For the first time ever, twenty two leading national construction-related associations have collaborated to develop consensus contract documents. Owners, general contractors, subcontractors, sureties, insur­ers, and engineers have developed ConsensusDOCS, employing best practices and fair risk allocation for all parties, resulting in better project results and fewer disputes.

In fact, “DOCS” stands for Designers, Owners, Contractors, Subcontractors and Sureties. This diverse coalition demonstrated the power of unprecedented collaboration, with the release of this compre­hensive series of more than eighty collaboratively drafted contracts and forms.

PDCA was one of the subcontractor groups that collaborated in the production of the ConsensusDOCS, first introduced in September 2007.An important aspect of the ConsensusDOCSis that they serve no master; they are designed to be fair and equitable and also serve best industry practices.On August 17, 2007, the PDCA Board of Directors fully endorsed the ConsensusDOCS, and decided not to endorse any further the AIA model Construction Contract.

On July 1, 2008 ConsensusDOCS released a groundbreaking Building Information Modeling (BIM) Addendum which marks a significant step forward in utilizing BIM as a collaborative tool.This new document will bring the construction industry’s future into reality. The ConsensusDOCS 301 BIM Addendum is the first and only industry standard document to globally address the legal uncertainties associated with utilizing BIM.

BIM is the process of generating and managing computerized, multi-dimensional models linked to databases that house the design specifications, schedules and other documents related to a construction project.BIM provides all parties involved on a project with shared, up-to-date project data, subsequently allowing for a richer design process, increased budget control through predictions about the project’s construction process and fewer surprises with respect to potential design and scheduling conflicts among trades – long before ground is even broken.

“The BIM Addendum shows that there is actually less legal risk in moving from the 2-D world to the 3-D world,” said Richard Lowe of Duane Morris LLP, who chaired both the ConsensusDOCS BIM Taskforce and the AGC BIM Forum Legal Subcommittee.“Introducing the ConsensusDOCS 301 BIM Addendum does much to allay these fears, by providing a balanced, fair and practical way for all in the industry to proceed with a project using BIM.

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