The Price of Non Interoperability: $15.8 Billion per Year

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) commissioned a study to estimate the efficiency losses resulting from inadequate interoperability among computer-aided design, engineering, and software systems in the U.S. capital facilities industry (In 2002, the nation set in place $374 billion in new construction on capital facilities (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004b)).



Now there's apparently a precise measure of the waste caused by fragmentation of IT systems. Download the full report (PDF, 1.5 MB). [Thanks to Jonathan Cohen's great monthly newsletter for the link.]



According to the report, examples of inefficiencies resulting from inadequate interoperability include manual reentry of data, duplication of business functions, and the continued reliance on paper-based information management systems.



Of the estimated cost of $15.8B/year, architects and engineers had the lowest interoperability costs at $1.2 billion.



I wonder if there is any similar research for the planning community? While I hear anecdotes about some progressive cities that are streamline the permitting process, I get the impression that much of the planning process is still paper-based, prone to duplication, delay and "lost forms".