Writing asset information requirements the supply chain can price

A mechanical estimator opens the invitation to tender and looks for the hours. Somewhere in the pack there is a paragraph that says “full asset information, COBie at handover, O and M as required.” There is no object count. There is no field list. There is no date an activity schedule can hold. He writes “we will comply” into the BIM execution plan, prices a clerk for the last six weeks, and moves on. He is not being cynical. He cannot put a number on a sentence that does not name a fan.

An asset information requirement is a priced instruction to a named appointed party: which objects, which fields, by which milestone, in which format, and what happens if the row fails. If the document cannot be bid against, it is not a requirement. It is a novel. The supply chain will underbid it, copy a compliance sentence into the plan, and leave the register for facilities to invent after practical completion.

That is why most AIRs die. Not because subcontractors refuse to collect data. Because the appointing party asked for a paragraph no estimator can put hours against, and no document controller can reject.

The neighbouring document is the exchange information requirement. Writing exchange information requirements that actually get answered is the sheet for the project exchange. The AIR names what operations will query after the project has gone. A slogan that tries to be both is neither.

How to use it

Print the sheets. One row per object type at one milestone, not one manifesto for the building. Fill four blocks — object, field, milestone, format — until a mechanical-services estimator who has never met you can say what they will deliver, when, in which file, and how you will send it back. If a row still needs a meeting to interpret, it is not ready to issue.

Asset information requirements the supply chain can price are a tool, not a sermon. ISO 19650, COBie, CDM, the Building Safety Act, NEC, FIDIC, JCT, and the Gulf mandates each have owners. They assume you can say what the asset register must hold. They do not write the rows for you.

The novel is not a requirement

A novel AIR is a document that sounds like operations and cannot be priced. You already know the sentences.

“Full asset information shall be provided at handover.” Full is not a count. Handover is not a date an estimator can hold. Provided is not a format.

“COBie shall be delivered.” COBie is a schema. A schema without objects, fields, a trial exchange and a reject rule is a spreadsheet trauma deferred until the last month. COBie explained without the spreadsheet trauma is the diagnosis. The four blocks below are the instruction that would have prevented it.

“O and M manuals as required.” As required by whom, for which assets, as a four-hundred-file PDF dump or as fields a facilities supervisor can query? Silence becomes a binder.

“All maintainable assets.” Maintainable is a mood. A fire damper is maintainable. A skirting bead is not. If you will not name the types, the contractor will name none, or will name every door closer and still omit the inspection interval.

“In accordance with ISO 19650 and the employer’s information requirements.” That is a claim about a process. It does not name a fan.

These sentences survive because they are cheap to write and expensive to challenge in a tender meeting. The appointed party cannot ask “which field, on which object, by which date, in which file?” without looking difficult. So they write “we will comply”, price a clerk for the last six weeks, and the AIR has been answered with another slogan.

An AIR the supply chain cannot price will be underbid and then ignored. Ask for objects, fields, milestones and formats a trade can put a number on.

What an AIR is for

ISO 19650 distinguishes neighbouring asks, and they are easy to flatten if you are in a hurry. Organisational information requirements are what the organisation needs from its assets in order to operate. Asset information requirements specify the asset information that will meet those organisational needs and populate the asset information model — identity, location, performance as installed, warranty, spare, inspection interval, residual hazard. Project information requirements say what the appointing party needs in order to decide during the job. Exchange information requirements say what appointed parties must produce, at which exchanges, so those decisions have something to stand on. The AIR is the brief for the asset information model, not a shorter EIR.

Four confusions keep the novel in circulation.

Prose manuals are not a substitute for named fields. Operation-and-maintenance documents can sit beside the register. A four-hundred-page PDF that cannot answer “when does this warranty end, and which filter fits this unit?” has not met an asset information requirement.

COBie can be the format of a row. It is not a substitute for choosing which types and which attributes operations will actually use. The asset register: which fields actually matter to a facilities team is the cut. The AIR is how that cut gets into the appointment.

“LOD 500 at completion” is a geometry slogan. A photorealistic plant room with empty warranty dates has failed the AIR and passed the slogan. Level of information need names purpose, objects, geometry, data and documents. The AIR is the operational purpose written as rows.

A last-month compilation is a reconstruction. If the first time a field is demanded is practical completion, you are asking the supply chain to reconstruct a building the inspections never tagged. Progressive handover is the method for validating the same fields while the installer is still on site. The AIR is what those staged checks are checking against.

Write the AIR so a subcontractor can price the labour of authoring and checking those fields at named dates. Do not write a novel they can only photocopy.

Four things a subcontractor can price

If any one of the four is missing, you still have a slogan with a header.

Object. Name the type the trade will tag, not “MEP” and not “the building.” A type a take-off can count: air-handling units on this package, fire dampers on this floor, fire doors in the stair cores, incoming switchboards, lifts, domestic hot-water calorifiers. Give the classification or IFC class the project information standard already uses, a location or work-package limit, and an expected count if the count drives hours. “All maintainable assets” is not an object. AHU on the Level 02 plant room, twelve units, classified to the project Uniclass table, is.

Field. For each object, list the properties operations will query. Each field needs a name, a definition, a unit or allowed list, an example, and a named author. “Asset data as required” is how the register is rebuilt by facilities. WarrantyEndDate, ISO date, example 2029-03-24, authored by the installing contractor from the manufacturer’s certificate, required from the commissioning exchange, is a field. Blank required fields need a rejection rule, not a comment.

Milestone. Say the exchange, stage or calendar date when the field must exist in a checkable state — not “at handover” as a mood. A priced AIR has trial drops: a type list at order, serials and locations at install, certificates and set-points at commissioning, the closed row before sectional completion. If the only date is practical completion, the estimator will price a reconstruction, not a capture. The milestone must be a date the master information delivery plan can hold.

Format. Name the container the row arrives in: a COBie Type and Component sheet with the project’s mapping, an IFC 4.3 property set the information standard already published, a named table in the CDE, a certificate as PDF bound to the same asset identifier. Give the naming pattern, the state (shared or published) and the suitability. “On the CDE” is not a format. “One published COBie 2.4 workbook for package M-03, plus native certificates named to the asset tag, state Published, suitability A1” is.

Those four are the whole of what a trade can bid. Purpose and the receiving CAFM sit around them. They do not replace them.

A reusable template

Copy this structure into a sheet. One row is one object type at one milestone. Do not hide objects in prose. Do not write a chapter per discipline.

Appointment header

Fill this once per appointment, not once per project slogan.

01
Appointment
What you writeNamed contract or work packagenot “the M&E contractor”
02
Appointing party
What you writeThe organisation that will accept the asset row
03
Appointed party
What you writeThe organisation that must author it — usually the installer, not the designer
04
Receiving operator
What you writeWho will query the register after handovereven if they are not yet appointed
05
Project information standard
What you writeNamingclassificationunitsstatus list this appointment uses
06
Related PIR / EIR
What you writeWhich project decisionsor which exchangesthis AIR sits on
07
Format of record
What you writeThe schema or table the rows will land in — COBie mapping, IFC property set, named register

If the header still says “TBC” after the invitation to tender leaves the building, you are asking for a BEP that will invent the asset standard for you.

Object sheet

One row per type you will actually operate. If facilities have never queried the type, do not put it on the sheet.

ID	Object type	Classification or IFC	Package or location	Expected count	Author	Out of scope
AR-

Out of scope is the most useful column. No skirting. No every light switch unless the operator has asked for it. No manufacturer geometry. The AIR is a register, not a museum of delivery metadata.

Field sheet

One row per property. Repeat the object identifier. If you cannot write an example, you do not yet know the field.

Field name	Object ID	Definition	Unit or allowed values	Example	Author	Required from milestone
	AR-					AM-

Typical priced fields, not a shopping list: unique asset identifier; location the operator will walk to; manufacturer and product code; serial as installed; system or serving; capacity or duty with units; fire or acoustic rating where it matters; warranty start and end; spare-part identifier; inspection or replacement interval; residual hazard or access constraint; pointer to the certificate or data sheet. If a field will never be queried, cut it. Every extra column is labour someone will invent values for.

Milestone sheet

One row per checkable drop. This is how the AIR becomes progressive rather than a novel at completion.

ID	Milestone	Stage or date	Objects in scope	Fields then required	Format and state	Who accepts
AM-			AR-

A minimum set that an estimator can recognise:

Order / type freeze. Types, duties, manufacturer if already chosen. No serials yet.
Install / tag. Identifier, location, serial, photograph or tag evidence bound to the object.
Commission / test. Set-points, certificates, as-installed duty. The quality record is already a handover record if the tag was on the sheet.
Sectional or practical completion. Closed row, published format, residual defects listed by asset identifier — not by “to follow.”

Acceptance card

Write this on the back of the milestone row. Four lines. No paragraphs.

Sample. Every required object, a named percentage, or a named package.
Rule. The pass condition in one sentence a document controller can apply — required fields populated from the allowed lists, identifier unique, certificate bound to the same tag.
Evidence. What is kept: a completeness extract, a transmittal, a record of state and suitability.
Fail path. Reject, return to shared, or accept with a dated defect list against the asset identifier. Name the resubmission date.

A test that cannot fail is not a test. A test that can only be run by the person who wrote the AIR will not be run when that person is on leave. Fields need units, examples, and a rejection rule.

Three objects written out

Copy the grain, not the project. Each example is one type at the milestones that make it priceable.

AR-04 — Air-handling unit, package M-03

Object. Twelve IfcUnitaryEquipment AHUs on the Level 02 roof plant, Uniclass as the project table, authored by the mechanical installer. Out of scope: every attenuator and flexible connection as its own maintainable asset unless the operator has asked.
Fields. Asset tag; grid and room; manufacturer and model; serial; supply and extract duty in litres per second; filter type and size; warranty end date; recommended spares; inspection interval in months; pointer to the factory test and the site commissioning sheet.
Milestones. Type and duty at order (AM-12). Tag, serial and location within five working days of landing (AM-18). Certificates and set-points at commissioning complete (AM-22). Closed published row ten working days before sectional completion of the plant (AM-28).
Format. Project COBie Type and Component rows for AR-04, plus two PDFs named to the asset tag. State Shared at AM-18; Published / A1 at AM-28.
Reject if. Serial blank after AM-18; duty without units; warranty as “twelve months” without an end date; certificate not bound to the tag; workbook still in work in progress at AM-28.

A mechanical estimator can put hours against twelve units and four drops. They cannot put hours against “full AHU information at handover.”

AR-11 — Fire damper, stair cores and Level 03

Object. Fire dampers on Level 03 and in the two stair-core risers, IfcDamper with fire classification, authored by the ductwork installer. Count from the coordinated model, not from “all dampers.”
Fields. Unique identifier; duct and system; location with access constraint; fire rating from the project enumerations; cause-and-effect reference; inspection access (ladder, platform, ceiling hatch); certificate identifier; inspection interval.
Milestones. Type and rating at the coordinated services freeze. Identifier and location at install. Certificate and access note at the fire-strategy inspection. Published row before the golden-thread or health-and-safety-file cut.
Format. The same register format as the rest of the AIR — do not invent a second fire-only spreadsheet — plus the third-party certificate bound to the identifier.
Reject if. Rating blank; two dampers sharing a tag; certificate is a manufacturer brochure; access recorded as “as drawing.”

The Building Safety Act does not ask for a prettier damper. It asks whether you can show what was installed, where, and how it is inspected. The AIR is that ask, priced.

AR-19 — Fire door, cores only

Object. Fire-doorsets in the stair cores, not every internal door. Architectural installer or specialist door contractor, as the appointment already says.
Fields. Asset identifier; leaf type; fire rating as installed; closer and ironmongery product codes only if facilities will maintain them; certificate; inspection interval; warranty end.
Milestones. Type and rating at the door schedule freeze. Identifier at hang. Certificate at the fire-door inspection. Published row before handover of the core.
Format. Register row plus the certification PDF. Geometry can stay ordinary. The information cannot.
Out of scope. A second “LOD 500” remodel of every hinge. Manufacturer marketing geometry. Doors the operator has not asked to maintain as assets.

Three types are enough to see the method. Repeat the row. Do not write a chapter.

How the AIR gets into the price

A template that sits in an appendix nobody is paid for will be treated as an appendix. Put the four blocks where money already moves.

Name the AIR in the invitation to tender as a priced information item, not as “compliance with the EIR.” Point the activity schedule, the bill, or the information protocol at the object and milestone sheets — so many types, so many drops, so many fields. If the contract cannot see the row, the estimator will not either.

Say who authors. Designers can freeze types and duties. Installers author serials, locations and certificates. Commissioning authors set-points. A row with two authors will be filled by both and owned by neither.

Pay a trial drop. The first milestone that can fail — type list complete, or ten tagged assets — is the one that teaches the supply chain you will reject. An AIR that is only tested at practical completion is a novel with a deadline.

Keep the AIR short enough to tender. If the sheet needs a consultant to explain, you have written a novel again. Twenty object types that operations will query beat two hundred types copied from a classification table. The labour you save the bidder is the labour you save yourself at acceptance.

Whether last year’s AIR is a novel

You do not need a new appointment to see the gap.

Find the current AIR, employer’s information requirements appendix, or handover specification. Time-box one hour. If you cannot find a document that names objects and fields, that is the result.
For each paragraph that claims a requirement, ask four questions in the margin: which object, which field, which milestone, which format? If any answer is “as required,” “COBie,” “handover,” or “the CDE,” it is a slogan.
Pick five types the operator will maintain in the first year — a plant item, a life-safety device, a doorset, a switchboard, a terminal. Try to fill the object row and the field row for each. Twenty minutes per type is enough to see whether the ask exists.
Ask the person who prices the mechanical or electrical package whether the AIR has ever appeared as a line they could put hours against. A shrug is a finding.
Find one recorded rejection that cited a blank required field, a missing certificate bound to a tag, or a drop in the wrong format. If you cannot find one, the AIR has never been a requirement.

Five types are enough. You are not rewriting the standard. You are replacing a novel with a row.

Highlight every paragraph that fails three of the four questions. That highlight is the work for this week. Rewrite those paragraphs onto the object and field sheets. Leave the rest of the PDF where it is.

If a row cannot be filled without inventing a project information standard — naming, classification, units — write the standard first and put its name in the appointment header. An AIR that points at a standard that does not exist is another slogan.

Put the object and milestone sheets in the invitation to tender as a priced information item, with a named author for each field and a first drop that can fail while the installer is still on site. The appointing party writes that pack; nobody else can make an estimator see the hours. It costs a short project information standard, a trial exchange, and the labour the bidder can finally price. It costs less than a clerk in the last six weeks and a register facilities invent after practical completion. Exchange information requirements remain a different sheet, for project decisions — they already have their own template — and the field cut for facilities is the asset register page. The AIR is only the operational ask, written so someone can price it.