January 7, 2009—A new facilities management protocol known as the Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBIE) will be demonstrated at NFMT 2009, putting suppliers and users of the application to the test. The NFMT COBIE Challenge will take place at 9 a.m. on March 11, 2009 at the Baltimore Convention Center.
COBIE is a universal, computerized system of data entry to integrate the documentation involved in all stages of a commercial building and/or maintenance project, from the design plans to operations manuals. COBIE uses internationally recognized standard and data definitions requirements. It is designed to save FMs money by strengthening communications and solving the common problem of fragmented documentation throughout project management and execution.
At the NFMT COBIE Challenge, there will be simultaneous tests for vendors to demonstrate their ability to export and/or import COBIE data as appropriate for the specific class of product. Products that cover multiple product classes can participate in multiple demonstrations. There is no cost to participate in the NFMT COBIE Challenge. All registered attendees and exhibitors welcome to attend if they are not participating in the challenge.
The NFMT COBIE Challenge is hosted by the National Institute for Building Sciences (NIBS) and the buildingSMART Alliance, which are promoting the adoption of the new protocol. The results of the challenge will be published on the buildingsmartalliance.org Web site after the event. Suppliers interested in participating in the COBIE Challenge can contact Bill Brodt at NIBS/NASA at 202/358-1117 or Wendy Dietzler at NFMT at 414/228-7701 ext. 455.
