NCS Committees Receive Unprecedented 379 Ballot Items

Ballot Comment Period Now Open for Input

The Ballot Comment Period to update the nation’s leading computer-aided design (CAD) standard is now open. The Steering Committee for the United States National CAD Standard® (NCS) is accepting comments on ballots until October 13, 2013.

The NCS Committees received an unprecedented 379 ballot items (3 of which were withdrawn by authors) to amend Version 5 (V5) of the NCS.

This is the chance for NCS Project Committee members to add their thoughts to the proposed changes. Project Committee members are encouraged to review and comment in writing on any ballot item approved by a Task Team or the Steering Committee.

Received ballots include:

Layer ballot items – 76 amendments
Uniform Drawing System (UDS) ballot items – 89 amendments
Plotting ballot items – 2 amendments
Symbols ballot items – 209 amendments
Rules of Governance ballot item – 1 amendment
Building Information Modeling (BIM) Implementation ballot item – 1 amendment
Deleted by author – 1 ballot item

During the NCS revision cycle, participants propose, debate and ultimately vote upon additions and changes to the NCS to amend the current version of the standard. Current NCS users, who are most familiar with the standard, can provide valuable input to improve the next edition. Any user who owns NCS V5 and is a member of the NCS Project Committee can participate in the NCS Version 6 development process.

The NCS helps architects, constructors and operators coordinate efforts by classifying electronic design data consistently and making information retrieval easier. It improves communication among owners and project teams; cuts or eliminates costs of developing and maintaining company-specific standards; and reduces the expense of transferring building data from design applications to facility management applications. More than 5,000 architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) firms and all major federal agencies have voluntarily adopted the NCS in their workplaces.

Published by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), the NCS is based on three components from its partnering organizations: NIBS’s Foreword, Administration and Plotting Guidelines modules; AIA’s CAD Layer Guidelines module; and CSI’s Uniform Drawing System modules. By combining these resources, the NCS prescribes CAD layer names, drawing set organization, and drafting, notation and plotting conventions. The development and distribution of the NCS is overseen by the buildingSMART alliance™, a council of NIBS.

The NCS Ballot Comment Period will run through October 13. Read the NCS Project Committee Announcement. View submitted ballots.

About the National Institute of Building Sciences

The National Institute of Building Sciences, authorized by public law 93-383 in 1974, is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that brings together representatives of government, the professions, industry, labor and consumer interests to identify and resolve building process and facility performance problems. The Institute serves as an authoritative source of advice for both the private and public sectors with respect to the use of building science and technology.