TEN YEARS OF PROGRESS – 2012 THE YEAR OF CHALLENGES

Welcome to the Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age website.

Formed at an organizational meeting hosted by the National Governors Association in July, 2001, over the past ten years the Alliance has grown and gone through several structural changes while researching, developing and nationally distributing a wide variety of publications, presentations, and services aiding several nations, eleven states, and over 500 U.S. local jurisdictions take steps to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their building regulatory processes.

This site includes materials developed by the Alliance both through its current home for U.S. national issues, FIATECH (visit www.fiatech.org) and through the work of Robert Wible & Associates which provides direct regulatory streamlining consulting support services to state and local governments and the private sector.

THE CHALLENGE OF 2012

2012 presents state and local governments and Federal agencies in the United States and other nations, the construction industry, and the public safety and economic development communities with immense challenges – the need to get people back to work and recover as rapidly as possible from the 2008-2011 U.S. and world-wide recession, the need to better prepare for, respond to and recover from natural and man-made disasters.

The current recession not only significantly impacted building owners and the nation's construction industry, it severely impacted the ability of state and local governments to provide timely, effective and efficient building regulatory services when the nation's economy begins to recover in 2012 – 2014. Building and land use/zoning department staff have been cut to the point where some programs are down to a single employee who performs all regulatory functions. Moreover, most elected officials have made commitments to voters that they will not increase the size of government.

With staffs slashed by up to 80% of their 2008 levels, three immediate problems face jurisdictions and the construction industry throughout the nation.

–  How do you get buildings up or renovated and open faster, thus stimulating employment and helping to increase jurisdiction revenues from taxes? 

–  As recovery begins to spread how do you avoid creating a construction backlog within the regulatory process that will only grow with each passing year in the recovery phase?

–  Lastly, 2011 has been a year with a large number of natural disasters, given severely reduced building department staffs, how can communities that face similar disasters rebuild rapidly?

Over the past ten years, the Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age has identified regulatory streamlining practices and applications of information technology in regulatory programs that enable communities to:

• Reduce by 80% the amount of time it takes to move a building through the construction regulatory process
  
• To efficiently handle increases in building permits and construction of 120% without having to hire any additional employees.
  
  
• Strengthen communities' disaster preparedness and demonstrate the ability to more rapidly recover from natural disasters.

• Place buildings on the tax rolls 50% faster than prior to streamlining their regulatory processes and adding information technology to their programs.
  

The Challenge of 2012 is for the Alliance and in its national partners to continue to develop and provide more regulatory streamlining and ePermitting services work with both the private and public sectors to make use of these tools to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of their regulatory programs.

To that end, the Alliance has updated its original goals to embrace the following vision for 2020.

NEW GOALS FOR 2020

By 2020, working together the public and private sector partners of this national streamlining initiative will:

Strengthen national economic recovery, international competitiveness and disaster resilience of the United States by identifying best practices and facilitating their implementation to streamline the building and land use regulatory process. The goal of that effort is to assist state and local governments in delivering services that make construction safer, more predictable, timely and less costly through the elimination of areas of regulatory inefficiency, overlap and duplication and the use of information technologies and integrated processes and procedures.

Streamlining will:

• Stimulate economic recovery and community sustainability by annually saving the public and private sectors over $30 billion in unnecessary construction costs due to regulatory duplication, time delays and other inefficiencies by reducing between 50 and 70% the amount of time it takes to move construction projects through the regulatory system. This effort will get buildings open faster thus enabling communities to both increase employment and get buildings on the tax rolls faster.
  
• Create greater enforcement uniformity enabling state and local governments to make effective use of information technology to link and use 3 & 4 D building design and operation technologies and other data generated by the building design, construction and building operation and maintenance communities.
  
  
• Create greater code and enforcement uniformity enabling state and local governments to work together on a regional basis to better plan, train, mitigate, respond to and more rapidly recover from man-made and natural disasters.

• Identify and eliminate or reduce prior to disasters those Federal, state and local statutes, rules, regulations processes and procedures that impede reconstruction, saving a minimum of 3 – 6 months of recovery time.
  

UPDATED ALLIANCE STRUCTURE & SERVICES

The Alliance functions both through FIATECH on coordinated national level issues and through Robert Wible & Associates in providing assistance to individual state or local governments in their regulatory streamlining efforts.

FIATECH, founded in 2000 by a consortium of owners, contractors, engineering and architectural firms in the capital facilities industry, FIATECH works to provide global leadership in identifying and accelerating the development, demonstration and deployment of emerging, advanced and innovative technologies to deliver the hightest business value throughout the life cycle of all types of capital projets.

In 2007, the Alliance moved its U.S. national level activities within FIATECH to more effectively link and coordinate private sector support for regulatory streamlining activities and fund the development of new streamlining tools that include:

The ICC Guideline for Replicable Buildings and our outreach program to gain state and local government adoption and use.

The production in the spring of 2012 of a Best Practices Guide to Digital Signatures and Seals.

The Proof of Concept Project for AutoCodes – automated code checking tool – Phase I report will be released in mid-February, 2012. (Insert link to FIATECH update release)

These projects and tools and summary of FIATECH Regulatory Streamlining work can be found on the FIATECH website at: (www.fiatech.org)

Through Robert Wible & Associates the Alliance produces and releases white papers, the Streamlining Toolkit and provides webinars that are targeted at bringing basic information to elected and building and land use officials on the benefits of diverse information technology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of building regulatory and land use programs.

ALLIANCE MISSION STATEMENT:

The economic viability and life safety of the nation can no longer afford to be kept at risk by a regulatory system created in the mid-1900's. The nation's public safety, disaster resiliency and economic competitiveness require our land use and building design and construction processes to become more effective and efficient through streamlining and the application of modern technologies. Communities that effectively have streamlined these processes have strengthened construction code enforcement, reduced by up to 80% the amount of time it takes to move a construction project through those processes and demonstrated the ability to improve disaster preparedness and speed response and recovery.

The goal of the Alliance is to support local and state governments and the private sector with implementing modern technologies and streamlining objectives.

HOW IMPORTANT IS ALL OF THIS?

• Regulatory Streamlining & application of Information Technology documented - Overall reduces time to process, inspect , approve, design & construction and opening of buildings or renovations by up to 80% , reducing staffing & energy costs by 40% by applying:
  

  - ePlan Review
  - On-line permit application & processing
  - Mobile Inspection Technology
  - Identifying and reducing/eliminating areas of regulatory overlap & conflict
  

• Speed Disaster response & recovery through ePlan Review & providing first responders with electronic as operated blueprints of buildings
  
  
• On June 13, 2011 the Chair of the President's Jobs and Competitiveness Council in Wall Street Journal Opinion Column flagged "Streamline of permitting" as the #2 recommendation to moving the economy forward. President Obama in June 29th news conference called upon the nation to undertake such streamlining!

WHY THE ALLIANCE:

Founded in the summer of 2001, the Alliance is a public-private sector partnership supported by both the FIATECH Streamlining Project and Robert Wible & Associates that undertake projects and provide services that help Federal agencies, state and local governments and the private sector to work cooperatively to streamline the regulatory system the regulatory system, improve code enforcement, and move buildings through the regulatory system 70% faster.

Over the past ten years this partnership has:

• Worked with 56 local jurisdictions and 5 states to identify regulatory barriers to more effective & efficient codes administration and enabled them to streamline processes and use IT to reduce process time by 70%. (RWA)
  
• Worked with the International Code Council to produce an ICC Guideline for Replicable Buildings that allows for single code reviews for replicable residential and commercial structures. Sample savings, one "big box store" saves an average of $150,000 per store in reduced time delays caused by multiple reviews. (FIATECH)
  
• Demonstrated the ability to link and make interoperable mobile field inspection technologies to conduct post disaster damage safety inspections (RWA)
  
• Initiated work with the International Code Council to demonstrate the ability to produce an Automated Code checking tool to enable building departments to use BIM data (FIATECH)
  
• Enabled jurisdictions to acquire electronic plan review technology to develop and put in place secure database of existing building plans for first responders to download as they roll up on a disaster site (RWA)
  
• Produced streamlining and IT "roadmaps" for state (Louisiana) and local governments across the United States. (RWA)
  
• Produced publications and guides that provide jurisdictions information on the benefits of applying different IT to construction regulatory processes and link jurisdictions to cities/towns/counties that will share their streamlining experience. (RWA & FIATECH)
  

WELCOME TO THE ALLIANCE STREAMLINING WEBSITE AND THE STREAMLINING IMPERATIVE

Over the past ten years, a growing number of jurisdictions, supported by forward thinking officials, the construction industry and building owners, have streamlined building and land use regulatory systems and where appropriate applied information technology to improve their effectiveness and efficiency; increasing energy conservation, economic competitiveness and disaster resiliency of their communities.

This is not about regulatory abandonment!

This is about spending both government and private sector dollars wisely. It is about increasing the efficiency of modern construction codes, rules and regulations and reducing the amount of time it takes to move a new building or building renovation through the regulatory process by as much as 80% annually saving both the private and public sectors tens of billions of dollars.

In the late 1990's and thru 2007, building owners, the construction industry and government officials saw streamlining and application of IT to their regulatory processes as a "good idea," with some 10% of the nation's 40,000 jurisdictions applying IT to some portion of their regulatory system. The current deep recession and catastrophic disasters, however, have made such savings "imperative."

Communities have reduced their staffs, and they desperately need the jobs, and the revenues from taxes and fees that new construction and building renovations can generate. Likewise the private sector, with the reduced availability of construction loans and need to generate revenues as quickly as possible from the buildings they construct or renovate, needs to eliminate as much as possible time spent trying to move a building through cumbersome and inefficient regulatory systems.

THE STREAMLINING IMPERATIVE

Consider the following streamlining savings:

e-Permit Processing now used in over 3,000 jurisdictions across the nation ranging in population from Los Angeles (3,695,000) to Cobleskill, NY (5,300) reduce staff and building owner/architect times to process permits by between 30 – 40%.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems in Shelby Co., TN; Orlando, FL and Washington Co., OR reduce the time to schedule and conduct inspections from 2-3 days to less than 24 hours.

Mobile field inspection technology being used in cities including Phoenix, AZ; San Dimas, CA increase the number of inspections performed per day by 25% and reduce contractor down time waiting for inspections and their results by 20%.

e-Plan Review now being conducted in: Salt Lake City, UT; Mecklenburg County, NC; Washington, DC; Bend, OR; Maricopa Co., AZ; Osceola Co., FL and over 100 other jurisdictions reduce the amount of time it takes to review plans by 60%, eliminate lost plans, and reduce by 80% the number of trips to these jurisdictions by out of state owners/architects.

The FIATECH and International Code Council generated "Guideline for Replicable Buildings (ICC G1-2010)" is currently being adopted by jurisdictions across the nation. The Guideline enables jurisdictions to accept a single plan review done by an authoritative source for replicable commercial and residential structures. Local communities then only review those buildings for any siting issues and/or any differences they may have from the technical code provisions in the code used to review and approve the building. In a demonstration of the savings possible from the Guideline Target stores undergoing a minor renovation in California reduced from an average of between 18 and 24 weeks the amount of time it took for local governments to conduct the plan reviews for those buildings down to 8 weeks, saving Target an average of $100,000 in review time per store.

Lastly, streamlined processes are getting buildings up and open faster, putting both people to work and revenues into the jurisdiction’s coffers sooner; for example a 200 room hotel open just 3 months earlier using streamlined processes with an 80% occupancy = $144,000 in added tax revenues to a jurisdiction just from the 10% occupancy tax on $100/night rooms.

While many communities in 2009 and 2010 talked about having "shovel ready" projects for receipt of Federal and state economic stimulus funds, many of these projects were never funded simply because these projects were not actually "shovel ready" due to their not having completed the mandatory regulatory reviews and approvals. Is the jurisdiction where you work as a building or land use official, an elected official or where your next construction project is going to be built "Regulatory Ready?"

PURPOSE OF THIS WEBSITE

This website provides elected and appointed government officials, building owners, the construction community, civic groups, academicians, the information technology community and general public with background on the need for and tools that they can download to help reduce the regulatory cost of construction between 40% and 80% while increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of land use and construction regulatory programs.

The tools included in this site have been successfully used by communities listed in the Guides and White Papers that are available for downloading to help them both increase their economic competitiveness and strengthen the ability of their communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural and man-made disaster.

The resources provided here can be used to:

Assess if your community has regulatory barriers that impede both safe and affordable construction and assess the effectiveness and efficiency of your community’s building and land use regulatory programs to facilitate economic competitiveness and disaster resiliency (Guide_to_Building_Regulatory_Processes.pdf).

Provide elected officials with a "Streamlining Toolkit" that summarizes the benefits of streamlining and application of diverse information technologies to land use and building regulatory processes including: e-permitting, e-plan review, mobile field inspection technologies, interactive voice response systems, developing an action plan for disaster resiliency.

Look at the benefits of streamlining and applying information technology to your land use and building plan submittal, review, tracking and storage processes.

Identify and assemble stakeholders to undertake a successful streamlining of your community's codes administration and enforcement program (Guide_to_Building_Regulatory_Processes.pdf).

Work with your community to adopt and make use of the "ICC Guideline for Replicable Buildings" to both speed new construction and building renovations to replicable residential and commercial structures, reducing code review processing time by up to 60%.

Review and share with your elected officials and/or building officials the numerous PowerPoint presentations provided on this website (in the navigation links on the left) that cover regulatory streamlining and benefits of applying information technology to improve program effectiveness and efficiency.

Inform you of upcoming streamlining conferences and workshops conducted by FIATECH, the Alliance and its partners' and provide you with registration information for those programs (www.FIATECH.org)

Provide documentation of cost/benefit/savings analysis of successful streamlining initiatives that have applied information technology to construction regulatory and administrative processes (Link to ROI_Report_May05.pdf)

Provide model information technology procurement requirements (Model Procurement Requirements from July 2006 Report)

Develop statewide or regional interoperable network of mobile field inspectors to conduct safety/damage assessment reports (California Project to Speed Safety/Damage Assessments thru Mobile Field Inspection Technology PPT)

Provide access to services available to both the public and private sectors from Robert Wible & Associates to assist State and local governments in assessing their existing processes, designing and putting in place streamlining programs and technologies.

Of immediate interest to users of this site are those items listed on the left hand side of this homepage. A number of these materials have been produced with funding from Alliance members in both the public and private sectors including:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; U.S. Department of Energy; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) Building Regulatory Process Subcommittee; FIATECH; American Institute of Architects; Associated General Contractors; Building Owners and Managers Association, International; International Code Council; Avolve Software; Accela Corporation; Infor; Marriott Corporation; Selectron; Target Corporation; National Governors Association; U.S. Conference of Mayors; and the National Association of Counties

The Streamlining Project at FIATECH, the Alliance Partners and Robert Wible & Associates hope you find the streamlining materials on this website and new materials that are currently under development (See "How to Get Involved in Streamlining") to be useful in your state or local community. We are especially interested in any feedback you can provide us concerning how effective you found these materials and this website. Your feedback will help us improve the quality of our materials and this site.

As the founder of the Alliance, Project Manager of the FIATECH Streamlining Project and Principal of Robert Wible & Associates, please feel free to contact me concerning this site, its products and materials. I can be reached at: (703) 568-2323 or by email at either: wible@fiatech.org or rcwible@comcast.net.

Sincerely,

Robert C. Wible,
FIATECH Streamlining Project Manager and President, Robert Wible & Associates

ORIGINS OF THE ALLIANCE FOR BUILDING REGULATORY REFORM IN THE DIGITAL AGE

The Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age, now working as the FIATECH Streamlining Project, was formed in the summer of 2001 by associations representing state and local governments and the building industry to identify and share best practices that streamline the nation’s building regulatory processes to enable communities to improve their effectiveness and efficiency by making greater use of information technology. Some of the Alliance’s founding members included: National Governors Association; National Association of Counties; U.S. Conference of Mayors; National Institute of Standards and Technology; National Association of State Chief Information Officers; American Institute of Architects; Building Owners and Managers Association, International; and the National Association of Home Builders.

To strengthen a cooperative working relationship between government and the private sector, in June 2007, the Alliance became affiliated with FIATECH, a not for profit association that serves as a consortium for the capital facilities industry. FIATECH identifies and accelerates the development, demonstration and deployment of fully integrated and automated technologies to improve the quality and life cycle of buildings. For additional information on FIATECH and the FIATECH Streamlining Project visit the FIATECH website at: www.FIATECH.org

ALLIANCE REVISED VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS

VISION STATEMENT FOR ALLIANCE STREAMLINING INITIATIVES - BY 2020

By 2020, working together the public and private sector partners of this national streamlining initiative will:

Strengthen national economic recovery, international competitiveness and disaster resilience of the United States by identifying best practices and facilitating their implementation to streamline the building and land use regulatory process. The goal of that effort is to assist state and local governments in delivering services that make construction safer, more predictable, timely and less costly through the elimination of areas of regulatory inefficiency, overlap and duplication and the use of information technologies and integrated processes and procedures.

Streamlining will:

–  Stimulate economic recovery and community sustainability by annually saving the public and private sectors over $30 billion in unnecessary construction costs due to regulatory duplication, time delays and other inefficiencies by reducing between 50 and 70% the amount of time it takes to move construction projects through the regulatory system. This effort will get buildings open faster thus enabling communities to both increase employment and get buildings on the tax rolls faster. 

–  Create greater enforcement uniformity enabling state and local governments to make effective use of information technology to link and use 3 & 4 D building design and operation technologies and other data generated by the building design, construction and building operation and maintenance communities.

–  Create greater code and enforcement uniformity enabling state and local governments to work together on a regional basis to better plan, train, mitigate, respond to and more rapidly recover from man-made and natural disasters.

–  Identify and eliminate or reduce prior to disasters those Federal, state and local statutes, rules, regulations processes and procedures that impede reconstruction, saving a minimum of 3 – 6 months of recovery time.