SACRAMENTO, Calif. (July 19, 2018) — AECOM, a premier, fully integrated global infrastructure firm, along with Bluebeam, a leading developer of project efficiency and collaboration software, announced today an initiative to deliver a major digital milestone in revolutionizing and streamlining California’s Division of the State Architect (DSA) design review process. DSA provides design and construction oversight for K-12 schools, community colleges, and various other facilities owned and leased by the State of California. DSA also develops accessibility, structural safety, and historical building codes and standards used in various public and private buildings throughout California.
“It’s a great privilege to enable such a critical, statewide regulatory agency to serve their clients better and lead them on the path to building out their fully digital platform,” said Kelli Bernard, AECOM’s Los Angeles Metro chief executive. “DSA’s focus on digitizing and standardizing their design review process will generate greater efficiencies. Ultimately the goal is to save time and reduce costs while creating an improved documentation process for them and their clients.”
The ability to implement a full digital design review process has been a key goal of DSA, and will allow the agency to assist clients with building and delivering great educational facilities across California. This digitized process is intended to track response times, foster sustainability through reduced printing, mailing and travel requirements, and advance productivity for all parties involved. Historically, DSA reviews approximately 4,000 projects annually, involving construction costs of nearly US$6 billion.
“The partnership between AECOM and the DSA is expected to drive results by leveraging Bluebeam’s capabilities to improve review times, boost consistency across offices and reduce the need for mailing thousands of pages of paper submissions,” said Bluebeam Vice President Sasha Reed. “By using Bluebeam software as their platform of choice, project teams can eliminate unnecessary delays and improve the overall experience for the architectural, engineering and construction professionals working on DSA projects statewide.”
AECOM and Bluebeam teams have worked closely with DSA staff to provide new procedures and training pertaining to the implementation of the agency’s evolutionary move toward digital plan review. This is a vital step toward helping DSA realize its goal of implementing a full digital design review process by the end of this year. DSA has been the driving force behind this major undertaking to implement a digital review and submission system aligned with where the industry is headed in this regard, and anticipates that all project submissions will be going digital by this fall.
As part of this transformational project, the AECOM team, led by Senior Manager Carolyn Stegon from the company’s Program Management/Construction Management business line, is actively working with DSA to develop the full workflow roll-out. AECOM is also working with DSA to identify a selection of soft-start projects for this new digital design review process. This new process is expected to enhance communication amongst key stakeholders and reduce overall schedule review and back-check time for architects and engineers submitting plans to DSA. By leveraging the real-time collaboration capabilities within Bluebeam software, AECOM and DSA staff will have the ability to communicate with teams across multiple entities and enable consistency across DSA offices and to improve quality while capturing and tracking feedback more accurately.
About AECOM
AECOM is built to deliver a better world. We design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets for governments, businesses and organizations in more than 150 countries. As a fully integrated firm, we connect knowledge and experience across our global network of experts to help clients solve their most complex challenges. From high-performance buildings and infrastructure, to resilient communities and environments, to stable and secure nations, our work is transformative, differentiated and vital. A Fortune 500 firm, AECOM had revenue of approximately $18.2 billion during fiscal year 2017. See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com and @AECOM.
About Bluebeam, Inc.
Bluebeam pushes the boundaries of innovation, developing smart, simple project efficiency and collaboration solutions for design and construction professionals worldwide. Since 2002, Bluebeam, Inc. has made desktop, mobile and cloud-based solutions for paperless workflows that leverage PDF to improve project communication and streamline processes across the entire project lifecycle. Trusted by over 1 million individuals in more than 100 countries, Bluebeam’s solutions advance the way technical professionals work, manage and collaborate on projects digitally. Founded in Pasadena, CA, Bluebeam has grown to include additional offices in California, Illinois, New Hampshire, Canada, England and Sweden. Bluebeam is part of the Nemetschek Group. Download a 30-day trial of Bluebeam Revu on our website.
AECOM Contact:
Michael Chee
Director, External Communications
1.213.563.8580
michael.chee@aecom.com