The American Institute of Architects, at its convention in Boston, released new model agreements for integrated project delivery. The standard contract documents follow the concepts in Integrated Project Delivery: A Guide. They provide two levels of design and construction integration, says the Washington, D.C.-based AIA. One is a transitional document for those unaccustomed to IPD. The other, called the single purpose entity, offers a fully integrated way to deliver a building.

The transitional agreements use familiar, contracting models: B195-2008, an owner agreement, and A295-2008, an owner-contractor agreement with a guaranteed maximum price amendment and A295-2008, a shared general conditions document. The general conditions document also includes the architect's design services and the contractor's preconstruction services. The A295 also details how the parties will work together at each phase of the project.

Both types of the IPD agreements require use of building information models, says AIA. Also, the documents divide a project into different phases than is conventionally done. These are the conceptualization phase, which correlates to an expanded programming phase; the criteria design phase, which correlates to an expanded schematic design phase; a detailed design phase, which correlates to an expanded design development phase; an implementation documents phase, which correlates to an expanded construction documents phase and a construction phase.