AIA Issues New 3-Party Contract for Integrated Project Delivery

The American Association of Architects (AIA) released on November 3, 2009 a new Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) contract between the owner, contractor, and designer.

The C191-2009, Standard Form Multi-Party Agreement for Integrated Project Delivery, "provides the framework for a collaborative environment in which the parties operate in furtherance of cost and performance goals that they parties jointly establish." The Agreement also addresses incentives, project management, and conflict resolution processes.

Most state and local laws do not permit the use of an IPD model for public contracts, and thus, at least for the time being, the AIA contract is likely to find its use primarily in private contracting. As a concept, however, IPD will be discussed more and more in the public sector.

AIA also offers a variety of other standardized design and construction contracts. Besides AIA, the other leading industry source for standardized design and construction documents is ConsensusDOCS.