ISO 19650 in Saudi Arabia: EIR, BEP and CDE for project owners

ISO 19650 in Saudi Arabia has become the default way to organise BIM on large projects, even though no Saudi law we found requires it. Giga-project packages ask for it, consultants hire for it, and government deliverables line up with it. For an owner, its value is simple: it tells you how to ask for information and how to check you got it.

What is ISO 19650?

DefinitionISO 19650 is an international series of standards for managing information over the whole life of a built asset using BIM. It sets out who asks for information, who provides it, how it is exchanged and how it is checked. It does not prescribe software.

The series has six parts:

Most Saudi construction contracts draw on parts 1 and 2. Owners who plan to run their buildings from the model should read part 3 as well. Part 5 matters for sensitive assets such as government buildings, banks and utilities.

What are OIR, PIR, AIR and EIR?

ISO 19650 calls the owner the appointing party. The owner's requirements come in four layers, as the UK BIM Alliance, BSI and CDBB guidance sets out:

• Organisational information requirements (OIR): what the organisation needs to know to meet its business goals. For a ministry, that might be energy use across its estate.
• Project information requirements (PIR): what the owner needs to know about the project's purpose, design and construction.
• Asset information requirements (AIR): what the owner needs to operate and maintain the asset, such as equipment data, warranties and maintenance intervals.
• Exchange information requirements (EIR): what each appointed party must deliver, when and in what form. The EIR is written into each appointment.

The EIR initials once stood for employer's information requirements in older UK documents. Under ISO 19650 they mean exchange information requirements, a change the Hong Kong government's terminology guide also records. If a Saudi tender still says "employer's information requirements", it means the same document.

The most common gap we see in the Kingdom is a project with an EIR but no AIR. The model then arrives at handover with design data but without the asset data the facilities team needs. Write the AIR first and derive the EIR from it.

What is a BIM execution plan?

The BIM execution plan (BEP) is the delivery team's answer to the EIR. It explains how the team will meet each requirement: who models what, to which level of development, on which software, with which naming and classification, and on what schedule. Under ISO 19650 there is a pre-appointment BEP with the tender and a detailed BEP after appointment.

A good BEP for a Saudi project includes an element-by-element LOD table (see LOD 300 vs LOD 400 vs LOD 500), a responsibility matrix, the coordination and clash detection process, and a master information delivery plan that lists every deliverable against a date.

What is a common data environment, and what are its states?

The common data environment (CDE) is the agreed source of information for the project, where every model, drawing and document is stored, checked and shared. ISO 19650-2 expects the appointing party, or someone acting for them, to provide and manage it. The UK BIM Framework guidance also advises developing the workflows first and then choosing the software to support them.

Every information container in the CDE moves through four states:

1. Work in progress: being developed by its author and visible only to that task team.
2. Shared: approved for sharing with other teams or the owner, for coordination and comment.
3. Published: authorised for use, for example for construction or asset management.
4. Archived: a record of every transition, giving an audit trail.

The archive is the part owners forget. If the CDE sits on a contractor's platform and the contract ends, make sure the owner keeps the archive. It is your record of who issued what and when, which matters if a dispute arises.

How does ISO 19650 fit Saudi requirements?

For government-funded projects, EXPRO's National Manual for Project Management sets BIM deliverables: design data and drawings from 3D models, a BIM Manager on large BIM projects, a BIM execution plan template, LOD matrices and COBie data in IFC format. These map onto ISO 19650's EIR, BEP and AIR. An owner can use the ISO 19650 structure and include the EXPRO deliverables inside it. We cover the EXPRO requirements in is BIM mandatory in Saudi Arabia.

On giga-projects, requirements arrive with tender documents and are not public. Job adverts for BIM roles on NEOM packages, for example, ask for ISO 19650 knowledge and experience with common data environments. Our article on BIM on Saudi giga-projects sets out what is on the record.

Common ISO 19650 mistakes on Saudi projects

• Copying a requirements document from another project. An EIR written for a hospital in another country will ask for the wrong things on a school in Riyadh. Start from your own asset needs.
• Treating the BEP as a tender formality. If nobody checks deliveries against the BEP, it stops being followed within weeks.
• Letting each contractor run its own CDE. Several CDEs on one project break the audit trail. Use one, owned or controlled by the appointing party.
• Skipping the information delivery plan. Without dates against each deliverable, information arrives when it suits the author, not when the project needs it.
• Leaving security to IT. For government buildings, banks and utilities, ISO 19650-5 asks for a security-minded approach to what is shared and with whom. Decide that before the first model leaves the building.

Five steps for an owner starting with ISO 19650

1. Write down what you need to run the asset. That is your AIR. Start with the asset types your facilities team maintains.
2. Turn it into an EIR for each appointment. Say what information, at what LOD, in what format, at which project stage.
3. Set up the CDE before the first appointment. Define naming, status codes and approval steps.
4. Assess each bidder's pre-appointment BEP. Score it like any other technical submission.
5. Check deliveries against the EIR. Accept information only when it meets the requirement, and keep the archive.

AIM United is certified to ISO 19650 and runs these steps for owners and contractors. Our BIM standards and ISO 19650 consultancy writes requirements and BEPs, and our as-built and COBie handover team delivers the asset information at the end. For operations, see digital twins and facility management.

Frequently asked questions

Written by the AIM United BIM team in Jeddah. AIM United delivers BIM, scan to BIM, digital twins and design-build across Saudi Arabia.