AIA Launches New Contract Documents

On November 7, the AIA formally introduced 40 revised, new or renumbered contract documents and commentaries. The AIA touts its contract documents as the most widely used standard form agreements in the construction industry, a claim that is supported by an article appearing in the November 5 issue of Engineering News-Record entitled "AIA Forms Running Far Ahead of Rivals" (subscription required).

Many of the AIA Owner/Contractor agreement forms incorporate AIA Document A201, the General Conditions of Construction (which is also incorporated by reference into several of the AIA Owner/Architect agreement forms). The 2007 edition of A201 contains several major departures from the previous 1997 edition, including:

• providing an option for the Owner and Contractor to engage an "Initial Decision Maker" to initially decide claims, instead of initially submitting claims to the Architect
• making arbitration optional
• allowing arbitrations to be consolidated
• deferring to state law to govern the statute of limitations for filing a demand for arbitration

For more information about the changes in the AIA documents, go to http://www.aiacontractdocuments.org/. (This entry posted by Karen Carey, a member of Womble Carlyle's real estate development and construction law practice group.)