MILCON in the Department of Defense: Estimating, Building Information Modeling (BIM) Based Design, and Impact on United States Army and Air Force Construction Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • 2015 by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The U.S. Army was one of the original Building Information Modeling (BIM) pioneers in the federal government, having published the Army BIM Road Map in October of 2006. The Air Force followed suit and required BIM on vertical construction projects starting in October of 2009. This chapter will review the particulars of the Military Construction (MILCON) arena and provide updates on the latest strategies for the Army and Air Force. Additionally, it investigates programming and design phase technological initiatives aimed at helping decrease cost growth in the construction phase. These tools include the Parametric Cost Estimating System (PACES) software, BIM-based projects statistical analysis, and BIM-based dynamic prototypes to optimize and standardize facility scope. Analysis resulted in inconclusive results with some BIM-based project types costing less per square meter to build and some costing more. For the category codes that were less expensive on the average (training facilities, hangars, and fitness/youth centers), researchers could speculate or infer that there was possibly less rework and greater design certainty, leading to less overall cost per square meter. Administration or headquarters projects cost more per square meter for BIM-based projects. As the results were inconclusive, more research is required in this area.

author list (cited authors)

  • Suermann, P. C., & Maddox, L. R.

complete list of authors

  • Suermann, Patrick C||Maddox, Lindsey R

Book Title

  • Building Information Modeling

publication date

  • January 2015