BIM Requirements in the Spanish Public Tender—Analysis of Adoption in Construction Contracts

Abstract

The use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) is increasingly widespread within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction & Operations (AECO) sector. BIM allows the construction of a digital scale model of the asset to be built, ensuring the early detection of conflicts and interferences, enabling communication between the different participant agents, and facilitating the processes in the maintenance and management phase. Studies on the subject are many and varied. However, very few works refer to the inclusion of BIM in the public procurement stage, one of the most complex and competitive stages within the asset’s life cycle. A bibliographic review has been conducted about the BIM situation in the AECO sector contracts, the existing problems and the possible solutions to implement. In the specific field of public procurement, Spain has made great progress, especially at the regional level. During 2020, a total of 440 tenders with BIM requirements were published, with an investment volume of EUR 752 million, which represents an increase of 230% compared to 2017. The aim of this research is to analyze the Spanish public procurement, highlighting the progress made so far in the implementation of this technology, as well as to develop a proposal of BIM requirements that, in general, could be used as a reference for tenders of the AECO sector in the country. With this objective, a selection of twenty relevant public tenders is made, covering both the building and infrastructure fields. The requirements address areas such as: BIM uses, BIM deliverables, model structure, Level of Development, Common Data Environment, classification systems, standards or quality control.