Planning, Design & Construction

In recent months, UF’s Planning, Design & Construction (PD&C) team has been diligently evaluating how to better meet the needs of UF colleges and units by aligning our processes with industry standards, improving internal decision making, and examining our organizational structure.  It is with great enthusiasm that we share enhancements to the way we conduct business at PD&C:

• We have all experienced the impact of increased costs, both in construction as well as other aspects of our operations.  PD&C is working to better control the cost of construction by increasing competition among our contractors, suppliers, and vendors; right-sizing and reviewing our building standards; and improving the speed and certainty of internal decision making.
• Over several years, UF has annually managed over $3 billion in construction.   While we are experiencing phenomenal growth, both on and off main campus, it is critical to examine how PD&C is structured to handle this challenge.  Going forward, we are realigning internal assets to concentrate efforts on leading the planning & project design process under the new Office of the University Architect, while being laser-focused on construction execution through the creation of a pre-construction function to conduct enhanced initial feasibility studies and utilize improved cost data to develop construction budgets.
• Further, we are creating specialized teams of project managers and support staff that will focus on specific colleges and geographic areas of campus (for example, the Health Science Center and Main Campus) to build better working relationships and improve decision-making and response times.

Given the nature and duration of construction projects and the significance of the reforms that are underway, we expect that it will take some time to fully realize the positive impacts of these improvements; therefore, we ask for your patience as we implement these changes with the end goal of better serving the campus community.

Please continue to revisit our website for further information on the development of our reorganization.

PDC is implementing an important advancement in project management. Beginning in 2026, we will transition many of our primary project management functions and file repository completely to the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) environment, owned and managed by UF.

This initiative is designed to:

• Streamline communication and storage for all project deliverables.
• Provide a centralized, UF-owned data location for financial transaction records and project documentation.
• Reduce missing information and minimize disputes by creating a single source of truth.

What this means for you:

• It will be expected that all stakeholders interact within the ACC system and commit to inputting their own project information when necessary, using the tools and file standards provided.
• All RFIs, Submittals, and Cost Management workflows for UF projects must be initiated and completed within ACC.
• UF PD&C will release a File Naming Standard and Storage Location Guideline to ensure consistency and clarity.

Further clarification on these expectations will be provided. To support our partners during this change, we have:

• Published training resources under the “ACC/BIM 360 Support” quick link.
• Scheduled webinars to provide additional guidance and answer questions.

We believe this transition will benefit all stakeholders by improving efficiency and collaboration across UF projects.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact acc_help@admin.ufl.edu. Thank you for your continued partnership and commitment to excellence.