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IFC Open Standard Specifications in the US

Having a vibrant and active US Chapter is extremely important given the extent to which the IFC open standard specification has been adopted and is being mandated by leading US owners and industry trade organizations, including:

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  • Resolutions passed by the AASHTO Board of Directors mandating the adoption of the IFC specification as a basis for the design and construction of roads and bridges by all 50 member State DOT’s. AASHTO and state DOTs have advanced this mandate through national initiatives like NCHRP Project 10-102 and a multi-state Transportation Pooled Fund study to deploy IFC schema across bridge, road, and infrastructure design software workflows. A copy of the resolutions can be found here.

  • The General Services Administration (GSA) Public Buildings Service mandates model deliverables under the GSA National 3D-4D-BIM Program and P100 Facilities Standards. While native authoring models are delivered during design, open standard IFC formats are required to guarantee long-term data preservation. GSA BIM Guide For 4D Phasing

  • The GSA also requires COBie files to be submitted as a construction handover deliverable. For understanding, COBie is a more detailed elaboration of the IFC specification that is focused on the additional information exchange requirements by Facility Owners resulting from the commissioning of all plant and equipment at building hand-over by documenting warranties, product specs, operating manuals, system controls, safety over-rides, etc. to ensure efficient operations and maintenance and to guarantee the safety of occupants. Facilities standards for the Public Buildings Service

  • To facilitate interoperability with their Space Data Management (SDM) Program, the GSA has also recently uploaded their “Space Classification System” to be included in the buildingSMART Data Dictionary for access by commercial software vendors when implementing against both the IFC specification and the COBie specification. More details on SDM can be found here. 

  • The National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) released NBIMS-US™ Version 4, introducing COBie Version 3. 

  • The American Concrete Institute (ACI) published information exchange standards for reinforcement models using the IFC schema. ACI PRC-131.2-17: Guide to Use of Industry Foundation Classes in Exchange of Reinforcement Models and the companion publication Programmers Documentation for 131.2R Guide to Use of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) in Exchange of Reinforcement Models.

  • The National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA) has defined a 2600 term bridge glossary that is in the process of being mapped to the IFC specification and submitted to the buildingSMART Data Dictionary under the “Task Group 15 – Data Modeling for Interoperability” initiative that is being undertaken in collaboration with AASHTO as described here. 

Research Projects in the US:

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In addition to supporting these industry initiatives, buildingSMART is also supporting the following research projects in the US:

  • buildingSMART has registered as an “official collaborator” for Phase 2 of the CIS-OKN (Civil Infrastructure Systems – Open Knowledge Network) project being funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator program. The civil data model used in Phase 1 of this project and also being proposed for Phase 2 is the IFC Specification for roads and bridges. The ontology platform proposed for Phase 2 is the buildingSMART Data Dictionary. A copy of the letter confirming our contribution to this research project is attached (See Exhibit 2).  More details about this research project are available at https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1937115

  • buildingSMART supports the TPF-5(372) (Transportation Pooled Fund) “BIM for Bridges and Structures Project” jointly funded by FHWA and 22 State DOT’s. The IFC Bridge Candidate Standard specification forms the basis for this research which is also being coordinated with the international Infrastructure Extensions Deployment Project being managed by the buildingSMART Infrastructure Room to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing and joint research. More details about this research project are available here. 

  • buildingSMART supports the TPF-5(480) “BIM for Infrastructure Project”. The IFC Road/Infrastructure schema serves as a primary foundation for expanding open BIM workflows into full-alignment transport assets (roads, pavements, interchanges, and drainage). The study is now fully active with a dedicated public clearinghouse TPF-5(480) expands beyond bridge structures into complete digital project delivery (DPD), covering full highway reconstruction, interchange design, and life-cycle asset management integrations with GIS. You can track active work areas, standard Object Type Libraries (OTL), and digital delivery guidelines directly via the BIM for Infrastructure Pooled Fund (TPF-5(480)) Portal.

  • buildingSMART supports the TPF-5(523) "BIM for Bridges and Structures (Phase II)" which is a continuation and deployment phase of TPF-5(372) lead by Iowa Department of Transportation (with over 24 participating State DOTs and FHWA). While TPF-5(372) focused on establishing the foundational Information Delivery Manual (IDM) and open IFC schemas for bridge structures, TPF-5(523) shifts into operationalizing open BIM workflows. It supports pilot project implementations, bridge asset lifecycle data exchanges, software vendor certification against open standards, and agency workforce training. TPF-5(523) Study Details on Transportation Pooled Fund.

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