compliance into the digital age on par with modern commercial design and construction industry practices.

“Fiatech is pleased to have ICC’s support in the development of AutoCodes, which will be a ‘game changer’ in the building design and construction process,” said Ray Topping, Director of Fiatech. “Our Memorandum of Understanding builds on the strong working relationship established with ICC over the past six years in advancing regulatory streamlining.”

“Automated code checking helps plan reviewers focus on the core tasks of code compliance and speeds up the permitting process,” said ICC Board President Ronald Piester, AIA. “This innovative technology will provide comprehensive and consistent results from project to project across jurisdictions and allow code officials to dedicate more time to safety issues, inspections, and other important duties.”

The current stage of the project focuses on efforts to convert egress chapters 10 and 11 of the International Building Code into machine-language rule sets to check 3D building information models (BIM) for code compliance. A critical aspect of the phase is to define an ICC certification roadmap that confirms the integrity of AutoCodes Project deliverables with regards to the IBC for industry usage.

“ICC and Fiatech are committed to completing this long-term project,” said ICC CEO Dominic Sims, CBO. “Using technology for code checking is a win-win for the jurisdiction, designer, and property owner. The quicker plans are approved to begin construction, the quicker a business can open its doors and see sales dollars. Speeding up plan review and permitting turnaround time will result in projects being started and completed in a more timely manner, thereby creating an economic development advantage in a competitive world. ”

A video that describes the AutoCodes Project and its value to industry can be viewed here:

The International Code Council is a member-focused association. It is dedicated to developing model codes and standards used in the design, build, and compliance process to construct safe, sustainable, affordable, and resilient structures. Most U.S. communities and many global markets choose the International Codes.

Fiatech is a global community of industry stakeholders working together to advance productivity and efficiency throughout the life cycle of capital assets by advancing the development and deployment of technology and innovative practices.

Carl Bass talks about the new rules of innovation… at TEDxBerkeley. Innovation is happening at an unprecedented pace and will continue to accelerate because of 5 trends:

1. The Age of Access and Experience
2. Business Un-usual
3. Digital Fabrication
4. Rise of Information
5. Infinte Computing

What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

• Tell us about your company?
• What are you showing at your booth?
• Do you want to share any new announcements with the AECCafe audience?
• How can AECCafe visitors find out more about your company?

The interview is free for AECCafe Member Companies but we charge a nominal amount to other companies and architects to cover our expenses. Contact Sanjay Gangal if you are interested in booking a 15-minute time slot for the interview. You can see past interviews here.

To add a little fun to the conference, we are asking the conference attendees to share a joke in front of the video camera. The best jokes will be edited together in a video montage. The jokes have to be clean and funny.

Here is one of the interviews we recorded last year which has received more than 2,500 views:

About AECCafe.Com

AECCafe‘ ArchShowcase has more than 5,000 fabulous projects. If you are an architect and want your project included in the ArchShowcase, visit AECCafe.Com and submit your project online or email it to Sanjay Gangal. Alternatively, you can send your project using wetransfer, dropbox, or FTP.

AECCafe.Com is a portal offering architectural, engineering, and construction industry professionals product catalog listings, technical papers, industry news, CEO interviews, multimedia presentations, priority press releases, event postings, job placement and more. Each AECWeekly Review delivers to its readers news concerning the latest developments in the AEC industry, in a readable newsletter format with feature stories and news bytes.

AECCafe receives more than 500,000 pageviews/month, 100,000 unique visitors per month and its daily newsletter has more than 16,000 subscribers. Subscribe to the daily newsletter at AECCafe.Com.

A good place to get a sense of where the geographic information system (GIS) field is headed is Lattie F. Coor Hall at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz. That’s the home of the 30-credit-hour Masters of Advanced Study in GIS (MAS-GIS) Program within ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning. Here, students are exposed to not only the latest GIS concepts but also ever-evolving technologies.

ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning offers additional options for GIS studies, including an undergraduate certificate and an undergraduate degree program that is in development. Like all master’s programs, though, the MAS-GIS is designed to convey the most advanced concepts in its field.

The program was developed from 2002–2003 and launched in 2004 by Dr. Robert C. Balling, Jr., who had overseen ASU’s Office of Climatology for 18 years. Balling—the associate program director—and several faculty associates—including Nik Smilovsky, MS, GISP, product specialist for Topcon Positioning Systems dealer RDO Integrated Controls in Phoenix—part of RDO Equipment Co.—teach a total of 10 courses in the program, which also includes an internship and capstone GIS project in the final semester. Typically, students start in the fall semester and complete their studies in 12 months.

Dr. Robert C. Balling, Jr., associate director of the Masters of Advanced Study in GIS (MAS-GIS) Program at Arizona State University, developed the curriculum for a program that has provided advanced training for more than 250 students since 2004.

Shortly after he turned 50, the phone rang and Balling was told about the opportunity to develop a new program. “I was involved in the climate debate and wrote a bunch of books and had a pretty successful operation,” he recalled. “It was really a terrific thing, at age 50, to take a right turn and do something completely different. I recommend it for everybody,” he said with a laugh.

Balling developed the MAS-GIS program to fill a niche, like some other master’s GIS programs. Several programs are online, a format that works for some students but not others, Balling contended. “We’ve had success with the on-campus program,” he said, noting that ASU’s program is accelerated compared with several two-year programs. “It’s to our benefit. People love to come to Arizona State and spend a year. Our niche is that you can come here and work all day if you like; we go to school at night.”

Since 2004, more than 250 students have received their master’s degrees through the program. Roughly one-third of students enroll in the program immediately after receiving an undergraduate degree and another one-third have worked in another field for years and are seeking a change. “Students have a median age of 28, typically are working or have worked, and see this program as an opportunity to move their careers along rapidly,” Balling reported. “They believe a master’s degree will not just improve their job situation but also open up opportunities for a variety of jobs they currently can’t compete for. A lot of employers don’t say you have to have a master’s degree, but it’s to your advantage to have it.”

As an advanced GIS studies program, the MAS-GIS is equipped with the latest geospatial data collection technologies. The most advanced of these technologies is Topcon’s IP-S2 HD mobile mapping system operated by Smilovsky and Survey Account Manager Yon Egusquiza, the use of which RDO Integrated Controls donates to ASU.

The IP-S2 HD mobile mapping system uses five redundant technologies, including GNSS, LiDAR and high-speed digital photography, to collect high volumes of three-dimensional data efficiently.

Hands-on mobile mapping

The IP-S2 system mounts on the back of a vehicle and consists of a dual-frequency, dual-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver that establishes the geospatial position of the vehicle; an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that tracks vehicle attitude (pose); a long-range Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor head equipped with 64 laser that captures high-resolution, high-density point clouds at up to 100 meters away that are time-stamped using special software; and external wheel encoders that capture odometry data from the vehicle. In addition, a high-resolution digital camera captures 360-degree images.

Every second, the scanners collect 1.3 million x, y and z points that are used to obtain accurate geospatial positions for assets. Traditionally, LiDAR data have been collected from the air; because this system collects the data from ground level, it provides critical data that cannot be obtained from aerial surveys. Integration of these technologies creates a three-dimensional position for the vehicle and provides accurate tracking in challenging or denied GNSS environments. A laptop computer inside the truck uses a Web browser to communicate with the bed-mounted equipment via an Ethernet cable; data collection does not require an Internet connection.

In GIS Data Management, which Smilovsky teaches in the spring semester, students are tasked with hands-on collection of the data that they process later. For the 2012-13 school year, Smilovsky subdivided the entire campus into equilateral grids and had each student collect a minimum of 50 features.

The goal of the data collection was to have students manually collect data, said Smilovsky, adding that use of mobile mapping is part of RDO Integrated Controls’ ongoing community involvement initiative. Later, he showed them how much more efficient collection was with the truck-mounted mobile-mapping system. One common campus feature with a large volume of potential point cloud data that lends itself to the use of mobile mapping is the Palm Walk pedestrian mall. Another instructor, Don Thorstenson, is developing a project for his GIS for the Public Sector course in which students would collect data on trees on campus and develop a GIS database for ongoing maintenance. It’s another application for mobile mapping.

“Our students love being out there, they love seeing mobile mapping,” Balling said. “So much of what we do is in the lab and some of the people are just itching to grab that GPS antenna pole, go outside and do things and see stuff outside of this building.”

During the fall semester, RDO Integrated Controls forged even deeper ties with ASU and the GIS field. Smilovsky and RDO developed a paid internship for ASU MAS-GIS students to collect data with mobile mapping.

Master’s degree opens doors

International students are well-represented in the program. Program graduate Mridul Mittal of New Delhi, India enrolled in the program in fall 2011, having completed undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Engineering at Amity University in India. He had heard about the GIS field only about a year earlier.

“I was really interested in it and actually my purpose was to study GIS so that I could get into natural resource management, landscape management or even wildlife conservation,” Mittal said. “But I couldn’t see doing it with my bachelor’s degree. I was looking for a program that would give me the technical skills—I have a computer science background—to get into fields like this. GIS proved to be a perfect match as a technical background to get into natural resource planning.”

While completing his studies, Mittal worked as a GIS intern with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and continued to do so as of fall 2012. At first, his work was limited to cartography, but he has begun developing applications for the agency and public, updating metadata records, and developing a metadata geoportal and started working on data download sites. A small portion of his work has also included creating maps to resolve disputes between private landholders and the state government. Other projects assist department scientists in studying wildlife species.

Mittal recalled processing data collected by mobile mapping during his MAS-GIS studies. The GIS database that was built using the point cloud, GPS location data and video was amazing, he said. “I work at Game and Fish and I work with a huge amount of data, especially shape files of the whole state. Suppose we used LiDAR—we would have highly populated data, very accurate and precise points. When we collect GPS data, we get only one point. Imagine taking 10,000 points in one location—you have accurate data, bigger data and you can do precise calculations and have the exact thing you want.”

One project that Mittal managed during his master’s studies that no doubt will prove to be valuable in years to come was building a mobile Android application for hiking trails in Arizona. He mapped out about 1,000 trails throughout Arizona, building them from data collected from cities, the Arizona State Parks Trails System and even his own hikes.

“It was a challenge to bring those different data in various forms together and make a single database to build my app,” he said. He used Google Maps as a base map and ESRI shapefiles to illustrate trail lines. As of fall 2012, Arizona State Parks Trails System developers were working on a mobile device-friendly iOS version of the app and Mittal expected it to be ready by spring 2013.

“The main reason why they wanted me to create the app was that they have many applications now for hiking, but all of them require GPS,” Mittal said. “This application does not require GPS—although it has an option for it—because all of the trails are already mapped in. If you needed GPS, you would drain the battery in a couple, maybe three or four hours. With this application, you preload the map before you go on the hike and I designed algorithms for elevation and time predictions for the hike. “You know where to go, even though you don’t have a data or GPS connection.”

Another MAS-GIS graduate, who came to Arizona State from China, is not quite as settled into his career as Mittal is but looks forward to taking advantage of the opportunities that the master’s degree will provide. Zhe Yang received an undergraduate degree from the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, central China in August 2011. A year later, he had completed his MAS-GIS studies at ASU.

During the final year of his undergraduate studies, Yang served an internship in water conservation, learning the basics of database programming. “I learned a lot about the basic concepts of GIS, but I thought I needed more real-world practice and knowledge,” Yang said. “When I started to look at American universities, my professor recommended ASU. I found that the MAS-GIS program is focused on real-world GIS knowledge, not only the research work. This really attracted me. I think that the MAS-GIS program has given me a better understanding of the GIS field and more practical opportunities.”

Yang and a fellow MAS-GIS student, Danielle Williamson, managed data, performed analysis and created maps to visualize results for a study for the Center for Equal Progress for the MAS-GIS Faculty Associate Consortium during their first semester. They determined that many low-income areas in the Phoenix metropolitan area were exposed to high pollution, and that race is tied to exposure levels, based on data collected from toxic release inventory sites in the year 2000. Further, styrene—a derivative of benzene, a constituent found in gasoline, and a carcinogen—was the most common and concentrated pollutant. Relying on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Maricopa County, the study also indicated that pollution had been reduced significantly across the county by 2010.

While serving an internship for the City of Phoenix Aviation Department’s Technology Division, Yang used a handheld laser rangefinder to locate a newly installed chair charging station at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

In fall 2012, Yang was serving another internship, for Westland Properties Group, a real estate management company, in Scottsdale. He created a database using residential sale data in Maricopa and Pinal counties to provide insight into home sale trends among Westland’s properties.

Yang said that, now that he has his master’s degree, he wants to focus on one area of the GIS field for full-time employment. “My opinion is to try as much as I can to experience more industries related to GIS and after that, I can find a way that I would go in the future,” he said.

What the future holds

If anything, Balling expects equipment to become increasingly sophisticated as GIS becomes increasingly sophisticated. That means that ASU’s School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning will continue to continually replace its equipment, giving individual instruments a service life of a year or two. It helps that the school is an Esri development center; the school’s instruments and software must “keep up” with Esri product development.

While equipment will change in coming years, fundamental GIS concepts will not, Balling said. “I teach spatial analysis—fact is, that doesn’t really change at all,” he said. “Software has changed but not the basic concepts they have to learn—spatial interpolation, multivariate statistical analysis—those are a hundred years old. It’s like teaching calculus.”

Smilovsky thinks that GIS will continue to be a growth field. “I think it’s the general acceptance that more and more companies are realizing that to have a few people in GIS,” said Smilovsky, noting that companies such as UPS and FedEx rely heavily on GIS for their logistics.

“I know this—whatever we’re doing today, we’re not going to be doing 10 years from now,” Balling said. “The instruments will be smaller and faster and collect more data. There will also be less desktop. We’re going to the cloud and we won’t rely on software as much.”

Mittal agreed with the notion that mobile devices will become more powerful in GIS. “Field work will go out of the desktop and to mobile devices and mobile devices will take on the whole enterprise,” he said.

In this ArchiCAD tutorial excerpted from the Best Practices Course (http://www.acbestpractices.com) you’ll learn how to import manufacturer components as 3D library parts. These are becoming more widely available in IFC and DWG formats from many websites, and allow you to place highly accurate representations of actual real world equipment and furniture into your ArchiCAD models.

ArchiCAD 16 makes this an easy process. You can import IFC files directly using the File menu – File Special – Merge command, which will create a new library part and immediately place it. If it appears faceted (due to curved or detailed surface models), you may select a copy of the new object and use the Design menu – Convert to Morph command, then adjust the Morph settings to make the edges “Soft”. This will make both the 2D plan view and the 3D window (and Elevation) views much cleaner.

A similar process may be followed to import a DWG file using the File menu – Libraries and Objects – Open Object command.

Note that you can add Listing parameters to these new objects for your Schedules by changing the Object Subtype from Model Element to a more specific type of element.

WEB PAGES SHOWN IN THE VIDEO:
IFC download of NBL sink:
http://www.nationalbimlibrary.com/GenericBIMObject?id=345

DWG download of Duravit sink:
http://www.duravit.co.uk/website/homepage/products/product_overview/series/architec.com-en.html/p-90552

Note that access to files on http://www.nationalbimlibrary.com requires registration, which is free.

What’s a charrette you ask? Well, the word really means “cart” in French and its relationship to architecture stems from the use of a cart to collect final projects in the design studios at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, but if you look it up on Wikipedia it says:

A charrette (pronounced [shuh-ret]), is often Anglicized to charette and sometimes called a design charrette. . . . In fields of design such as architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design, interior design, interaction design, or graphic design, the term charrette may refer to an intense period of work by one person or a group of people prior to a deadline. The period of a charrette typically involves both focused and sustained effort. The word “charrette” may also be used as a verb, as in, for example, “I am charretting” or “I am on charrette [or: en charrette],” simply meaning I am working long nights, intensively toward a deadline.

Much to the dismay of many people around me—starting with my wife and kids and ending with my business partners—I love working all sorts of weird hours of the night. I find that my most creative period of the day is between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. And I love the craziness, intensity—and yes, stress—of having a very short period of time to complete a lot of design work. I can’t say exactly why I like this—it’s just the way I’m wired. So there it is—I’m an admitted charrette-aholic.

Last October I got a big fix at the Housing Colorado Now! Conference. I was given the opportunity to lead a great group of people through a charrette to design a project for the Estes Park Housing Authority. The team consisted of co-leader Paul Brady of Godden | Sudik Architects, Ulla Lange of WORKSHOP8, Elena Scott of Norris Design, Matt Heiser and Steve Lane of Basis Architecture, Matt Seewald of Palace Construction, Rita Kurelja of the Estes Park Housing Authority, Elicia Ratajczyk of Housing Colorado, several other design and development professionals and six amazing students from UC Denver.

The charrette was two days and two nights of non-stop designing, drawing, discussing, thinking and laughing (there may have been some crying and complaining too). In the end the design concept was distilled to “everyone wants their own little cabin in the woods.” I’ve never worked on any other project where large ungulates (aka elk) and how they walk across the site received more design discussion than cars and parking. And by the middle of the second night things got a little strange when one of the students took it upon himself to make up names for all of the team members. Swale Sister and Berm Bot make sense for landscape architects, but why one young female architecture student was named Tebow was lost on me.

In forty-eight mostly sleepless hours we went from a blank page to this:

And then to this:

As a confessed junkie I loved every minute of it—seriously—even searching for a cup of coffee or tea at 3:00 a.m. I hope that everyone else that was on the team loved it too. And most of all—I hope that Rita and the people of Estes Park got something of value out of it.

BIM Trends for 2013

According to a study       conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction, around 71 percent of the AEC companies in North America are using building information modeling (BIM) technology, as of 2012. Among the companies using BIM, nearly 50 percent have been using it for more than five years, while around 40 percent are implementing it in more than 60 percent of their projects.

Another survey, conducted by Design Master Software Inc. in 2012, among 74 engineers and designers from the US, Canada, and several other countries, revealed that around 62 percent of the respondents are already using 3D-BIM. Moreover, around 75 percent of those who are not using this technology said that they expect to use it on more than half of their projects during 2013, 2014 and 2015, while another 30 percent said that they will use 3D-BIM in all their upcoming projects in the next three years.

How the AEC Industry is Going to Adopt BIM in 2013

According to a report by PikeResearch, BIM adoption rate among AEC companies will continue to rise in 2013, mainly due to the growing demand for high performance buildings. According to the report, BIM is expected to generate more than $2,000 million in revenues next year. Here are some major reasons for an increasing number of AEC firm to adopting BIM in 2013 and beyond.

• BIM enables architects, engineers and contractors to use information-rich models to plan, design, construct and manage building and infrastructure projects more efficiently than ever before.
• BIM helps reduce rework, saves time and cost, and improves productivity and accuracy.
• BIM enables architects and engineers to create well planned and detailed construction documents.
• BIM makes post-construction management easier and hassle free.

Implementing BIM – Key Challenges Facing the AEC Industry

According to the report, Smart Buildings: Top Trends to Watch in 2012 and Beyond, by PikeResearch, AEC companies may face the following challenges when implementing BIM in 2013.

• Overcoming resistance to change – A lot of AEC firms are accustomed to using conventional construction processes. It may take some time for them to understand the benefits of adopting BIM.
• Training – Implementing BIM will require providing training to managers and employees. Some companies may face problems in finding BIM experts. Moreover, training will require investing time and money.
• Defining roles – Effective implementation of BIM requires each employee to recognize his/her roles and responsibilities. This could further increase the burden on AEC companies.

As the year progresses, the open approach to BIM is likely to evolve, with better integration of data from different participants and more seamless exchange of information with minimal data loss. A larger number of project owners will begin demanding BIM, so AEC firms should gear up for sustainable designs, delivery process innovation and interoperable building information.

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About the Author: Hi, I’m Aliya Jennifer from BIMhub.com, a One-Stop-BIM platform. BIMhub aims to empower architects, engineers, constructors and facility managers by offering high-end BIM solutions. To know more about BIM services, please visit our site.

On this day 40 years ago, October 27, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed into law a little noticed, bipartisan bill that sailed through Congress.

The “Brooks Act”, named for its sponsor, then-Representative Jack Brooks (D-TX), provided for an innovative and creative way to select firms to perform architecture, engineering and related services by contract to federal agencies.  Years before “best value’, “past performance” and other modern procurement processes were even dreamed of, Messrs, Nixon and Brooks, political rivals, and other Republicans and Democrats had the vision to recognize the “lowest bid” did not always mean the best deal for the taxpayer.

Have you ever wondered by countries like Haiti and Mexico suffer such abject building failures when earthquakes of similar or greater magnitude are less severe in the United States?

The answer is to a great extent the fact that the Brooks Act enables the selection of architects, engineers, surveyors other related design professionals on the basis of qualifications, competence, and experience.

Earthquakes don’t kill people as much as buildings falling down on people.

The United States has some of the most comprehensive building codes in the world. Standards for construction of structures are implemented and enforced by both the construction industry and government agencies. Inspections and oversight are important government functions, but compliance and proficiency by the industry is also critical.

Moreover, the initial design of facilities – the plans, drawings, surveys, maps, and blueprints developed by architects and engineers, result is safe, sturdy, reliable and efficient structures.  The process that emphasizes quality over low price in the selection of A/E professionals contributes to the life-cycle success of roads, buildings, structures, and systems.

The Brooks Act codified a process that had traditionally been used by Federal agencies since before the Civil War. It provides for the selection of firms to perform architecture, engineering and related services on the basis of the competence, qualification, background and track record of competing firms, subject to negotiation of a fee that is fair and reasonable to the government.

“Ask 10 A/E firms to bid on the design of a particular facility and many agencies will take the easy way out and select the low bidder. Under such circumstances, we may end up with a technically capable architect or engineer, but one who, for lack of experience or because of a desire to stay within his bid reduces the time spent on field surveys or in the preparation of detailed drawings, or in providing inspection services. As a result, the government may have saved itself a half of one percent to the cost of construction, operation or maintenance,” said Senator Jennings Randolph (D-WV) said on the Senate floor during the 1972 debate on the legislation that became the Brooks Act.

The Brooks Act “qualifications based selection” or “QBS” process is codified for federal agencies in title 40 of the United States Code, section 1101.  The law requires federal  agencies to publicly announce its requirements for professional A/E-related services, interested firms compete by submitting their qualifications, usually on a standard government form, SF 330, the agency evaluates the firms’ submittals and selects a short list of most qualified firms for an interview.  Based on evaluations of the firms’ qualifications, experience, past performance and other factors, the agency determines which firm is the most qualified to meet the government’s requirements.  The government prepares an independent estimate of the anticipated cost, and a negotiation is held between the government and the selected firm to arrive at a price that is fair and reasonable to the government.  In the process, the government holds the cards.  If a fair price cannot be negotiated, the government is free to terminate the negotiation and begin discussions with the second ranked firm.

More than 40 legislatures have enacted “mini-Brooks Acts” as state laws.  QBS is also endorsed by the American Bar Association in its Model Procurement Code for State and Local Government. There is no law anywhere in the United States that requires bidding for A/E services.

There is no doubt that the United States has suffered its share of faulty buildings. After incidents such as the collapse of the Hyatt regency in Kansas City and the implosion of the roof of the Hartford Civic Center, Congress investigated these incidents and issued a report on “Structural Failures in Public Facilities” in 1984. It found, “procurement practices that lead to or promote the selection of architects and engineers on a low bid basis should be changed to require prequalification of bidders with greater consideration given to prior related experience and past performance.” The chairman of the subcommittee conducting the study and publishing the report was then Rep. Al Gore, Jr. (D-TN). As President, Ronald Reagan said at ceremony recognizing design excellence in Federal buildings said, “Good design doesn’t cost money. Good design saves money, and you know how that warms my heart.”

When the landmark Competition in Contracting Act was enacted in 1984 in response to the scandals related to over-priced coffee pots and toilet seats bought by the Pentagon, Congress defined the QBS process as a competitive procedure in Federal law. During consideration of the original Brooks Act in 1972, Senator Edward Gurney (R-FL) explained “any Federal procurement officer … will tell you that competition based on professional-technical qualifications is every bit as hot and demanding as competition based on price, perhaps more so.”

The famous showman, P.T. Barnum is well known for saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” What is less known is that Barnum also observed, “The smartest way of deriving the greatest profit in the long run is to give people as much as possible for their money.” To the nineteenth century British author John Ruskin is attributed the observation, “It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”

There is no evidence that selecting architects, engineer and related professionals on the basis of price results in higher costs. Indeed, given that such services amount to less than 1/10th of 1 percent of the total life cycle cost of a structure or facility, but affect the operation and maintenance costs over the life of the facility, the research and data shows the investment in quality in design-related services saves money and human lives.

Government agencies in the United States achieve lower construction costs, more efficient use of taxpayers’ money and higher construction satisfaction when procuring design and engineering services for such projects on a qualifications rather than price. A study conducted jointly by the University of Colorado and Georgia Institute of Technology, drew from a database of approximately 200 public and private construction projects in 23 US states, included transportation, water, commercial and industrial projects, ranging in size from relatively small projects to those costing hundreds of millions dollars. Its authors compared various procurement methods, including QBS, Best Value, and Low-Bid, with such factors as total project cost, projected life-cycle cost, construction schedule, and project quality outcome. Results showed that using QBS to procure the design component of a construction project “consistently meant lower overall construction costs, reduced change orders, better project results and more highly satisfied owners than in other procurement methods”.

The Brooks Act is a law that works. It is part of what makes the United States exceptional and the envy of the world.

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Christopher M. Stone P.E., F.NSPE, F.ASCE, LEED AP BD+C is President of CLARK NEXSEN Architecture & Engineering, Norfolk, Virginia and Chairman of the Council on Federal Procurement of Architecture & Engineering Services (COFPAES).

PDF files are used more than ever, and the AEC market is no exception. With Adobe® Reader® software being freely available for every computer, PDF has become the ubiquitous file format for electronically distributing, viewing and printing all types of data and information. However, not all PDF files are the same.

Since the introduction of Adobe Acrobat® software, Adobe has created numerous versions and PDF files, adding new features and expanding functionality. Plus, there are numerous third party PDF creation applications, adding even more variation.

So why is it important to know that all these PDF versions exist? Because certain PDF versions print more consistently than others, and there are specific features in a PDF file that can greatly affect processing speed and printing accuracy. Creating and printing PDF files without an understanding of all their nuances can create challenges and delays.

Why Don’t All PDF Files Print the Way I Want?

Multiple editions of Adobe Acrobat have lead to a variety of PDF file versions, which in turn create challenges to ensuring print accuracy. Layers of transparencies (i.e., when two or more objects in a document overlap), missing fonts and poorly defined page boxes are the most common problems.

The use of color and how the color is defined also impacts processing time and the final printed output. While most engineering and architectural drawings are created in color, many are still printed in black and white. Problems can arise when color is converted to grayscale. For example, the color yellow might be very visible on a monitor but will become a very faint gray when printed in black and white. For on screen viewing, RGB color is appropriate; however, color printers typically use CMYK inks or toners, potentially causing colors to change during the conversion process.

Is There More Than One Way To Print A PDF File?

The process used to print PDF files can also affect the final output, so it’s important to understand each method’s unique characteristics. There are two methods that can be used – the Application/Printer Driver Method and the Direct PDF Printing Method.

As its name implies, the Application/Printer Driver method requires two pieces of software in order to print – application software that can open and view the PDF file (e.g. Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader), and Print Driver software to convert documents into a printable format. Both work together to convert the PDF into a language the printer can understand. The disadvantage to this method is there is no easy way to handle batch printing of multiple PDF files.

With the Direct PDF Printing method an application submits PDF files directly to the printer and the file is converted in the printer using an Adobe PostScript® interpreter or processor. No printer driver is required. This method offers flexibility by giving users the ability to batch print multiple PDF files in one job, but not all printers support this method.

How Can I Avoid PDF Printing Problems?

It’s important to understand how to best use PDF printing software and identify problems before documents are printed. Preflighting PDF files in Acrobat software should alert you to potential issues before actually printing the documents. In many cases, the problems can be corrected.

While using Adobe Acrobat software can fix a good majority of PDF issues, it can’t fix every problem. One of the easiest ways to avoid a large majority of PDF printing problems is to create PDF files in or convert them to the PDF/X standard. The PDF/X standard requires that all fonts be embedded, bounding boxes be specified, color be correctly defined and it removes transparency issues – eliminating the most common errors in file preparation.

Remember: Not All PDF Files Are the Same

There are countless variables that influence how a PDF file is created and how it will print. As the popularity of the PDF file format increases in the AEC market, users will need to be better equipped to handle their complexities. Understanding the issues is a good first step.

To learn more about how AEC professionals can improve their PDF printing, visit Océ’s WideFormatPrintingResourceCenterat www.oceusa.com/WFRC.

According to the report “The Business Value of BIM” by McGraw Hill Construction, around 58 percent of the architecture firms in the United States were using Building Information Modeling (BIM), as of 2009. With more and more construction firms using BIM to their advantage, it is always a good idea to be more informed about the benefits offered by BIM. Contrary to common misconceptions, BIM is not just a technology, but a better approach towards designing, construction, and management of a construction project. Here, we will take a look at some major benefits of using BIM, so as to understand why this is a better approach towards building.

Benefits of Using BIM in Construction Projects

Effective utilization of BIM helps reduce manual errors, decrease costs, increase productivity, and improve quality of a construction project. Be it designing, construction, and management, BIM contributes to each and every phase a project in order to make the process easier, error-free and more effective. Following are the three major benefits of using BIM.

1. Reducing reworks – Building construction projects often go over budget due to reworks. This may also cause delays in a construction project. In order to avoid such a situation, BIM relies on a process of creating a three dimensional model of the building before the real construction starts. This 3D model replicates the structure of the building in detail. The structure includes electrical wiring, plumbing piping, air-conditioning ducking, and others. A copy of this 3D model is given to all service contractors, such as HVAC contractors, plumbing contractors, and electrical contractors. This helps to identify mistakes in the planning stage, thereby reducing risks of reworks to a large extent.

2. Accuracy in construction drawing – Use of BIM also helps to generate more accurate construction drawings and lists. While construction drawings may include floor plans, elevations and sections, some examples of construction lists can be area statements and material takeoffs. BIM also offers shorter turnarounds. That is mainly because, when you change one view of the construction model, the other views get changed automatically. Unlike traditional methods, updating of a drawing or list is done immediately. This saves a lot of time as well.

3. Easy access to information – BIM services offer easy access to critical information in each phase of a construction project. For example, in the design phase, it offers access to information regarding scheduling, budgeting, and designing. On the other hand, BIM also helps track if there is any lack in quality or cost overruns during the construction phase. In the management phase, it helps to access information regarding performance, implementation, and costs. BIM also updates all information in real time. That simply means that engineers, architects and service contractors can get an overall picture of the project at any point of time. This helps them make informed decisions in order to maintain quality and increase profitability.

When used effectively, Building Information Modeling can also help construction professionals provide some additional services, such as energy analysis, renovation planning, and move management services. Overall, the use of BIM services is a better approach towards constructing better buildings.

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About the Author: Hi, I’m Aliya Jennifer from BIMhub, a platform that encourages all players of the AEC industry to collaborate throughout the building life cycle from creation, maintenance, amortization and depreciation. To know more about our BIM services, please visit our site.