The
Construction Specifications Institute announced that it has acquired
Building Systems Design, Inc.
The
Construction Specifications Institute announced that it has acquired
Building Systems Design, Inc. The acquisition provides for BSD’s current
management and employees to remain in place, and BSD will continue as a
separate, for-profit enterprise.
CSI was founded more than 60 years ago by
volunteers dedicated to the mission of improving communication between all
members of the construction project team. CSI has been the driving force in the
creation of industry standards and formats used in the production of building
construction specifications and other construction documentation including:MasterFormat, SectionFormat, UniFormat, and OmniClass.
In recent
years, to better address the needs of its members and the construction
community, CSI has increased its focus on creating practice tools that improve
communication and the development of construction documentation in day-to-day
construction work. The acquisition of BSD is the next logical step in providing
useful products that advance CSI’s mission and improve how construction is done
by individual practitioners and in firms around the world. BSD was founded
in 1983 to produce cost estimating software for use on personal computers, with
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as its first client. In 1996, BSD launched the
initial version of BSD SpecLink, an automated specification writing system that
is now in its third generation as BSD SpecLink-E. The company recently
introduced BSD LinkMan-E, a product that links SpecLink with the industry’s
leading building information modeling (BIM) software, Autodesk’s Revit. Plans
include extending LinkMan’s interoperability to BSD CostLink-E, a new generation
cost estimating product that is now in development.
“Master specifications
software has proven to be a valuable tool for firms and individual practitioners
in improving their productivity and the quality of their construction
documents,” CSI Executive Director and CEO Walter Marlowe, P.E., CSI, CAE, said.
“As the industry increasingly moves to adopt software tools and electronic
project communications, CSI needs to be involved in the creation of standards
that enable greater efficiency in information transfer, data interoperability
and improved construction documentation. CSI also must provide better access for
our members to software that utilizes those standards.”
BSD CEO John R.
Witherspoon said he is “gratified” that an organization as prestigious as CSI
has recognized the value of BSD’s practice tools through its investment in the
company.“The
relationship will also enable us to offer an exceptional array of benefits to
CSI’s membership, including special discounts on BSD products and improved
access to educational opportunities,” he said.
CSI will continue to develop
and maintain industry standards in an open and inclusive manner, using
consensus-based processes. All interested industry organizations will continue
to have access to CSI’s intellectual property, serve on CSI committees and task
teams, and license CSI’s formats for use in their products.