The impact of building information modelling (BIM) on public sector tender documents for civil engineering works

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is being made compulsory for all UK Government projects from 2016. This applies to Civil Engineering projects and has implications for the tender document content. This paper looks at the Conditions of Contract (COC) and Methods of Measurement (MOM) for Civil Engineering work in relation to BIM for the first time. The study uses two LimesurveyTM questionnaires as the data collection method. The first questionnaire garnered findings from twenty-two responses from the government department responsible for Roads construction and maintenance. The respondents from this survey provide responses from a government client perspective. The second survey gathered information from the top 100 UK contracting organisations. This produced results from a government contractor perspective. The findings indicate that the government client needs to provide more training for its personnel to ensure that they are achieving the same level of competence demonstrated in the private sector. The NEC3 conditions of contract were deemed most preferable for BIM by both the public and private sectors. However, the findings suggest that the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) should incorporate specific BIM related clauses in an amendment to the main document. As the Manual of Contract Documents (MCHW) is mandatory for capital projects and this is unlikely to change the paper further suggests that work needs to be carried out so that this can be incorporated within the BIM model.