What You Should Know About CSRF's Goals and Mission

Welcome to The Construction Sciences Research Foundation, Inc. (CSRF). CSRF is an independent, not-for-profit construction industry research organization dedicated to unifying and integrating communication between programs and design/communications processes used in facilities design and construction. CSRF was founded in 1967 by The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) to implement the recommendations of The Stanford Research Institute (SRI) for development of Automated Specifications (COMSPEC®) and Construction Communications (CONCOM®).

In 1967 the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) commissioned the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to prepare a study regarding future directions of communications in the construction industry. As a result of the recommendations in the study, CSI established the Construction Sciences Research Foundation, (CSRF) as an independent Foundation to become the vehicle for research necessary to develop programs regarding specification practices and techniques affecting the construction industry.

From the report, SRI and CSRF developed a concept called CONCOM®, an acronym for Construction Communications, which was an "assembly" of interfacing and communicating systems for communication of information in the construction industry. The CONCOM® program has provided direction for CSRF and its programs ever since it's creation.

The SRI Report identified 6 levels of sophistication in specification practices and industry communications, as they existed at that time. Levels 1 thru 4 described manual "cut and paste", automatic typewriter and early computer assisted methods, many still in use today.

Levels 5 and 6 were goals to be achieved and implemented at some point in the future, as technology advanced and software/hardware permitted their implementation. Level 5 included the introduction of product, cost and performance information into the computer for use in analyzing performance of buildings, materials, systems and other factors to determine a "best" solution. Level 6 anticipated the replacement of traditional design and specification methodology by computer generated methods. Programs exist today that can perform the functions outlined in Levels 5 and 6 as envisioned in CONCOM®, a concept still valid and being implemented today.

COMSPEC® (COMputer SPECifications), was the first of the CONCOM® family of interrelated computer aids for the construction industry to be implemented. It was developed as a nationally available time shared computer-based specification development program for use by design professionals. It could accept any user's master specification, store it, manipulate the specification text and other data as directed and provide reports and similar information. It was an impressive advance in specification processing compared to most practices then in use, but required a computer mainframe, associated storage memory and telecommunications to support it's users. The advent of the PC made the costs involved in supporting COMSPEC® higher than most users could bear, although COMSPEC® was cost effective for more than 2,000 subscribers, accessing a dozen of the most widely used private and government master specifications.

CSRF is now implementing the CONCOM® and COMSPEC® programs on the most popular computers and workstations, using the most commonly available software and hardware. As funds are available, and as the industry needs and will accommodate change, CSRF will implement CONCOM® and COMSPEC® as outlined in the SRI Report.

SPECTEXT®

In implementing the COMSPEC® program, CSRF has developed the SPECTEXT® program, an internationally used group of construction guide specifications. The SPECTEXT® specifications have been developed to provide enhanced automation capabilities for integration with other construction information databases and specification production software for the construction industry, including Owners, Contractors, Architects, Engineers and Specification Writers.

We invite you to visit the SPECTEXT® Web site, www.spectext.com, for the latest information on these programs.

CSRF Programs developed to date include:

SPECTEXT® Environmental Engineering Master Guide Specifications including Water, Wastewater and other Sanitary Specifications, full-length Sections suitable for preparing specifications for water, wastewater and other sanitary projects.

EDITSPEC® Section-Editing Tools, a comprehensive collection of Section-editing tools designed to streamline and expedite the specification writing process. EDITSPEC® is bundled with all SPECTEXT® and SPECTEXT® II specification packages.

SPECTEXT® Master Guide Specifications, full-length Sections for CSI MasterFormat™ Divisions 1 through 16.

SPECTEXT® II Master Guide Specifications, an abridged version of SPECTEXT® for use on less complex projects.

SPECTEXT® Site/Civil Master Guide Specifications, full-length Sections suitable for writing specifications for projects requiring civil and site work in coordination with civil engineering, compatible with the architectural Divisions.

SPECTEXT® Mechanical/Electrical Master Guide Specifications, full-length Sections covering Divisions 1, 15 and 16 for mechanical and electrical engineers and designers.

CSRF OUTLINE Specification, an early design tool useful on large and small projects, as a "scope" document for management contracts, and to record project design decisions as they are being made for communication to owners and all members of the design team.