Best Practices Construction Law : Construction Lawyer & Attorney : Matthew DeVries : Stites & Harbison Law Firm : Green Building & LEED Litigation

Earlier this week, I received an alert that "Five AIA Contract Documents are going green!" Developed using AIA’s flagship documents as a base, and incorporating concepts and model language from the AIA’s Guide for Sustainable Projects, the new documents address the unique roles, risks and opportunities encountered on sustainable design and construction projects.

 “The development of these new documents for sustainable projects is a natural next step following the release of the Guide for Sustainable Projects in the spring,” said Ken Cobleigh, Managing Director and Counsel for AIA Contract Documents Content. “We continue to see a demand for incorporating sustainable elements in projects. The AIA Contract Documents program continues to revise existing documents and develop new documents and guides, as necessary, to remain current with trends and changes in the industry and law.”

 The new AIA Contract Documents created for use on sustainable projects include:

1. A101™-2007 SP, Standard Form of Agreement between Owner and Contractor, for use on a Sustainable Project where the basis of payment is a Stipulated Sum
2. B101™-2007 SP, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect, for use on a Sustainable Project
3. A201™-2007 SP, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, for use on a Sustainable Project
4. C401™-2007 SP, Standard Form of Agreement Between Architect and Consultant, for use on a Sustainable Project
5. A401™-2007 SP, Standard Form of Agreement Between Contractor and Subcontractor, for use on a Sustainable Project

AIA Document D503™-2011, Guide for Sustainable Projects (free download), including Agreement Amendments and Supplementary Conditions, was released by the AIA in May 2011. In the short time since it was released, over 4,000 users have downloaded the Guide. In addition to providing model language that may be used to amend or supplement AIA Contract Documents for design-bid-build projects, the Guide discusses the applicability of key concepts to other delivery models such as design-build, construction management and integrated project delivery.

Question: Have you compared the AIA green docs with the ones from ConsensusDOCS?

Image: wonderlane

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In case you have not heard, on June 11, 2009, ConsensusDOCS released what is reported to be the first and only standard contract designed specifically for federal government construction projects. The ConsensusDOCS 752-Subcontract for Federal Construction Projects provides all of the necessary terms and conditions essential to comply with the Federal Acquisition Regulation ("FAR"). In addition to being FAR compliant, the ConsensusDOCS 752 includes all of the federally-mandated flow-down provisions. The release is important in light of the federal stimulus funding bill. McGraw-Hill Construction has a good summary of the new contract document here.

According to Tom Kelleher, Senior Partner in Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP and Chair of the national coalition of associations who wrote and endorse the new standard contract, the new "federal subcontract will keep needed construction projects from getting tangled up in red tape.”

Of course, the American Institute of Architects was not totally out of the race. The now discontinued and retired AIA A-201 SC 1999 included the Federal Supplementary Conditions for public construction projects that could be incorporated into the contract documents.

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That's a pretty old looking contract ... hanging in the historic courthouse in downtown Arthur, Nebraska.  Good thing our standard form construction contracts are not that old!

Last week, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) held its national convention in San Francisco, California. Although “construction manager” (CM) contract documents had been released in 2007 and 2008, AIA released its replacement CM documents and an updated version of its AIA Contract Documents at last week’s meeting.  Some of the more noteworthy revisions of the CM documents include:

• the famous "dispute resolution" checkbox that now appears in the A-101
• the famous “initial decision maker” (IDM) for disputes
• various provisions regarding digital data

According to AIA, the new release of software includes enhanced document management tools, as well as an easier-to-use platform:

• Data Dialogue box that makes it easy to fill out documents quickly;
• Customizing function that lets you save your favorite drafts as your own document templates for repeat use;
• Microsoft Excel helps you calculate with speed and accuracy

Has anyone used the new software?  You better try it out!  You should also begin looking at the 2007 revised documents because I also hear that the 1997 standard documents will no longer be supported as of May 31, 2009.

Photo: JimmyWayne

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