Standardizing construction between industry and government

Abstract

The study set out to determine how standards in construction are developed and whether economic analysis based on life cycle costing is considered during their development. It explains how several organizations in the federal government and in the commercial sector develop standards for construction. It was determined that economic analysis is not used during the development of the vast majority of these standards. Although not used, it is believed that the standards writers could perform economic analysis if they were so inclined. The National Bureau of Standards has actually developed a step by step guide for performing life cycle cost analysis of building codes. It is recommended that the military also develop a similar technique for evaluating changes made to their technical and design related manuals. As a final point, it was concluded that the military is actively involved in coordinating its military specifications with voluntary standards writing organizations in an attempt to eliminate duplication between their standards and is thereby complying with the directive of OMB Circular A- 119.