ACIF & APCC collaborations

30 March 2014

An update on projects relating to procurement, project team integration and BIM being undertaken by ACIF and the APCC.

The ACA is a member of the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF), which has a number of interesting projects currently underway in collaboration with the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC).

These include the following:

Guide to Leading Practice Procurement

This guide aims to “help clients and regulators understand the existing principles, practices and tools they have at their disposal to ensure that their capital works projects are efficiently and lawfully delivered.”

The guide will summarise the principles, practices, and tools included in the following documents.

  • The Property Council’s “Projects as Wealth Creators” report and the steps to be taken to achieve outstanding outcomes.
  • The leading practice statement of sound project imitation in a revised APCC/ACIF Project Initiation Guide
  • The APCC and ACIF Project Team Integration Workbook
  • The CRC for Construction Innovation Guide To Leading Practice for Dispute Avoidance and Resolution
  • The APCC and Austroads Procurement Guide – Principles and Options

The Case for Project Team Integration 

This aims to provide the industry with a concise outline of the benefits of the earlier engagement of constructors in project teams, which enables them to work with designers and other client-appointed consultants to deliver required functionality within required time and budget limits.

ACIF and APCC have been collaborating for several years on tools to help industry adopt and get the best from BIM.

The focus is on the behavioural and management tools needed to best create and manage project teams, to optimise the contribution of individual team members to achieving client objectives and to achieve excellent project outcomes.

Limited hard copies and soft copies of the report will be available from early April 2014.

The Project Team Integration Workbook 

The Workbook will provide the industry with a “Roadmap” for the integration of project teams. It will provide a checklist for project sponsors, designers and constructors to assess the degree to which they are able to integrate a project team and will also help to identify the issues that need to be addressed to deliver optimal project outcomes.

The focus is on the behaviours needed to ensure the project team works collaboratively and efficiently, with each member respecting the contribution of other members.

The Workbook also provides a framework for the decision-making required by the project team to enable the collaborative behaviour that needs to become the norm

Limited hard copies and soft copies will be available from early April 2014.

Adoption of Project Team Integration and BIM Road Map 

ACIF and APCC are working on an Adoption of Project Team Integration (PTI) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) Road Map. The will include a Vision Statement outlining “World’s Best Practice in PTI and BIM”, an outline of the project scope and the steps needed to achieve the vision.

PTI and BIM Knowledge Hub – Benefits and Resources 

A collection point for materials associated with PTI and BIM, which will include materials such as baseline benchmarking, case studies, research from Australia and internationally, relevant online information, a bibliography, updated Conspectus of BIM Initiatives, and updated and pithy “Case of the Benefits of BIM”

The Knowledge Hub is expected to be launched at the joint APCC and ACIF Meeting in mid-2014.

Procurement Models and Application of PTI and BIM Options Guide 

The Guide will articulate the following:

1. How to integrate BIM into each procurement model

2. Different roles and responsibilities for each party

3. Other inclusions and considerations:

  • Supply chain and life cycle benefits
  • Procurement can be the lever to improve asset management
  • Greater focus on small building projects
  • What is the best BIM solution for each project (bespoke projects)
  • Retrofit BIM for facilities management
  • Consider a phased approach to introducing BIM on building projects / articulating the different stages
  • Opportunities to introduce PTI and BIM
  • How to structure contractual arrangements to accommodate PTI and BIM – best practice
  • Case studies to illustrate how BIM can be applied
  • What clients should know at each of three BIM adoption levels (based on the UK Maturity Model)

Education and skills program for PTI and BIM 

The project will include:

  • On the job training – including trades
  • Industry wide training projects
  • Project-related training – best practice in BIM
  • Multi-disciplinary, multi-vendor, collaborative teams
  • List of available programs and courses currently available
  • Methodology to educate public sector executive management (client) through the use of evidence based benefits derived from recent high profile building projects

Project Initiation Guide revision 

This revision will to incorporate developments in procurement policy and practices, including project team integration and BIM. The guide argues that the use of rigorous information analysis at the beginning of a project has the greatest potential to significantly improve the whole project. The guide will set out a framework of leading practice methods for achieving those improvements.