NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Robert Wible, (703) 437-0100 ext. 235

SUMMIT IDENTIFIES ACTIONS NEEDED TO STREAMLINE THE BUILDING REGULATORY PROCESS THROUGH INTEROPERABILITY

New York City, NY – October 2, 2003. Over 55 representatives from the software, building regulatory, and construction communities came together at The Down Town Association in Manhattan, Wednesday, September 24, to identify opportunities, challenges and potential solutions to bring about greater interoperability in the hardware and software available for state and local governments to use in their building regulatory process. The Summit was cosponsored by the New York City Department of Buildings, the states of New York and New Jersey, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age, and FIATECH.

Summit attendees reviewed and provided recommended modifications to a draft interoperability statement and supportive analysis of the building regulatory process data exchange requirements designed for state and local governments to incorporate in future procurements for hardware and software used to administer and enforce their building regulatory programs. The Summit identified the benefits to the software industry, construction community and state and local governments that can be derived from software and hardware being able to "talk to each other" by interchanging data across functional and jurisdictional lines through the recognition of common data exchange and functional interoperability requirements. Software industry firms at the Summit estimated that their companies produced 90% of the current building regulatory process software now in use in the nation.

In her welcoming remarks to Summit attendees, New York City Building Commissioner,

Patricia Lancaster, noted New York’s commitment in the wake of 9-11 to move forward on several fronts, including the reengineering of their building regulatory business process through the more effective use of information technology as a way to both provide greater public safety to their citizens and enhance the city’s economic vitality.

Speaking for two other Summit Cosponsors, the states of New Jersey and New York, William Connolly, Director of New Jersey Division of Codes and Standards, and Dottie Harris, New York Deputy Secretary of State, told attendees of their state’s plans to incorporate interoperability requirements in their future software procurements. New Jersey, which currently writes its own software for their statewide building regulatory system, noted their state would only consider purchasing software from private vendors when the software industry made interoperable software readily available to state and local governments.

The Summit concluded with a discussion on next cooperative steps among the software, construction and building regulatory communities to speed the development and use of interoperable hardware and software by state and local governments. Among the recommended next actions are:

• Broadening stakeholder awareness and participation in this initiative to streamline the building regulatory process through interoperability.

• Identifying and prioritizing functional interoperability requirements (defining phase 1 data exchange requirements) of a diverse array of state and local building regulatory programs.

• Establishing a software/hardware industry work group to provide input to the Alliance in this initiative.

The New York City Summit was a part of an ongoing initiative by the Alliance. The Alliance is a public-private partnership formed in 2001 to streamline the nation’s building regulatory process through the effective use of information technology to enable the nation’s construction industry to build "faster, better, safer and at less cost."

In preparing for the Summit, the Alliance established, with funding from NIST, a core work group comprised of several Alliance partners, state and local code enforcement personnel with experience in the building regulatory process design and software applications. The work group includes officials from NIST, FIATECH, NCSBCS, the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS), Fairfax County, Virginia, and the New York City Buildings Department. Other state and local jurisdictions and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) supported the Alliance’s core work group by serving on an Advisory Committee, which now will be expanded to include representatives from the software industry.

Update reports on the outcome of the New York City Summit and other work initiatives of the Alliance will be presented during the FIATECH members meeting in Houston, Texas, October 8-9 and at the Alliance’s Third National Forum on Building Smarter in the Digital Age being held in Portland, Oregon, October 19-22, 2003. The Portland meeting will also include a special work session on interoperability for state and local building regulatory officials.