The federal US system, with its 50 different state legislatures, has left a clear imprint on BIM, believes Autodesk vice-president Phil Bernstein: “There is no central government mechanism, no Paul Morrell or Mark Bew. But some of the earliest ideas emerged from the GSA [General Services Administation] – a federal government body that had a lot of interesting ideas about technical standards.”
The GSA provides coordination to federal government, including on the procurement and management of government offices, Bernstein explains. “But since the credit crunch the GSA has been largely de-funded, so it’s not building anything. So you get private sector initiatives, such as the American Institute of Architecture’s protocols, and standards from the construction associations. And you get states such as Maryland or Wisconsin, generating their own standards.
He adds that universities have also been active in publishing standards for clients, for instance the Penn State BIM standard has been widely adopted beyond the campus.