ARLINGTON, Va. - The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) has released a new standard designed to allow sharing of data and key information between different construction software programs. According to AGC, the new tool, known as agcXML, is expected to save construction companies as much as $15.8 billion a year which is currently spent in lost productivity because many construction software programs are not currently compatible.

“The most expensive walls in some construction projects are the ones that divide essential software programs,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “This new tool will deliver significant savings by making the industry more efficient and productive.”

Data that architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, and building owners typically exchange during the building design and construction process is still commonly shared in paper documents, or their electronic equivalent, which typically leads to costly delays and inefficiencies, stated AGC. The new agcXML was developed to allow all parties to exchange information more efficiently, including documents such as owner/contractor agreements, schedules of values, and requests for information, Sandherr said.

Sandherr noted that while the association developed agcXML to meet the needs of its 33,000 member companies, the tool is available to anyone at no cost to support the exchange of construction data. He added that the agcXML standard will remain the property of AGC and will be coordinated with other data format standard efforts to ensure compatibility worldwide.

For more information about agcXML, visit www.agcxml.org.

Publication date: 03/09/2009