VOICETThhee The official magazine of The Construction Users RoundtableThe official magazine of The Construction Users Roundtable In collaboration with CIIIn collaboration with CII Issue 2, 2020Issue 2, 2020 SPECIAL SECTION: CURT National Conference Re-cap CYBERSECURITY:CYBERSECURITY: Is Your Construction Is Your Construction Project Safe?Project Safe?The Construction Users Roundtable 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INDUSTRY LEADERS: 5 A Message from Jim Ellis, CURT President 7 A Message from Gregory Sizemore, Esq., CURT Executive Vice President 9 A Message from Stephen Mulva, CII Director GET TO KNOW CURT: 11 Connecting With CURT’s Board of Directors 14 Committee Conversations ON THE COVER: 16 Cybersecurity: Is Your Construction Project Safe? FEATURE: 22 CII: Our Digital Future SPECIAL REPORT: 26 CURT Takes a Stand to Reduce the Risk of Suicide in the Construction Industry 27 Re-Cap of the 2020 CURT National Conference LEGAL BRIEF: 35 Danger Ahead! The Five Biggest Mistakes Owners Make When Negotiating Construction Contracts 38 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS Published By: Matrix Group Publishing Inc. 5605 Riggins Court, Second Floor, PO Box 41270, Reno, Nevada 89504 Toll Free Tel (866) 999-1299 Toll Free Fax (866) 244-2544 www.matrixgroupinc.net President & CEO Jack Andress Operations Manager Shoshana Weinberg (sweinberg@matrixgroupinc.net) Publisher Jessica Potter Editor-in-Chief Shannon Savory (ssavory@matrixgroupinc.net) Senior Editor Alexandra Kozub (akozub@matrixgroupinc.net) Editors Jenna Collignon, Kaitlin Vitt Finance/ Administration Lloyd Weinberg, Nathan Redekop (accounting@matrixgroupinc.net) Director of Marketing & Circulation Lloyd Weinberg (distribution@matrixgroupinc.net) Sales Manager – Winnipeg Neil Gottfred Sales Manager – Hamilton Jeff Cash Matrix Group Publishing Inc. Account Executives Albert Brydges, Andrew Lee, Bonnie Petrovsky (in memoriam), Brenda McPhee, Brian MacIntyre, Cheryl Klassen, Colleen Bell, Frank Kenyeres, Jim Hamilton, Jon Beroud, Julie Welsh, Marlyn Beek, Michael Coutu, Rob Gibson, Sandra Kirby, Tanina Di Piazza, Tenisha Myke Advertising Design James Robinson Layout & Design Kayti Taylor ©2020 Matrix Group Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Matrix Group Publishing Inc. Published For: The Construction Users Roundtable 2245 Gilbert Avenue, Suite 100, Cincinnati, Ohio 45206-3000 Tel: (513) 563-4131 Fax: (513) 733-9551 E-mail: construction-users@curt.org Web: www.curt.org On the Cover: Owners, construction managers, and contractors all worry about cybercrime – and for good reason. Their complex projects are made up of a myriad of data and monetary exchanges with staff, partners, regulators, subs, and suppliers, using a range of software and systems – and now, the Internet of Things, too. These are all tempting targets for hackers who are looking for intel, financial gain, and/or simple sabotage. Turn to page 16 to read about this issue and how to protect your projects. To update your subscription information, email distribution@matrixgroupinc.net. Note, all past issues are available for free at www.curt.org if you prefer to read the electronic version. Have a conversation with CURT – and all of our great connections – in the digital world. Stay up to date on industry best practices, upcoming events, and the latest sector news by clicking to one (or all!) of these sites. You can also access them all by scanning in the QR code below, or, if you’re reading this issue digitally, click on the links below! CURT members, did you know that by creating an account on the CURT website you can access a database of members, our knowledge center, and AskCURT? It’s quick, free, and easy to access these great online resources. See you in cyberspace. Connect with CURT in Cyberspace! Web: www.curt.org LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/groups/1286907 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CURT.orgThe Construction Users Roundtable 5 INDUSTRY LEADERS A Message from the CURT President W hen I wrote this message it was March 19, 2020 – the first day of spring, and, I suspect, a day of many other firsts for us as individuals, as a nation, and as humanity. I don’t know what the world will look like when this message receives you, but I do hope that we will have weathered the storm and come out on top. As a collective, we are very good at coming together when the going gets tough. We see it time and again after natural disasters; teamwork, community, support. Yes, there is negative news that shows people’s bad behavior during crises, but you don’t have to dig too hard to find the good. I would like to encourage all of you to seek the light and look for the nuggets of positivity that can be found in the current situation. For many of us this includes more time with our family, keeping connections active through social media, safely reaching out to community members who we likely would not have otherwise, and discovering how resilient we can be when faced with adversity. I, for one, am in awe of how we have transitioned to the current reality of working from home and social distancing. A few weeks ago, it would have been hard to imagine these extreme measures, yet here we are, and we’re still working and productive. There are and will continue to be some hiccups as well as learnings along the way – but again, let’s look for the nuggets of positivity. I think we have all discovered new ways to communicate with each other, that aren’t face-to-face, raise our level of care for each other, we are learning new ways to advance workflow, and we are, perhaps, re-discovering that work isn’t everything. That being said, other realities don’t change, as we all have bills to pay and families to support. There is much unknown right now, and that’s scary for everyone, from company leadership to every team member. As “the voice of the owner,” CURT wants to help in whatever way we can. CURT personnel can still be reached by calling their direct lines, cell phones, or the office and they are ready to assist with whatever you may need. The open-door policy is no more important than now! If you’re not already receiving CURT Weekly, please email kkosco@curt.org to be added. This free once-a-week communication will connect you to our organization and all of the tools we have in our arsenal to help you and your company succeed. In March, CURT began a series of webinars, “Construction in Crisis: A CURT Response.” COVID-19-related topics included employment and labor relations, safety, OSHA, economic impact, planning during a pandemic, and leveraging lean and wellness strategies. These webinars will continue to address construction-specific topics during this unprecedented time. Contact Rob Fischer at rfischer@CURT.org to learn more. Some of us have lived through times of war, all of us through recessions and downturns. Today’s challenge is new, but it’s one that we will see to the other side, and we’ll come out stronger – together. I am proud of how the team at CURT has pivoted their daily tasks to accommodate the new reality. I’m also proud of colleagues, both within my company and within the wider CURT community, who have adjusted, who continue to collaborate, who are working together to manage effectively through a world crisis all leading towards a brighter tomorrow. Stay calm; stay safe; stay connected; stay caring! We are all better, together. Jim Ellis CURT President SABIC, Global Engineering Manager Engineering and Project Management The Importance of Connection During Troubling Times The Construction Users Roundtable 7 INDUSTRY LEADERS A Message from the CURT Executive Vice President A t the moment there are many uncertainties. A large number of us are working from home, or in smaller numbers in our offices. Who would have dreamed that we would find ourselves in these circumstances? This magazine will reach you in early May 2020; by that time I hope we will have reached the other side of this pandemic and that we are back at work and back to the business of building. It will be a while before business will be business as usual. However, we will continue to connect with each other in meaningful ways using the technology we have. Since we humans crave interaction, and since we’re going to be restricted for some time in terms of contact, it’s important on a professional level to stay in-tune with the industry and the many new developments that unfold daily. That’s where CURT comes in. The CURT staff are holding regular office hours, taking calls, assisting members, answering emails, planning our next events, and developing new products and services to serve you better. We are also exploring new technologies and alliances that can provide greater value to our members. To that end, the May event is going to look a lot different than usual. It will be a virtual event, yet just as engaging, connecting, and resourceful as if you were there in person. I am very proud of our team for the way they have pivoted to an online format and worked together to develop new opportunities to serve our members. You’ve likely noticed that CURT introduced a “Construction in Crisis” series of webinars in order to provide our members with up to date learning opportunities available during this time of isolation. If you haven’t signed up, please call the CURT office and make sure you are on our distribution list. Our webinar series has had over 1,000 individuals join us to learn and to share our resources together. In this Together Additionally, we developed a weekly SPECIAL REPORT that gives our members additional, hard-to-find resources. The goal is to make each of our members better, and more well connected, well-informed decision-makers. Also under consideration is the development of a group of subject matter experts who can be available, free of charge, to assist you in your unique project challenges and help you make better construction and engineering decisions as we once again ramp up for business. We must not forget that while we’re all dealing with this new pandemic challenge, our industry’s existing challenges have not gone away. As we return to work there will still be trades shortages, poor productivity numbers, safety concerns, and implementation of new technologies. These are all topics that CURT will continue to champion. Finally, at the CURT National Conference in February, Cal Beyer spoke about the alarmingly high number of suicides each year in the construction industry. There is an additional fear that the anxiety created by COVID-19, along with the organizational and employment challenges, will only exasperate this issue in the weeks ahead. I encourage you to turn to page 26 in this magazine to learn more about the unusually high rate of suicide in our industry and the resources available to mitigate it. Cal, along with industry experts, will be writing the cover story for our next issue (due out in August), and more articles after that. I look forward to connecting once again in person. Until then, please reach out to the CURT office; let us be your premier resource to assist you and your capital project team. We look forward to working with you through your challenges and working with you toward achieving project success. Stay safe. Greg Sizemore CURT Executive Vice President Since we humans crave interaction, and since we’re going to be restricted for some time in terms of contact, it’s important on a professional level to stay in-tune with the industry and the many new developments that unfold daily. If you, or anyone you know, needs someone to talk to during these trying times, please call the It’s open 24/7, and it’s free and confidential. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).The Construction Users Roundtable 9 INDUSTRY LEADERS A Message from the CII Director W arren Buffet once said, “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.” What’s the secret to knowing what you’re doing when it comes to capital projects? I think that’s easy – it’s data. Don’t believe me? Look at the huge valuations of leading tech companies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Their valuations are not the result of their earnings but rather the massive amounts of data they gather and use to their advantage every day. The future of our industry, and its ability to understand and mitigate sizeable risk, is dependent on data. But, historically, we haven’t done a great job of collecting, organizing, or analyzing data – neither at the individual firm level nor collectively across the industry. That needs to change. From 2007 through 2016, I was responsible for directing CII’s Performance Assessment (Benchmarking) Program where our objective was to obtain and evaluate project performance data. While we learned a ton and helped countless CII members and the industry, I always wished that we had more data. That’s because I came to really know that what gets measured gets improved. Safety improvement across the industry provides a great example. When CII first measured our members’ Total Recordable Incidence Rate (TRIR), the industry injured 14.7 workers out of 100 in each year worked. CII member companies in recent years have been reporting one worker injured out of 400 each year. While we’re still not satisfied because the number isn’t at zero, the common industry approach to data, its measurement, and its importance truly did help drive this remarkable turnaround in safety. Since 2018, CII has been planning, designing, and building the first Data Warehouse of its kind for the engineering and construction business. Unlike benchmarking of the past, data entry is electronic, not manual. Tied to data resident in various legacy systems, BIM packages, and construction management software, CII will soon be able to import members’ data through APIs into the Data Warehouse. Rather than being reliant on standardized reports or manual interpretation from experts, we are building the capability for individual users to create their own comparisons using business intelligence (BI) software. In the years ahead, researchers will be able to create algorithms, models, and simulations that companies can use with the resident data to make projections about their projects. A lot of this functionality is possible because we’re using one of the largest academic computing resources in the world at the University of Texas at Austin’s state-of-the-art Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). When the CII Data Warehouse launches later this year, it will be the breakthrough that our industry requires. Throughout this process of creating the Data Warehouse, our staff at CII and TACC has relied on the counsel of our members for technical issues and operational advice. The result is an unmatched ability to collect and maintain contemporary data regarding: 1. Support for estimate validation regarding facility expected cost and performance; 2. Data-driven approach to scope definition regarding facility size and capacity; 3. Ownership of data resides with the companies who submitted them per Texas law; 4. Integration with member legacy systems and commercial software packages; 5. Measurement of operational data including energy consumption and carbon accounting; 6. Common approach to data collection from different industry sectors; 7. Support for lifecycle assessments and certifications such as U.S. Green Building Council LEED and BREEAM; and 8. Feedback loops to enable the near real-time planning and sanction of facility projects. The extraordinary resources of TACC are powering the data renaissance at CII and in our industry. CII is able to leverage the hundreds of millions of dollars of IT investment at TACC for an unmatched, low price for our members. In the long run, data “crutches,” such as cost normalization or the annual indexing of information (e.g., to a 1.0 standard), become unnecessary when enough data are gathered each month. In fact, analyses of market dynamics (i.e., understanding if the market for specific facilities is “heating up” or “cooling down”) will become routine. Most importantly, these data cannot be sold. Precisely because CII is a not-for-profit headquartered at a leading public university, it is the very best place for your data to reside. In closing, let me invite you and your organization to participate if you aren’t already involved. Collaboration is the name of the game when it comes to data. In fact, many of the auto companies, such as General Motors, Ford, BMW, Honda, and Renault are working together to appropriately share data gathered from automated driving because of the schedule advantage afforded to each of them. Experts believe this collaboration will cut the development time needed to create a sellable self-driving car by 50 percent or more. Our industry is no different. We can revolutionize the capital projects business. But it first depends on you – and your data. Are you in? Dr. Stephen Mulva Director of CII Data DependencyNext >