American Institute of Architects Releases New Contract Documents

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 10, 2014)—The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the addition of eight new documents to the AIA Contract Documents portfolio. Six of these new documents belong to the Conventional (A201) family; the remaining two documents belong to the Construction Manager as Constructor (CMc) family and the Program Manager family, respectively.

“Each of these new documents offers a solution for a challenge we have heard about from our customers in the industry,” said Deborah M. DeBernard, AIA, NCARB, Architect AIBC, LEED BD&C, senior vice president, global innovation at The American Institute of Architects. “Whether the documents create efficiencies or foster greater collaboration, they help architects, contractors, owners and others work smarter.”

The new AIA Master Agreements with Work Orders and Service Orders belong to AIA Contract Documents’ Conventional family and are appropriate for smaller projects, or when the architect or contractor will be performing a number of services on a number of projects over a period of time. The master agreement allows the parties to agree to a predefined set of terms and conditions that will apply to multiple scopes of work or services. In order to add services under the master agreement, the parties will execute a task order (either a service order or work order) that establishes, among other specific terms, the scope of services or work and the compensation. These documents will avoid the necessity for the parties to renegotiate their entire agreement when new services or work are added during the duration of the Master Agreement.

The new B133–2014, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect, Construction Manager as Constructor (CMc) Edition defines the architect’s services when a construction manager as constructor delivery model is used. This delivery model contemplates that a construction manager is brought on the project during design to give the architect and owner valuable input regarding constructability, cost estimating, materials and equipment, and construction scheduling.

The new C172–2014, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Program Manager for use on a Single Project allows an owner to engage a program manager to act as its advisor throughout design and construction of a project. The program manager also manages several aspects of the project on behalf of the owner, including the owner’s budget and schedule. This document is flexible for use on both small and large scale projects because the document includes optional services that may be selected to customize the program manager’s scope. Specifically, users can select from a range of information management duties that the program manager may perform.