A BIM execution plan (BEP) explains how a delivery team will manage information on a project: who produces what, with which tools and standards, how it is checked and shared, and how it meets the client's information requirements. In ISO 19650 terms it is the delivery team's response to the exchange information requirements (EIR).
At a glance
| Written by | The lead appointed party (for example the lead designer or main contractor), with its task teams |
| Responds to | The appointing party's EIR |
| Defined in | ISO 19650-2 (pre- and post-appointment BEP) |
| Updated | At appointment, then whenever the team, scope or methods change |
| Typical length | 20–60 pages plus appendices |
Two versions
| Pre-appointment BEP | Post-appointment BEP | |
|---|---|---|
| When | With the tender | After appointment, before production starts |
| Purpose | Shows the team can meet the EIR | The working plan everyone follows |
| Contents | Proposed approach, key people, capability, initial milestones | Confirmed roles, methods, schedules, standards and appendices |
What a BEP usually contains
- Project information: scope, stages, key dates and the parties involved.
- Roles and responsibilities: information management roles and who fills them, often in a responsibility matrix.
- Information delivery strategy: how the federated model is split (by discipline, zone or building), and how teams depend on each other.
- Standards and methods: the information standard, naming convention, classification, units, coordinates and level of information need.
- Software and formats: authoring tools, versions, exchange formats such as IFC and BCF, and the CDE.
- Coordination procedures: model sharing frequency, clash testing, tolerances and the meeting cycle.
- Quality checks: what is checked before sharing and how results are recorded.
- Delivery plans: the master information delivery plan (MIDP) and task information delivery plans (TIDP), or references to them.
Appendices often hold the parts people use daily: the clash test matrix, LOD/LOIN matrix, naming rules and model breakdown.
Requirements flow from the client’s needs into the EIR; the delivery team answers with the BEP and delivery plans.
How it is used
The BEP is a contract-adjacent document: it records what the team agreed to do. During delivery it settles practical questions ("which tolerance do we use for ducts against beams?") and is the reference for audits. New team members read it first.
Common misunderstandings
- A BEP is not a template. A generic BEP copied from another project usually contradicts the actual EIR, software and team.
- It isn't finished at tender. The post-appointment BEP is where the detail lives, and it changes as the project does.
- More pages don't mean more control. The coordination rules, tolerances and checks matter more than general descriptions of BIM.
- It is not the EIR. The EIR says what the client needs; the BEP says how the team will provide it.
Where to read more
ISO 19650-2 describes the BEP's place in the appointment process. Many national bodies publish BEP templates (for example the UK BIM Framework guidance); use them as a checklist, not as text to submit.