FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dan Merriman, 800-689-2900 ext. 4776
dmerriman@csinet.org
List of Organizations Adopting MasterFormat's 2004 Edition
Continues to Grow
Top Professional Liability Underwriter Views New Edition Favorably
ALEXANDRIA, VA (September 14, 2004) – Anticipating the full publication’s release, a
number of major public and private construction organizations, including the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers (USACE), the U.S. Navy Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), and the
Sweets construction products catalog, have already decided they will make the transition to the
groundbreaking 2004 edition of MasterFormat™, the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)
announced today.
Also, one of the world's largest professional liability insurance underwriters, Victor O.
Schinnerer & Company, Inc., has found the enhancements in MasterFormat's new edition "are
needed, are logical, and are beneficial to architects and engineers."
MasterFormat, a product of CSI and Construction Specifications Canada, is the specificationswriting standard used for most of North America's commercial and institutional building design
and construction projects. The complete 2004 edition, the most significant rewrite in
MasterFormat's 40-year history, is due for release by year's-end.
The Army's and Navy's decision to use MasterFormat’s new edition is in conjunction with an
update of their Unified Facilities Guide Specifications (UFGS), the specifications used by all the
armed services’ construction branches. Plans call for organizing them per MasterFormat 2004
by late 2005.
The decision will eventually impact U.S. military construction projects worldwide worth
approximately $22 billion per year. That includes construction of U.S. Air Force buildings,
nearly all of which are built, under federal law, by USACE or NAVFAC.
Also using the MasterFormat 2004-based Unified Facilities Guide Specifications will be the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs is
studying whether to do so.
At the local government level, San Francisco/Oakland's Bay Area Rapid Transit System already
has decided to use MasterFormat 2004.
Several providers of master guide specifications systems also have decided to realign their
products per MasterFormat's new edition. They include:
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ARCOM's MasterSpec®
Building Systems Design's BSD SpecLink®
Digicon Information Inc.
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Canada's National Master Guide Specifications, commonly known as the NMS (National
Master Specification)
Construction product information firms already deciding to transition to MasterFormat 2004
include McGraw-Hill Construction's Sweets construction products catalog (2006 edition) and the
4Specs.com directory of construction products manufacturers.
"CSI obtained input from a large number of industry groups and MasterFormat users throughout
the development of the 2004 edition. The fact that major construction organizations are already
deciding to go with MasterFormat 2004, before the full product's release, is a confirmation that
the new edition meets the needs of owners, designers, and constructors for an up-to-date
information classification standard that addresses the scope and life cycle of today’s construction
industry," said CSI Executive Director Karl F. Borgstrom, Ph.D.
Professional liability insurance underwriter Victor O. Schinnerer & Company Inc. also has
determined that the use of MasterFormat's 2004 edition will be beneficial to architects and
engineers.
"…any time there is a change there is a possibility of missed communications and missed
communications can lead to professional liability claims. However, we see the change in the
MasterFormat to be not really different from the AIA issuing a new edition of A201. A201 is the
major communications tool between the owner, the architect as the owner's agent, and the
contractor. When the 1997 edition was issued many architects and contractors ignored the
changes and some claims resulted. In fact, we still find architects and contractors who do not
understand their duties under A201. So it is likely to be with MasterFormat 2004. There will be
a learning curve and problems are bound to surface. For the most part, however, we feel that the
changes are needed, are logical, and are beneficial to architects and engineers," wrote Frank
Musica, Assoc. AIA, a risk management specialist at Victor O. Schinnerer & Company, Inc.
Functioning as the "Dewey Decimal System" for construction information, MasterFormat is
divided into divisions, and each division is composed of sections. The 2004 edition has
additional divisions and many more sections. That enables specifications, the written
instructions for construction projects, to address spectacular advances in construction technology
that have emerged since the 1995 edition. The new edition also enables specifications to better
address building owners' evolving construction priorities such as security, life safety, and
environmentally responsible facilities.
The 2004 edition's new divisions and sections also allow MasterFormat to now be used for
writing specifications for heavy civil and process engineering construction projects such as
dams, bridges, factories, and power plants.
The new MasterFormat’s section numbers and their titles are downloadable at no charge from
CSI’s website at www.csinet.org/masterformat.
-- ### -About CSI
As the integrator for all disciplines involved in nonresidential construction (architects, specifiers,
engineers, contractors, suppliers, owners), the Construction Specifications Institute is an
association providing technical information and products, common organizational systems for
construction information, continuing education, and product shows to continuously advance the
process of delivering construction projects. For more information, visit www.csinet.org or call
800-689-2900.