by Douglas E. Gordon, Hon. AIA
Executive Editor

Summary: Offshore outsourcing of design-support services, such as computer-aided drafting, is a new business model for U.S. architects, the International Committee reported to the AIA Board at its December meeting. Board International Director Michael Lischer, AIA, RIBA, delivered the report on the September 25 Offshore Outsourcing Roundtable conference held in Washington, D.C. “We can now evaluate this business model without the unfocused fears of diminishing markets or the false promises of easy rewards,” wrote International Committee Chair Harold L. Adams, FAIA, in the report Lischer delivered. “We hope that the discussions reported in this paper and the recommendations for further action will help the AIA to lead the way forward and to fulfill its mission to facilitate and enhance the practices of its members.”

With about 5 percent of firms looking offshore to fill their production needs, according to the 2006 AIA Firm Survey, the practice is already well established. The number of firms going offshore is expected to rise to 20 percent in 2 years, according to Larsen Associates, roundtable participants learned.

“For years economic globalization and bottom-line pressures have caused companies in many industry sectors to focus more on core competencies and to outsource non-core functions. Offshore service providers—notably in India and increasingly in China, South America, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere—attract much of the outsourced business through lower wages and economies of scale while helping firms to better manage fluctuating workloads and reduce production times,” writes AIA editor Mary Anderson in the roundtable report.

“Architecture firms have moved perhaps more tentatively than other fields toward offshore outsourcing. Until recently, in fact, many architects have been reluctant to discuss the practice. The trend, however, is undeniable: Architects are outsourcing an increasing share of work traditionally performed in their own offices—primarily the drafting and documentation tasks most often assigned to junior employees—and they are outsourcing more of it to offshore service companies. Both driving and enabling this trend are technological advances in communications, electronic data transmission, and building information modeling (BIM).”

Among the issues discussed were data gathering, standards, leadership and collaboration, quality assurance, and security and liability.

Consensus and next steps
Roundtable participants agreed on directions for the future:

1. Adhere to ethics, disclose if asked. Under most circumstances, the choice of an offshore subconsultant poses no special disclosure requirement and would be treated like the choice of any other subconsultant. If the owner asks, however, the professional has an ethical responsibility to disclose.
2. Be aware of differing foreign legal requirements that would affect architects under that contract in that country, e.g., taxes on services.
3. Service contracts should address intellectual property and confidentiality. Enforceability of intellectual property rights and confidentiality is an important issue that may be more difficult to manage in a foreign country, so include pertinent conditions in your contracts with providers to the extent possible.
4. Review the Contract Documents for suitability regarding offshore outsourcing. The Documents Committee will consider that aspect during the next round of revisions.
5. Standards and quality assurance. International interoperability standards for computer modeling and clear lines of communications will support the control of records and changes.

The International Committee is committed to continuing its study of this issue and developing guidelines for addressing the concerns raised.