Gordian
Breaking Down the Barriers in Construction

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the way many across the globe work, learn and connect. The construction industry continues to face several on- and off-site adjustments to account for infectious disease precautions and safety protocols. The various social distancing measures and lockdown requirements have exacerbated the industry’s pre-existing challenge of technology adoption, which is extremely slow compared to other industries. And this can be largely accredited to the disparate data language and vocabulary used throughout the construction realm. “Part of the problem is not necessarily that folks in the construction industry are reluctant to adopt technologies, but rather the difficulty in integrating disparate data sources and lack of common data standards, owing to the difference and variety in the language used within the industry,” expresses Ray Diwakar, VP of innovation at Gordian, a leader in facility and construction cost data, software and expertise. At this juncture, Gordian, with its three-decade-long experience in the field, is perfectly poised to solve the various challenges through the development of artificial intelligence (AI) leveraging natural language processing and information architecture to overcome the disparate language issues.

Gordian supports the entire building lifecycle by improving organizations’ overall planning and budgeting regimes through ongoing maintenance and operations. “We offer data and workflow solutions that significantly speed up a client’s building and construction operations,” adds Diwakar. Gordian’s RSMeans Data Online solution empowers clients with a construction cost database housing over 85,000-unit line items covering more than 970 locations in the US to overcome many construction estimating challenges. This easily accessible, cloud-based library of construction data helps users create budgets, build estimates, and validate cost proposals during preconstruction operations. In addition to providing North America’s leading construction cost database, Gordian is the pioneer of Job Order Contracting (JOC), a streamlined construction delivery process, and offers facilities planning services to develop strategic capital plans and ongoing strategies.

Gordian’s JOC solutions are designed to simplify the contracting and procurement processes while strengthening the collaboration between owners and awarded contractors, in turn, benefitting public agencies extensively.

JOC is a unique, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) procurement process that helps facility and infrastructure owners complete many repair, maintenance, renovation, as well as straightforward new construction projects through a single, competitively-awarded contract. Gordian’s JOC solutions are powered by a customized Construction Task Catalog® (CTC), created exclusively for construction procurement. The CTC contains local material, labor, and equipment pricing for common tasks, brands, and specs. This single solicitation approach eliminates the time and hassle of bidding each project separately by providing pre-set pricing and access to readily-available, qualified contractors able to start projects as soon as they are identified.

Gordian is currently enhancing its cutting-edge solutions with AI to help make its customers’ workflows more efficient and effective. The company is confident that these AI features and functionality will be game-changers for their clients, allowing them to save valuable time. One such feature is AI-based estimate and proposal generation, which automatically ‘assists’ users in creating accurate project estimates and proposals. “Clients can take this AI-generated estimate or a proposal, refine it, and get much closer to the accurate result after the AI generates a basic list for them,” explains Diwakar. Gordian’s longstanding presence in the industry further bolsters its AI’s competencies. The company houses construction cost and project data that spans over several decades, to help create a concrete baseline for clients—old and new. Diwakar also states that Gordian’s rich, historical dataset is unmatched in North America.

The company, led by industry veterans, is set to revolutionize the construction landscape with solutions that streamline the management of all phases of the building lifecycle—including capital planning, construction cost estimation, and procurement. To do this, Gordian will continue to evolve and improve their data, software, and expertise, thereby continually developing and designing products to enhance a customer’s construction workflows.