ACTION AGENDA

 

"Building Smarter in the Digital Age –

Bringing Information Technology

to the Building Regulatory Process"

 

 

I.   Action Agenda Objective

II.   Statement of Needs

III.  Actions

IV. Preliminary Action Agenda

 

A.   Immediately establish three national groups to work in coordination with each other to carry out the following actions:

1 - A NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR BUILDING REGULATORY REFORM IN THE DIGITAL AGE -

This Alliance is comprised of those national public and private sector organizations and agencies from the construction, information technology and government communities which have made a formal commitment of a minimum level of resources to fulfill the action agenda vision of streamlining the nation’s building regulatory process through the use of information technology.

 

The Alliance, through an appointed 12-member National Steering Committee:

  • Oversees this national initiative;

  • Develops a short-term and long-term work plan schedule, and funding proposal for this initiative;

  • Plans and conducts a follow-up national forum in nine months to a year (spring/summer 2002) from the original forum.

  • Supports the efforts of the two task groups, a Planning and Coordinating Task Force and a Technology Task Force which simultaneously work in a coordinated effort to implement special short-term action agenda items (see below) leading to the more rapid streamlining of the building regulatory process;

  • Develops and implements an advocacy and education program for adoption and implementation of the work products developed by this initiative.

In addition to Alliance members, the Alliance recognizes Affiliate member organizations and governmental entities which are unable to sign letters committing to established minimum resources but wishing to work directly with the Alliance in fulfilling its Vision Statement.

 

2 - THE PLANNING AND COORDINATING TASK FORCE

The Planning and Coordinating Task Force is comprised of governmental entities (and associations) from all levels of government: local, state, federal, and participating private sector organizations which have signed letters of commitment to this project.

This task force will:

  • Develop a business plan and case study to gain funding and support for both the uniform application and use of information technology in the building regulatory process to make it more effective, efficient and accessible to citizens and the construction community.

  • Quantify the value of streamlining the building regulatory process.

  • Develop a clearinghouse for IT issues.

  • Participate in and support the activities of the Technology Task Group noted below, including giving the I.T. community an understanding of the actual needs of the building regulators and the drafting of model uniform systems requirements for federal, state, and local governments to use when procuring and implementing information technology services for use in the oversight and regulation of construction.

 

3 - THE TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE

The Technology Task Force is comprised of existing public and private sector partnerships and consortia already engaged in applying information technology to the building construction and regulatory processes. This includes:

  • I.T. Forum sponsors and co-sponsors and participants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH), the International Alliance for Interoperability, FIATECH, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institute of Building Sciences, and NCSBCS.

  • The Task Force also will include representatives from: Fairfax County, Virginia;

City of Los Angeles, California; and officials form the states of California, New Mexico and Virginia which already have major information technology applications projects underway. A special liaison (affiliated) relationship between the Technology Task Force and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers is being developed.

  • The Technology Task Force will be open to other associations and governmental entities engaged in information technology consortia and private public partnerships to bring I.T. to the building construction and regulatory processes.

The immediate goals of the Technology Task Force are to:

  • Assemble and develop a mission statement, white paper on short-term needs, and work with the Planning and Coordinating Task Force in meeting with hardware vendors and software developers to draft systems requirements for hardware, software and intermediate ware to be purchased or shared by all levels of government to operate their construction regulatory systems.

  • Research ways to assure the integration of the building regulatory process into the transformations being made by information technology in the construction industry.

 

B. Immediately share the outcome of both May 31-June 1 national forum and the follow-up July 12 work session with the forum’s sponsors and cosponsors and the public and private sectors to invite other organizations and governmental entities to join in this project.

This will be accomplished through the issuance of national news releases and the posting of the final Action Agenda developed on July 12 on the NCSBCS website for public review and comment. (Also posted on that website are the Powerpoint presentations of a number of the May 31-June 1 national forum speakers and the reports from the forum’s four work groups which subsequently generated the Preliminary Action Agenda.)

 

C.  Hold organizational meeting of Technology Task Force in August 2001.

D.  Appoint representatives to 12-member Steering Committee by August 31, 2001.

 

E.  Hold Steering Committee meeting in September 2001. The National

    Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards in early September will schedule and hold the organizational meeting of the Alliance’s National Steering Committee to review the timetable, budget, and preliminary work plan to carry out its stated objectives. (For more information on the date and time of this meeting, please visit the NCSBCS website.)

     

F.  Hold second national forum in 9 to 12 months. A second national forum on "Building Smarter in the Digital Age" will be held within 9 to 12 months of the original May 31-June 1, 2001 forum. The purpose of this second forum is to report on progress being made in implementing the adopted Action Agenda.

 

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