Nea,
Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the AIA Contract Documents (ACD) platform. Please be assured that your concerns have been shared with both AIA and ACD's leadership teams to ensure that members' voices continue to be heard. Below, I have provided a synopsis of AIA and ACD's partnership and hope to provide some context to the concerns shared.
In October of 2020, the AIA sold its Contract Documents business to True Wind Capital. AIA retained a significant ownership stake in ACD. The partnership between AIA and True Wind guaranteed investment in the resources and technological improvements the product needed to maintain its reputation. The partnership was shared to membership through press releases, stories and FAQs on AIA.org, on social media, emails to ACD customers, and the media.
In addition to retaining a significant stake in the product, AIA holds a seat on the board of directors of ACD which allows AIA a voice and a vote in strategic planning.
ACD is committed to the continuous improvement of the Catina product. As part of this commitment, the content creation and update process of AIA Contract Documents continues to be driven by the AIA Documents Committee to ensure quality is maintained. . The AIA Documents Committee is made up of 31 AIA member volunteers who commit to serving ten-year terms. Additional investments in the product have helped grow the content library and ensure the committee is well supported with in-house attorneys, staff, and subject matter experts. In addition, the software to create and manage these critical documents has been improved.
ACD has a detailed privacy policy as part of their terms and conditions. In this policy, ACD outlines that customer's registration data will be used to contact them related to product and content notifications. Use of "Contract information" is highlighted in section 4 of the terms and conditions. ACD's commitment and agreement with customers is that ACD will not use their identifying information but may use anonymized data. ACD will not share any client information with third parties outside of this aggregated and anonymized data. Provided below are a few of ACD's resources, Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
We sincerely appreciate your willingness to share your concerns and would urge you to also share them directly with ACD's support centers.
Sales and Subscription Inquiries: sales@aiacontracts.com
Technical Support: support@aiacontracts.com
Document Related Questions: docinfo@aiacontracts.com
Phone Support: +1 800 942 7732
Additional Resources:
4. HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS USED
Any Client Information that you provide to us is subject to the Catina's Privacy Policy, which is which is available at https://aiacontracts.com/#/privacy-policy, incorporated into this Agreement and governs our collection and use of your Client Information.
You agree that we may identify you as an AIA member, a client, or a customer of Catina in furtherance of Catina's business, and that we may use and share aggregated, anonymized information (as set forth in this Section 4) from your projects and contracts. We will share such aggregated, anonymized information with third parties as set forth in this Section 4 and the Privacy Policy. Except as set forth therein, we will not share any Client Information with any third parties for any other purpose. By using the Service and uploading, submitting, storing, or sending Client Information to or through the Service, you hereby grant Catina a non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide license to distribute, and otherwise utilize aggregated and anonymized data derived from Client Information ("Aggregated Data,") and to use, analyze, display, create, and publish derivative works based on Aggregated Data, and to perform internally all operations necessary for the creation of such Aggregated Data, in each case, solely in the furtherance of Catina's business.
Aggregated Data is data that has been standardized and anonymized by algorithmic scrubbing and removal of identifying information and then combined with one or more additional data sets.
Sincerely, Tara Myers, FAIA
AIA Documents Committee Member
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Tara Myers FAIA
Earl Swensson Associates, Inc
Nashville TN
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-10-2024 03:54 PM
From: Nea M. Poole AIA
Subject: Contract Documents
As an update-when the AIA last updated the Contract Doc software and changed the system so that final contracts HAD to be stored with the AIA (rather than on one's PC as it had been prior), there was a very robust discussion here about that and the concern that the AIA made this change so that they could go through and use the information in the contracts stored with them. The discussion was such that finally someone from the Contract Committee weighed in and said while this had been considered, they eventually decided not to use/collect the information in the contracts kept with them; they chose to respect the confidentiality of their members and their companies legal documents.
Cantina has no such qualms. I read their terms and conditions today. They are collecting any and all info they can from our contracts and using it however they see fit. This may or may not be an issue for individual members but I think this is important for architects to be aware of.
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Nea May Poole, AIA, NCARB
Principal
Poole & Poole Architecture, LLC
Glen Allen, Virginia
Original Message:
Sent: 09-09-2024 02:42 PM
From: Nea M. Poole AIA
Subject: Contract Documents
I believe many of us, especially those of us who are active on local or state boards, were surprised when we learned AIA National had quietly sold off contract docs to Cantina. What really struck me was when I realized that the most senior folks I knew who were very actively involved on AIA Boards were also stunned this past spring to learn of the sale and the fact that it happened a few years ago. As soon as I realized an outside group controlled our docs (now their revenue stream), I knew a shoe was going to drop.
Today, when I went to renew my Contract Docs the shoe dropped. The package I normally would purchase is now $1800 and only includes 51 contracts and forms, plus 13 exhibits. For the low low price of $2000 one can purchase the entire suite of contract docs. Last year I paid $1600 for full access. The good news is this is a "next generation solution" that apparently allows us to do everything we could before except docusign is now integrated. Apparently the docs will also run on a new platform.
I have looked but cannot find fundamental information on this sale and what it means for the contract docs moving forward. I would love insight from anyone who actually knows. I cannot find information on who Cantina is, what other interests they have. As the documents move toward updates, who is actually doing this? What, if any, say does the AIA have for platform, software or document changes? Was there considerations beyond money for this move? How did selling off the most lucrative and directly helpful part of AIA help membership?
This is solely my personal opinion but I do not see having to pay $400 more to get the same thing I had last year as an enhancement to, or benefit of, my membership.
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Nea May Poole, AIA, NCARB
Principal
Poole & Poole Architecture, LLC
Glen Allen, Virginia
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