BIM Fit Check, Round 3

BCF — BIM Collaboration Format — is the open standard for issue management between BIM tools. Instead of sending a revised model every time something needs attention, you package the problem: a description, a viewpoint pointing to the right location in the model, comments, a due date, and who the issue is assigned to. Two tools from different vendors open the same BCF file and see the same issue.

That’s the idea. Whether it works in practice, across software from different companies, is what the test is there to find out.

The test is not whether a tool can open a BCF file. The test is whether a full round trip works.

A tool exports a BCF issue with the right structure: valid schema, IFC file reference, viewpoints with correct component visibility, comments locked after export, due date set, and user assigned. Then another tool imports it, adds a response, and exports again. The original tool reimports. The issue GUID must be stable throughout. The status must reflect what happened.

buildingSMART Deutschland identified four scenarios that come up on real projects and developed them into a standard evaluation process: coordinating a clash between a model checker and two CAD systems; a question from project participants in a CDE, answered from a CAD system; direct communication between two CAD systems; and defect management on a construction site using a CDE. Each scenario is a different configuration of who originates the issue and who responds — and each one tests a slightly different edge of the BCF implementation.

The criteria document is where preparation starts. For the third round, Jaud IT developed the BCF evaluation criteria from the ground up, working with the jury to define what “export must-have” and “round trip must-have” mean in testable terms. That document — version 2026-04-20 — is public (link below).

Then the Jour-Fix calls. Through the preparation phase, Štefan ran regular technical sessions with the participating companies, working through implementation details, reviewing test BCF files, and helping teams understand what the criteria require. The point, as with the IFC rounds, was not to catch anyone out on the day. It was to get the standard correctly implemented before the camera was on.