The costs which the owner absorbs or passes on, Rauscher points out, can be considerably greater for technology-rich facilities such as hospitals and hospitality and entertainment facilities which have elaborate systems for intercom, paging, closed-circuit television, and public address/audio applications.

Who is adopting MasterFormat 2004?

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, are making the transition to the 2004 edition.

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 according to MasterFormat 2004 by early 2006. 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.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will also be using the MasterFormat 2004-based Unified Facilities Guide Specifications. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs, meanwhile, is studying whether to do so.

Construction product information firms already deciding to transition to MasterFormat 2004 include the 2006 editions of McGraw-Hill Construction's Sweets construction products catalog and Reed Construction Data's First Source, and the 4Specs.com directory of construction products manufacturers.

Several providers of master guide specifications systems also have decided to realign their products per MasterFormat's new edition. They include:

• ARCOM's MasterSpec®
• Building Systems Design's BSD SpecLink®
• CSRF SpecText®
• Digicon Information Inc.
• Canada's National Master Guide Specifications, commonly known as the NMS (National Master Specification)

The new edition has earned accolades from one of the world's largest professional liability insurance underwriters, Victor O. Schinnerer & Company, Inc., which found the revisions "are needed, are logical, and are 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," writes Frank Musica, Assoc. IAA, a risk management specialist at Victor O. Schinnerer & Company, Inc. "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."