Nearing the end of 2009, SMACNA entered into a partnership with the National Institute of Building Sciences’ buildingSMART alliance to further explore contractors and software developers’ common interests in identifying and addressing interoperability issues in the MEP industry. Also joining this group along with SMACNA were the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA).

These efforts are intended to provide practitioners in the MEP industries with best practices in accordance with existing and future versions of the United States National BIM Standard (NBIMS). It is anticipated that the products of these efforts will provide guidance to software vendors who desire to implement open standards for BIM and to further the sharing of basic information so it can be used for multiple activities in a facility’s life cycle.