SAN ANTONIO - The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) has approved a comprehensive catalog of construction contract documents, a collaborative effort of leading construction associations aimed at bringing fair and balanced documents to market.

"Using consensus contracts brings everyone together in the drafting process, just like a real construction project," said Stephen E. Sandherr, chief executive officer of AGC, at the association's 88th Annual Convention in San Antonio.

Leading construction associations representing owners, contractors, designers, and sureties are uniting to better serve the industry by producing balanced contracts that are actively supported by all parties. According to the AGC, the level of diverse buy-in for these contracts is unprecedented and reflects a genuine effort to work collaboratively to determine industry best practices for standard form contracts.

The contract documents comprise construction contracts and forms pertaining to design-bid-build, design-build, and construction management. In addition, a new document addresses the use of information in electronic format, to facilitate the use of building information modeling (BIM).

Specifically, AGC is approving the following consensus contracts that will replace the corresponding AGC contracts:

• Standard Agreement and General Conditions Between Owner and Contractor

• Electronic Communications Addendum

• Standard Agreement Between Owner and Architect/Engineer

• Standard Agreement and General Conditions Between Owner and Design-Builder

• Standard Agreement and General Conditions Between Owner and Construction Manager (At-Risk)

• Standard Agreement Between Contractor and Subcontractor

Several participating associations, including AGC and the Construction Owners Association of America (COAA), are expected to fold their current documents program into this consensus process.

The associations actively involved in the drafting process include: Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Associated Specialty Contractors (ASC), American Subcontractors Association (ASA), Construction Industry Round Table (CIRT), Construction Owners Association of America (COAA), Construction Users Roundtable (CURT), Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee (EJCDC), Finishing Contractors Association (FCA), Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), National Association of State Facilities Administrators (NASFA), National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP), National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), National Insulation Association (NIA), National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), National Subcontractors Alliance (NSA), Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA), Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors-National Association (PHCC), Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA), and Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA).

For more information, visit the AGC Website at www.agc.org.

Publication date: 04/02/2007