FIATECH to House Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age

AUSTIN, TX, June 25, 2007 – To better coordinate jurisdiction, construction and building owner uses of innovative technologies, the FIATECH Board of Directors and the Streamlining Steering Committee of the Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age (the Alliance) announced earlier this month that they reached agreement under which the activities of the Alliance will be housed as a new, independent project within FIATECH.

"Our two organizations have seen a growing convergence of interest in the mutual benefit to FIATECH and the Alliance in finding ways to work more effectively together to ensure that streamlining and use of automated technologies in the nation's building regulatory system is compatible with the development and application of automated technologies within building construction, operations and maintenance," explains Dr. Ric Jackson, Director of FIATECH.

Through this new relationship, specific activities and benefits will include:

Coordinating the development of a national Building Regulatory Technology Roadmap that integrates with FIATECH's Capital Projects Technology Roadmap.

Linking and better coordinating streamlining and automated technology efforts between government and the private sector.

Creating new projects to accelerate research, development and deployment of integrated technology in the capital projects industry and in government building and land use regulatory programs.

Strategic opportunities to grow the membership to include state and local municipalities and engage them in existing FIATECH projects and activities that will add value to their construction and building operation's programs.

"I am looking forward to working within the FIATECH consortium to continue advancing the Alliance's national streamlining work projects, including the creation of a Streamlining Tool Kit for state and local governments," adds Robert Wible, Director of the Alliance. "This relationship will provide mutual benefit to both the Alliance and FIATECH in a number of areas."

One area will be to enable the previously unincorporated Alliance to more easily receive and process future funding as well as leverage closer coordination between the two organization's missions to ensure that both the construction and building operation's systems as well as state and local government's building regulatory systems achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency in their application and use of existing and emerging information technologies.

This consolidation began on June 1, 2007. During a transition period, it will carry a dual designation "The Streamlining Alliance at FIATECH" and "The FIATECH Project on Streamlining the Building and Land Use Regulatory Processes." The Alliance's current Streamlining Steering Committee is comprised of Alliance Partners from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Association of Counties (NACo), American Institute of Architects (AIA), Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), FIATECH and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and will continue to serve as the leadership body for the Alliance. Robert Wible will carry a dual designation of Alliance Director and FIATECH Project Manager.

The actions taken this month evolved out of a five year working relationship between the two organizations that began in 2002 with a series of federally funded national symposia to promote greater interoperability between the hardware and software used by jurisdictions in the administration and enforcement of their building regulatory programs. In 2003, FIATECH became an affiliate member of the Alliance. In 2004, the Alliance became involved in FIATECH's work to complete the development of its Capital Projects Technology Roadmap by participating in several FIATECH programs as well as sharing with FIATECH information on the Alliance's activities. In 2005, FIATECH was represented on the Alliance's Streamlining Steering committee.

Due to the success of these previous initiatives, the Alliance and FIATECH increasingly worked more cooperatively together on projects related to their mutual interest in making both the construction and building operations system and the building regulatory system more effective and efficient though the use of information technology.

In November 2006, Robert Wible made a presentation at the FIATECH Members Meeting in Denver, Colorado calling for the Alliance and FIATECH to undertake a joint initiative to integrate the effective uses of information technology in both the building regulatory and building construction and operation processes. In mid-February, FIATECH's Director, Dr. Ric Jackson played a major role in the Alliance's National Streamlining Conference during which a series of new streamlining products and services were identified and a five year streamlining objective was adopted.

For more information, contact Robert Wible at 703-568-2323 or Ric Jackson at 301-424-4202. Additional details on the operation of the Alliance at FIATECH will be posed to both organization's web sites in the coming weeks.

FIATECH (www.fiatech.org) is an industry consortium that provides global leadership in identifying and accelerating the development, demonstration and deployment of fully integrated and automated technologies to deliver the highest business value throughout the life cycle of all types of capital projects.

The Alliance's (www.natlpartnerstreamline.org) vision is of a future state in which the building and land use regulatory process is online, streamlined, effective and efficient. In this future state, there is no regulatory overlap or duplication, and information flows digitally between the construction and building community and the regulatory community.

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