Charter for the National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

Charter for the

National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

Vision: An improved planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance process

by using a standardized machine-readable information model for each facility, new or
old, which contains all appropriate information created or gathered about that facility in a
format useable throughout its life-cycle by all.
Mission: Improve the performance of facilities over their full life-cycle by fostering a
common, standard and integrated life-cycle information model for the A/E/C & FM
industry. This information model will allow for the free flow of graphic and non-graphic
information among all parties to the process of creating and sustaining the built
environment, and will work to coordinate U.S. efforts with related activities taking place
internationally.
Standard: It is our intent that a comprehensive standard be developed now and matured
over time. The initial standard shall be implemented as soon as possible, to define the
scope of BIM and provide guidance to those currently establishing BIMs, in order to
maximize the collection of information likely to be useful throughout the life of the
facility. Having information collected in a standard format will allow parties to the
process to migrate and access data collected throughout this life cycle. The Standard
shall use the NIBS consensus process as maintained and overseen by the NIBS
Consultative Council as assigned by the NIBS Board of Directors. The Standard shall
consist of, at minimum, the following:
BIM Scope This section of the Standard will identify the phases, participants,
facilities, elements, and other significant objects in the built environment, and
their business roles in the building information model. It will also identify
development parties involved and their contributing organizations roles and
responsibilities.
Coverage of Version This section of the Standard will identify the portion of
the scope being addressed by the current version being developed. It is
understood that the BIM is significant in scope and that portions having
potentially larger return on investment will be addressed first. This section will
include a version plan identifying when various portions the BIM will be
addressed in the Standard.

Charter for the National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

Reference Standards The National BIM Standard is not a stand-alone

document and will rely as much as possible on other national and international
efforts both complete and in process to ensure interoperability and operation.
This section of the Standard will list standards that are applicable to various
sections of the BIM Scope. The creation of specific additional standards may be
required to forge links that heretofore do not exist. The National BIM Standard
will develop standard interfaces required for the free flow of information
throughout the model, when such interfaces are not available or their creation is
not planned by other parties.
Business Processes Interfaces between various sections of the National BIM
Standard and business processes will be at the core of the Standard. There are
commonly-recognized relationships that have not yet been formally identified or
documented in any standard. Standardizing these relationships will help to
identify the information that needs to flow through the model and be made
available to other parties as identified in the BIM Scope. Formalizing these
information flows will help identify authoritative sources for information and help
ensure that correct data is collected and need only be entered once into the model
for all eventual re-use and modification.
Business Rules Business rules define why certain processes occur and why
certain relationships exist. This section of the model will identify those rules that
are currently in place that make the information flow as it does today.
Recommendations for business rule changes to improve the flow of information
will be presented in this section. These may include changes to intellectual
property rights and significant transformational changes to business processes
currently in practice in the United States and elsewhere.
Data Structures and Models Data structures and models are at the heart of the
Standard. The relationships established by these models will drive
implementation models and process models. It is recognized that through the
fragmented growth of our industry that currently similar data entities and
attributes are not identified in exactly the same manner by all parties participating
in the building information model. The standard will serve to provide a common
structure which will allow for the flow of information and assurance of data
integrity by information receivers.
Implementation Guidance This section of the Standard will provide support to
owners, users and associated parties who have chosen to implement BIM. It will
provide guidelines, educational sources and checklists for implementation; these
are likely to include commercially available sources.
Maturity Model The maturity model will help define the types of information
and amount of detail that may be collected to achieve a certain levels of maturity.
Maturity level may be selected based on how critical the facility is to the
organization and the funds available for implementation. Level of support

Charter for the National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

provided by vendors whose products sustain BIM may also be identified by

maturity level, further helping users to develop pricing structures and estimate the
costs of implementing BIM.
Funding: Funding requirements shall be determined by the National BIM Standard
Executive Committee. Funding for the National BIM Standard will come from member
organizations and others, and shall be solicited and managed by the NIBS staff, and in
conjunction with NIBS partners.
Organization: The National BIM Standard Committee shall be under the organizational
structure of the National Institute for Building Sciences (NIBS), managed by the Facility
Information Council (FIC). The National BIM Standard committee shall have a Chair,
Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer elected by the National BIM Standard committee-at
large on an annual basis. An annual meeting shall be held of all the members of the
committee. Other meetings of the committee shall be held on an as-needed basis and
called by the chair or vice-chair. There shall be an executive committee made up of the
chair, vice-chair, NIBS staff member supporting the committee, and representatives of
the committee-at-large. The executive committee is established by the chair and its
purpose shall be the administration of the business affairs of the National BIM Standard
Committee. Task groups may be established for specific purposes and durations as
determined by the Executive Committee.
Agreement and Acceptance: The undersigned organizations agree to participate in the
development team to produce the United States National Building Information Model
Standard as a full partner in this development. All undersigned further agree that the
work they produce shall be shared freely with the other members of the team. Wherever
possible consensus industry and international standards development efforts, especially
International Standards Organization (ISO) efforts will be recognized and incorporated
into this standard so that the standard is usable by multinational organizations.
All team members believe and agree that the development of this standard will help
improve the competitiveness of the construction industry and the efficiency and
effectiveness of government agencies of the United States as well as similar international
efforts, by helping to ensure that information gathered throughout the life-cycle of a
constructed facility is collected in a standardized manner such that it will be useful to all
interested parties for all purposes throughout the life-cycle of any constructed facility.
Work accomplished toward the Standard outside of the Standard but included or
referenced by the Standard shall remain the property of the individual participant or
organization. Acknowledgement of their contribution shall be provided as noted below.
It is our intent to distribute freely the resulting standards and other work of the NBIMS
committees for use in defining and implementing the National BIM Standard.
All work included in the Standard not otherwise identified shall be copyrighted in the
form of the collected National Building Information Model Standard by the National
Institute of Building Sciences, not for its gain but for protection of the development

Charter for the National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

teams efforts from uncontrolled external use. This copyright in the collection shall not
supersede or interfere with any copyright held by member organizations in the content of
individual source documents that may be included expressly or by reference, with or
without attribution in the National Building Information Standard. NIBS shall not
exercise this copyright held in the collection against the interests that any member
organization may have in the underlying source documents or standards that may be
contributed towards or included expressly or by reference, with or without attribution in
the National Building Information Standard.
Copyright Notice
All material in this document or on this web site (text, graphics, formatting) is:
Copyright 2005
The National Institute of Building Sciences - National Building Information
Model Standard Development Committee (NBIMS), All rights reserved.
Contact:

The NBIMS Development Committee

c/o Earle Kennnet

The National Institute of Building Sciences

1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20005-4905

THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS," AND COPYRIGHT HOLDERS

MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON
INFRINGEMENT, OR TITLE; THAT THE CONTENTS OF THE DOCUMENT
ARE SUITABLE FOR ANY PURPOSE; NOR THAT THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH CONTENTS WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY
THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER
RIGHTS
COPYRIGHT HOLDERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF
ANY USE OF THE DOCUMENT OR THE PERFORMANCE OR
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONTENTS THEREOF.
Credit shall be given to all participating team members in an acknowledgement statement
provided with each publication, written, oral or electronic:
The National Building Information Model Standard is the product of a team effort
made possible by the following participating member organizations and
companies: (Organizations listed below). The Standard was prepared under the
coordination of the National Institute of Building Sciences for the good of the
construction and related industries as a whole.

Charter for the National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

Charter for the National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

This Charter is accepted and supported by the following organizations:

Organization

Representative

Date__

FIATECH ...............................................................Ric Jackson ..........................................12/15/2005

CYON Research .....................................................Brad Holtz............................................12/15/2005

ARCOM..................................................................Ted Smith & Chris Bushnell...............12/15/2005

Total Resource Management .................................George Korte .......................................12/15/2005

FacilityGenetics, LLC............................................Alan Edgar ...........................................12/15/2005

AEC Infosystems ...................................................Dianne Davis .......................................12/15/2005

SMACNA ...............................................................G.A. Navas...........................................12/15/2005

HDRR. ...................................................................Mark Butler..........................................12/15/2005

CH2M Hill..............................................................Michael Hayes .....................................12/15/2005

FM Global...............................................................Tom Gay ..............................................12/15/2005

Nemetschek North America ..................................Robert Anderson..................................12/15/2005

Onuma.....................................................................Kimon Onuma .....................................12/15/2005

ERDC ......................................................................Bill East................................................12/15/2005

NAVISWORKS .....................................................Jonathan Widney .................................12/15/2005

Maryland National Capital

Park & Planning Commission ...............................Anthony Derro.....................................12/15/2005

Parsons Brinckeroff................................................Timothy Case.......................................12/15/2005

OSCRE Americas, Inc. ..........................................Andy Furman .......................................12/15/2005

USCG......................................................................Dave Hammond...................................12/15/2005

Jordani Consulting .................................................Dave Jordani ........................................12/15/2005

Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc .........................Mark Reinhardt....................................12/15/2005

American Institute of Architects ...........................Tony Rinella ............................................2/9/2006

State of Massachusetts

Capital Asset Management ...................................Luciana Burdi, PhD.................................2/9/2006

K. Hovnanian Homes ............................................Dawn Boggio-Korbelak, RA, AIA.......2/10/2006

Woolpert, Inc. ........................................................J. Robert Carlsen ...................................2/10/2006

Little Diversified ....................................................Chris France...........................................2/10/2006

MACTEC E&C .....................................................James R Watson ....................................2/10/2006

International Centre for Facilities .........................Franoise Szigeti & Gerald Davis ........2/11/2006

Open Design Alliance ...........................................Evan Yares.............................................2/13/2006

CID Engineering, Inc. ...........................................Shiva Davoodpour.................................2/13/2006

GHAFARI Associates, LLC .................................Samir Emdanat ......................................2/17/2006

Bentley Systems, Inc..............................................Brad Workman .....................................2/23/2006

The Mason & Hanger Group Inc. .........................James E. (Mickey) Jones, Jr., PhD.........4/4/2006

Merrick & Company ..............................................Robert S. Huston, NCARB ...................8/22/2006

OmegaVue ..............................................................Judd Peterson, AIA .................................9/9/2006

BIM World .............................................................Mike Collins ..........................................12/4/2006

IAI International .....................................................Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA.....................12/4/2006

Graphic Systems Inc ..............................................Eric Teicholz..........................................12/4/2006

Charter for the National Building Information Model (BIM) Standard

December 15, 2005

DKS Information Consultants, LLC .....................Dana Smith ............................................12/4/2006

International Codes Council ..................................Rick Weiland .......................................12/14/2006

CSI...........................................................................Roger Grant & Greg Ceton .................12/15/2006

INTERTECH Design, Inc......................................Will F. Ikerd II, P.E., C.W.I. ................1/23/2007

Tekla, Inc. ..............................................................Stacy Scopano .................................1/25/2007

BRPH Companies, Inc. ..........................................Brian E. Curtin ........................................3/1/2007

Durrant ....................................................................Dave Alley, AIA .....................................3/2/2007

Burgess & Niple, Inc..............................................W. Edward Lowe.....................................3/2/2007

HOK .......................................................................Mario Guttman, AIA/Miles Walker ...... 3/2/2007

Jacobs Architectural & Engineering Practice.......Betsy M. Perry, AIA ...............................3/2/2007

Perkins & Will........................................................Michael Masteller....................................3/2/2007

Design Atlantic Ltd. ...............................................Finith E. Jernigan AIA ............................3/2/2007

Newforma, Inc........................................................Ian Howell................................................3/2/2007

Trelligence, Inc.......................................................Lawrence A. Ciscon, Ph.D. ....................3/2/2007

Digital Alchemy, Inc..............................................Richard See ..............................................3/2/2007

IFMA.......................................................................David Brady.............................................3/5/2007

Quarry Group Inc. .................................................Chris Hubbard..........................................3/6/2007

HMC........................................................................Mark W. Kiker.........................................3/6/2007

Barbara Golter Heller, FAIA ..............................Barb Heller...............................................3/6/2007

Peripheral Systems, Inc. (PSI)...............................Glenn Hunt...............................................3/6/2007

DMJM Design ........................................................Randy Brockington .................................3/7/2007

Needham and Associates, Inc................................Mike Schuetz, AIA..................................3/7/2007

Systems Building Services, LLC ..........................Thomas W. Gallup ..................................3/7/2007

Lawrence Berkley National Lab ...........................Vladimir Bazjanac ..................................3/8/2007

LEO A DALY .......................................................Craig R. Thomas, AIA ............................3/9/2007

Commercial Design Group, Inc. ..........................Philip Buscemi.......................................3/13/2007

Michael Baker Corp. .............................................Dhruv Jain..............................................3/14/2007

Stanley Consultants, Inc. ......................................Terry Jordan...........................................3/14/2007

Woolpert, Inc. ........................................................Harry Singh............................................3/19/2007

Building Systems Design, Inc. .............................John R. Witherspoon.............................3/19/2007

William H. Gordon, Assoc. ...................................Forrest Shepherd......................................4/3/2007

SKYLINE Engineering & Construction, LLC .....Dwayne E. Cheatom..............................4/10/2008

Soft Innovations, Inc. .............................................Scott Ebert..............................................4/17/2008

If you agree and support the tenants of this charter and would like to add your company
or organization name to this list please email Alan Edgar, Chair of the NBIMS Project
Committee at [email protected] .