This video explains how to create a post-appointment BIM Execution Plan (contract BEP) for ISO 19650 project delivery. The written guide below covers why the contract BEP is where planning becomes an actionable framework, how it aligns with the Exchange Information Requirements, what it should contain, and how database-driven exports, responsibility matrices, and digital approvals make BIM execution planning practical and collaborative.
Why the contract BEP turns planning into an agreed delivery framework
The post-appointment BIM Execution Plan — often called the contract BEP — is the document where ISO 19650 planning stops being theoretical and becomes an agreed, actionable framework for real project delivery. Once the appointing party formally appoints the lead appointed party, the immediate task is to refine and finalise the BIM Execution Plan so that it becomes part of the contract. This ensures that the information required throughout the project aligns with the appointing party’s Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) and that every team understands exactly what they need to deliver, how, and when.
The contract BEP establishes a common framework for managing and delivering information across three key areas. First, it ensures all teams understand and agree to the information strategy, setting clear protocols for how data is created, validated, shared, stored, and quality assured. Second, it aligns information production with project milestones by defining specific deliverables, formats, and submission timelines for each stage, ensuring that every team produces exactly what is needed for downstream tasks without delays. Third, it facilitates timely delivery by creating workflows that account for dependencies between teams and activities, outlining how approvals will be handled within the common data environment to prevent bottlenecks and ensure a steady progression of work.
The challenge with BIM execution plans has historically been that they become extensive documents copied from one project to another that nobody actually reads or follows. Teams bring their own processes and tools, making alignment difficult. Defining task-specific deliverables is tricky because everyone has different opinions about what a completed task should look like. And there is a constant balancing act between detailed planning and flexibility — too much detail slows the project down, especially when delivered too early, but too little information blocks downstream processes. The contract BEP needs to find this balance: detailed enough to provide clear direction, flexible enough to adapt as the project evolves, and structured in a way that people can actually understand and follow.
Building the contract BEP starts with confirming the pre-appointment BEP content. This involves revisiting and refining the plan to ensure it aligns with the confirmed project requirements, validating the delivery team’s capabilities, and reviewing whether the workflows proposed during the tender stage still fit the project’s demands. From there, clear information standards are defined — naming conventions, file formats, data sharing protocols, and security protocols for handling and storing data in the CDE. Information management procedures are then outlined to define how data will be produced, validated, approved, and shared throughout the project lifecycle, including quality checks, version control, and approval routing. Finally, compliance and adaptability are balanced by integrating specific clauses to meet the EIR while allowing the plan to accommodate adjustments for shifting priorities, additional deliverables, or updated client requirements. Using a centralised, database-driven approach rather than static documents makes it far easier to filter, export, and tailor the BEP content for each team and contract.
How to create and finalise a post-appointment BEP
- Confirm and refine the pre-appointment BEP – Revisit the pre-BEP and update it to reflect the confirmed project requirements, validated team capabilities, and any adjustments agreed during the appointment process. Ensure that workflows proposed at tender stage still fit the project’s specific demands.
- Set information standards – Define clear naming conventions, file formats, classification systems, and data sharing protocols that all teams must follow. Include security protocols for handling and storing data in the common data environment to protect sensitive project information.
- Outline information management procedures – Document how information will be produced, validated, approved, and shared throughout the project lifecycle. Define who checks models for quality, how version control operates, and how teams ensure everyone is working with the latest approved data.
- Define deliverables aligned with milestones – Map every deliverable to a specific project milestone, with clear formats and submission timelines. Use the Master Information Delivery Plan to coordinate delivery schedules and manage dependencies between teams.
- Build the responsibility matrix – Detail exactly who is responsible for every deliverable using the responsibility matrix, ensuring there are no overlaps or gaps and every team member can see what they own.
- Ensure compliance and adaptability – Integrate specific clauses to meet the EIR, including required formats, data checking protocols, and approval procedures. Design the BEP to accommodate adjustments for shifting project priorities without compromising the core workflows and standards.
- Export and route for approval – Use database-driven exports to filter the BEP content by team, discipline, or contract, generating targeted documents rather than one monolithic file. Route the finalised BEP through digital approval and eSignature workflows so the appointing party and all appointed parties formally agree to the plan.
What you’ll learn
- What a post-appointment BEP is – How the contract BIM Execution Plan takes the pre-appointment draft and turns it into an agreed, actionable delivery framework that becomes part of the formal contract between appointing and appointed parties.
- Alignment with the EIR – Why every element of the contract BEP must trace back to the Exchange Information Requirements, ensuring that the information strategy, deliverables, and workflows directly support what the appointing party needs.
- Information standards and procedures – How defining naming conventions, file formats, security protocols, version control, and quality assurance procedures up front creates consistency across all teams and reduces costly rework.
- Milestone-aligned delivery – Why mapping every deliverable to a specific project milestone with clear formats and timelines ensures that information is produced and available when downstream tasks and decisions need it.
- Balancing detail and flexibility – How to structure the BEP so it provides clear direction without becoming so prescriptive that it slows the project down, and how to build in adaptability for changing requirements.
- Database-driven exports and approvals – How filtering and exporting BEP content by team or contract creates targeted, readable documents, and how digital approvals significantly reduce the time it takes to get formal sign-off from all parties.
Common questions
How does the contract BEP differ from the pre-appointment BEP?
The pre-appointment BEP is the draft plan submitted during the tender stage to demonstrate the team’s intended approach. The contract BEP is the refined, confirmed version created after appointment. It incorporates feedback from the appointing party, confirmed team structures, validated capabilities, and agreed project-specific details. The contract BEP becomes a binding reference document that forms part of the formal agreement between the parties.
Why do traditional BIM execution plans fail?
Traditional BEPs often fail because they are lengthy documents copied from previous projects without meaningful customisation. They are rarely read by the teams who need to follow them, and their non-contractual nature means there is limited accountability for compliance. The solution is to build the BEP in a structured, database-driven format where content is connected to real deliverables, filtered for relevance, and formally approved as part of the contract.
How does the BEP connect to the responsibility matrix and MIDP?
The BEP defines the overall information management strategy and standards. The responsibility matrix specifies who is responsible for each deliverable. The MIDP coordinates when each deliverable must be produced and how dependencies between teams are managed. Together, these three documents create a complete framework: the BEP says how, the responsibility matrix says who, and the MIDP says when.
How can the BEP be exported for different teams?
Using a database-driven approach, the BEP content can be filtered by team, discipline, phase, or contract before export. This means each appointed party receives a targeted document containing only the sections relevant to their scope, rather than a monolithic file that nobody reads. Exports include automated cover pages, headers, footers, indexes, and hyperlinks, all generated without manual formatting effort.
Explore further
- Creating the delivery team’s BEP – The full expert course lesson covering post-appointment BEP creation in detail.
- Best BIM Execution Plan strategy – How to build a BEP that teams can actually understand, follow, and be held accountable to.
- EIR, PIR, and BEP documents with Plannerly – How the complete set of information requirement and delivery documents connects across the project lifecycle.
- ISO 19650 concepts and workflows – The full help centre collection covering how each component of ISO 19650 works together in practice.