Six months of government contract with TIM: 100+TechnoBuild speakers summed up the first results

After January 1, 2022, all government contracts concluded in the construction sector must be executed using information modeling technologies (IMT). However, the market was not ready to meet this requirement. Six months later, there are still questions about personnel, software developers, and the lack of a unified methodology for the transition to TIM. The experts discussed this at the round table "Digital Life: information technologies in the construction industry", which was organized by 100+ TechnoBuild.

According to statistics from the National Association of Builders, today only about 10% of government orders are carried out using TIM. At the same time, the further away from the regional center, the lower this percentage is: there simply are no specialists who would understand the topic, says Anton Shafarostov, Deputy Minister of Construction and Infrastructure Development of the Sverdlovsk region.

Adding to the problem of personnel shortages is the fact that there is no single regulatory framework for the transition to TIM. The rulebooks do not regulate what should be included in the requirements for the information model, and government customers themselves do not have the authority to develop any rules. All this significantly slows down the processes.

According to Anton Shafarostov, monetary support could solve these issues, primarily aimed at personnel development. Alexander Volkov, Technical Director of BIM-Cluster, adds that a unified methodology from the state for customers and performers would also help. If it had been developed in a timely manner, then another problem would not have arisen: the transition to domestic programs for those who are used to working in foreign countries. Currently, companies still have licenses for foreign software, but it's only a matter of time: several important players have suspended operations in Russia. 

"Currently, the participants in the process do not have the necessary skills. They were given tools to work in different software, without explaining why to do it. They taught me how to press buttons. If the database had been formed from the very beginning, then changing one button to another would not have played a role," notes Alexander Volkov.  

The transition issue will become really painful for many companies: they are used to working, for example, at Autodesk, which covered almost all the needs of designers. Over the years, dozens of plug-ins have been written for it that simplify work and automate routine processes. There is no such extended functionality in Russian software, and it is unclear when it will appear. According to Anton Shafarostov, domestic developers are focused on creating lighter programs, so there is a bias: somewhere there is an overabundance, and somewhere there are not enough tools. The expert sees the solution in the fact that the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Finance of Russia tried to systematize this sector.

"We need to look at how many specialists, companies and programs there are, and who is ready to do what. And in the face of a shortage of domestic software, set the task of how many developments are needed in which part," he suggests.

In turn, developers are ready to adapt to the needs of customers. At the same time, they are even more focused on meeting the needs of Russian users than the owners of foreign software, said Maxim Terentyev, Deputy Director of Business Development at Renga Software in the Urals. However, experts see the incentive of IT companies more in grant support than in the distribution of responsibilities "from under the stick".

"If we are going to deal with this issue at the federal level, then we need to create a grant system that would motivate us to deal with more difficult system tasks, since objectively developing a Revit–level system has been a matter of many years," says Viktor Salnikov, director of InPAD.

In general, the participants of the round table believe that the current problems will be solved within two to three years. These topics will be discussed in more detail at the 100+ TechnoBuild forum and exhibition from October 18 to 21, 2022 at the Yekaterinburg-Expo IEC.