BIM CBA - HANDBOOK UE2021

 

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In May 2021, the European Commission together with RIN, the B1P Group and the EUBIM TASK GROUP published the CBA Handbook describing the published tool in the XLS extension to calculate the costs and benefits of using building information modeling in public tenders. Both items can be downloaded for free from the EU website in English, Czech and Greek. Below, he cites the most important parts of the handbook: The 2014 EU Public Procurement Directive4 encourages public entities to use BIM for the procurement of construction projects. On this basis, the European Commission has been cooperating with the EU BIM Task Group since 20165. The 'EU Handbook on Building Information Modeling by the European Public Sector' was published in 2017 as one of the important deliverables of this collaboration. The handbook, translated from English into 20 other languages, has been downloaded over 30,000 times. There is certainly more to be done to make BIM the norm in construction procurement. The methodology of cost-benefit analysis of using BIM in public procurement is one of the first results of the Renovation Wave Communication (2020) 7 and aims to build arguments for the introduction of BIM in public procurement for individual public projects, by showing costs and benefits from their perspective. The document reflects the analysis made during the project and the results obtained. It is intended as an informative, easy-to-read guide to prepare public stakeholders to apply a model designed to evaluate the costs and benefits of using BIM in public procurement. The handbook describes six examples that reflect typical public tenders (small infrastructures and buildings with different budgets and covering different life cycle phases) to provide a guide on how to use the tool and replicate it in a real framework.

Cited Document

Model development:

- Based on extensive office research to obtain a comprehensive overview of the actual cost-benefit models created and applied to measure the impact of BIM adoption in private and public projects

- based on the identification and quantification of BIM-related costs and benefits, appropriately weighed, through an online survey targeting 122 stakeholders (mainly public entities at different administrative levels). This helped to understand the main challenges of adopting BIM and what authorities consider to be (monetary and non-monetary) costs and benefits

- was based on the validation of secondary research results through 40 structured interviews

Developed model:

- takes into account both financial and economic analyzes that lead users to assess the cost-benefit ratio to measure the profitability of using BIM, and thus calculate the final cost-effectiveness of using BIM in public projects

- enables the performance of a sensitivity analysis to verify the robustness of the model, assess the risk resulting from critical variables in the project and measure their impact on the durability of the project

The new model has been developed for its potential application throughout the territory of the European Union and under different framework conditions by analyzing real six case studies. The intended outcome of the project is to provide the main beneficiaries of the model (e.g. public entities, decision makers, the European Commission) with the quantitative and qualitative information necessary to assess whether the use of BIM in public works is to be beneficial and sustainable.

The third result is this easy-to-read handbook and illustrated document intended to serve as guidance for public actors in the EU wishing to learn and use BIM cost-benefit analysis. The manual defines the problem as the lack of clear costs and benefits of BIM and the approach used to identify and measure them. In addition, it presents a model developed to simulate the costs and benefits of using BIM in public projects, and case studies that can help users better understand and use the model.

What is the manual:

- A document that clearly describes the new BIM cost-benefit methodology and develops a theoretical map of how these benefits can drive public stakeholders to adopt and implement BIM.

- BIM cost-benefit identification guidance, covering some aspects that are not as clear at the moment (e.g. cost-benefit ratio)

- a set of strategic recommendations for extending the use of BIM in the public construction sector

- A practical guide to replicate the proposed cost-benefit analysis (CBA) methodology and assess the feasibility of the BIM process for any public tender

This informative, easy-to-read and illustrative manual is aimed at Public stakeholders who want to learn about the cost-benefit analysis of BIM and who want to implement recommendations for introducing BIM as part of a wider agenda of change.

What the manual IS NOT:

- a technical introduction to BIM (which is widely covered in other literature) or the development of standards that could "compete" with documents developed by standards bodies, academia and industry associations

The manual includes:

- Problem definition (i.e. BIM may be beneficial although its cost-benefit ratio is not clear)

- Approach used to identify and measure potential costs and benefits

- A model that public organizations can use to simulate the costs and benefits of their projects

- Case studies that could assist model users in applying the methodology and interpreting the results

The main target groups of this handbook are public entities at different administrative levels (national, regional, local). However, the EU BIM Task Force also identified the following target groups:

- Public policy makers involved in policy development for the infrastructure or construction sectors

- National or local public clients / procuring entities mainly dealing with service contracts

- Operators responsible for the day-to-day management and operation of the building or the environment,

When it comes to the costs associated with using BIM, the main result of the interviews is that the initial costs of getting started with BIM are higher than the immediate benefits. These costs relate in particular to the necessary staff training and the required software and hardware. It is generally accepted that the estimated return on investment related to the adoption of BIM can be assessed only several years after its implementation. However, after these initial expenses, additional costs are no longer identified and all expenses are completely absorbed by project costs. In this context, it is worth recalling that the point of view used to develop the methodology corresponds to that of the public client / contracting authority, and not of architectural, engineering or contractors'.

AVERAGE COSTS OF BIM ADOPTION Training costs (cost / person) 5 - 8 thousand. €; Software license costs - modeling and verification (person / year) PLN 8-10 thousand €; Equipment costs (cost per person) 2 - 3 thousand. €; Total costs (cost per person including the first year of adoption) 15-20 thousand. €;

For each cost and benefit included in the methodology, the tool allows the user to choose whether or not to exclude a specific indicator from the calculation. This option has been considered to cover scenarios where not all cost savings and cost increases occur simultaneously in the project. For example, a public organization may wish to avoid accounting for a hardware investment when assessing the use of BIM in a project. He may also want to rule out the possibility of shortening the project schedule due to the adoption of BIM.

The six case studies described below have been analyzed against two main objectives:

1. Support the development of the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) tool (download at http://www.eubim.eu/) by providing useful information on the definition of an ad hoc database estimating the time and cost of BIM modeling activity and data set feed which is the basis of the CBA tool

2. To verify the usefulness of the CBA tool for BIM maturity levels 1 and 2

Regarding Objective 2 above, each case study was analyzed against multiple categories of information such as assets involved in the project, documentation phase, total investment required, its architectural and structural elements, its systems and other relevant data. In this way, it was possible to verify that the CBA tool was able to provide a useful set of input data results that could generally be extracted from the tender documents. In order to illustrate how the six case studies were used to validate the usability of the CBA tool, some of the background information on each project required as data for the tool and which is generally available for public procurement tenders is briefly provided in the case study descriptions below. A complete list of the information required by the tool can be found in the six tender examples in the last section of the manual. In fact, these sample scenarios that fit the case studies show data that is independent of asset size, location, and any other information. For this reason, they can be used to understand how to use the tool as they represent repetitive data that is expected to be similar to typical tenders announced by a huge number of public clients across Europe. Each case study has been analyzed in terms of many categories of information, such as assets involved in the project, documentation phase, total investment required, architectural and construction elements, systems and other relevant data. In this way, it was possible to verify whether the CBA tool was able to deliver useful results.

1. The first case study analyzes a construction project started by a medium-sized municipality. The tender required the construction of a new sports center with structures for the audience. The facility is rectangular in shape and is served by mechanical, piping, electrical, lighting and special installations. It is assumed that the public client in this case study has had no prior BIM experience. Due to the specific architecture of the building, this asset was assigned a standardization level of 1 (the lowest). This resource was useful for verifying the results of the CBA tool for buildings requiring an investment of less than € 1 million.

2. The second case study concerns works on a specific section of road infrastructure. The tender was announced by a medium-sized local government. The area requires work on the road surface as well as green systems and sidewalks. This case study was useful for testing CBA functionality on existing infrastructure assets.

3. The third case study concerns works on an existing infrastructure facility located in a small commune. The local public authority has launched a tender to carry out a series of works necessary to refurbish and strengthen the existing port, and to build several small buildings to be served by mechanical, piping, electrical and lighting systems. This case study was particularly useful for checking that the CBA tool works properly with what can be classified as "mixed", infrastructure resources that include buildings in their areas.

4. The fourth case study relates to a renovation project of a large public building. It consists of various levels above and below the ground, and the works concern in particular the internal areas, while maintaining the external facade. The asset also includes the external space, and after the renovation is completed, the building will perform an educational function. The tender documentation for this work clearly required the development of a 3D BIM model, thanks to which it was possible to test how the tool deals with public customers who have experience in using BIM and to verify the results obtained on the example of large renovation works.

5. The fifth case study concerns the construction of a new public building to house administrative offices and laboratories in a large European city. The resource consists of different floors and requires very complex systems to support the laboratories. The most significant element of this case study is the fact that a public customer organization can be classified as BIM Maturity Level 2. Therefore, it was possible to compare the expenses related to BIM coordination resulting from the application of the CBA tool and the cost actually incurred by the public client.

6. The last case study examined relates to a public housing complex built by a large national public body. The building consists of many floors connected by staircases and lifts. The elevators and each floor are made up of a set of similar accommodation units. Given that each floor has very similar characteristics, it was possible to test how a standardization level of 3 affects the cost of BIM modeling (which resulted in a significant reduction) and the cost of coordination (at BIM maturity level 1).

OBTAINED RESULTS:

- cost-benefit ratio

- net present value (NPV)

- economic benefits to costs ratio

- economic net present value (ENPV)

CONCLUSIONS: Supporting the adoption of BIM in the construction industry, from its use in public tenders and throughout the life cycle of the constructed facility, is a key issue that needs to be addressed in order to improve industry performance and pave the way for digitization. However, this study found that public buyers were not aware of the benefits of using BIM and how these benefits might partially or fully offset the costs of adopting it. It is worth noting that the focus on public tenders has led to the need to measure not only financial benefits (e.g. savings from precise quantitative measurements), but also economic benefits more related to the socio-environmental area (e.g. reduction of waste and CO2 emissions). For this reason, two clusters of performance indicators were created to measure the legitimacy of using BIM in an investment project: NPV and BC ratios from a financial point of view, ENPV and ECB ratios from an economic point of view. The developed methodology could support the implementation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the project to further benefit public stakeholders by assessing the estimated costs and benefits for their specific projects.

Sources:

[1] pixabay.com

[2] Methodology Handbook: Calculating Costs and Benefits for the use of Building Information Modeling in Public Tenders - RINA, B1P Group, EUBIM TASK GROUP EUROPEAN COMMISSION European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA) Unit I-02 - SMP / COSME Pillar Contact: Hervé Busschaert e-mail: EISMEA-COSME-CBA-BIM@ec.europa.eu Herve.BUSSCHAERT@ec.europa.eu European Commission B-1049 Brussels / Belgium - MAY 2021