March 5, 2004—To address building permitting delays across the nation, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has commissioned the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards (NCSBCS) to survey state and local building departments on the issue of electronic plans submittals. NCSBCS and its sister organization, the Association of Major City and County Building Officials, will undertake an e-mail survey of state and local building departments, followed up by telephone calls to 100 jurisdictions, including every state with a statewide building code, the 50 largest US cities and counties, and a cross-section of other local building departments nationwide.
The AIA notes that architects and state and local building departments are looking to the information technology industry to provide hardware and software that can facilitate the electronic submission of building designs. Several jurisdictions have experimented with electronic plans submittals during the past decade, but no one has yet documented the extent to which this technology is being used or has developed a list of the firms providing the technology that allows for the electronic transfer of building designs.
According to the AIA, this lack of data has left both architecture firms and state and local building departments in the dark as they consider how to make such innovations effective, creating unnecessary costs as they have attempted to compile the information on their own.
AIA National recognizes the need to streamline the permitting process and identify innovative reforms that can be recommended as best practices to the nation’s municipal leaders, who are being forced to find ways to cut ineffective procedures for economic competitiveness. AIA says that streamlining the building regulatory process is a step toward efficient management that allows construction projects to be completed faster, better, safer, and at less cost.
For more information contact AIA Government Affairs at 202/626-7381.
