What is ISO 19650, in plain words?

What does it actually do?

It deals with information rather than modelling. ISO describes part 1 as recommendations for a framework for exchanging, recording, versioning and organising information for everyone involved, over the whole life of any built asset, from strategic planning to the end of its life, and says it can be adapted to projects of any size. Part 2 turns that into requirements, in the form of a management process, for the phase when the asset is delivered.

In everyday terms, going by UK guidance rather than the standard's text, it comes down to four steps:

1. The client says what information it needs, when and in what form.
2. Each supplier answers with a plan for delivering it.
3. Everyone exchanges information in a common data environment, where it moves from work in progress to shared, published and archived, with a check on the way.
4. What is delivered gets checked against what was asked for.

It is a process standard. IFC has a standard of its own (LVS EN ISO 16739-1:2024), and so does the level of information need (LVS EN ISO 7817-1:2025).

Which parts exist in Latvia?

All six, as LVS EN ISO standards. The LVS catalogue lists each part in English and, except for part 6, also in Latvian, marked with an L after the designation (LVS EN ISO 19650-1:2019 L).

There is also guidance on applying them: LVS CEN/TR 17439 on parts 1 and 2, with a Latvian edition from 2021, LVS CEN/TR 17654 on exchange information requirements and BIM execution plans, with a Latvian edition from 2023, and, in English, LVS CEN/TS 18113:2025 on parts 1 to 5 and LVS CEN/TR 18093:2025 on common data environments. None of these was read for this article. The Latvian terms for BIM are set by LVS 1052:2018.

LVS sells the standards. You can read them free of charge at the LVS office by appointment, and LVS also lists online reading of Latvian standards in the National Library's reading rooms in Rīga.

Is it mandatory in Latvia?

Not by itself. The Standardisation Law says applying standards is voluntary, unless the Cabinet of Ministers makes a particular Latvian national standard mandatory (section 13), and neither the BIM points of Regulation No. 529 nor their annotation mention ISO 19650.

A contract that names it makes it binding on that project. Rail Baltica's BIM requirements, for example, list parts 1 and 2 among their mandatory technical standards. A public tender that names it in the technical specification has to add “or equivalent” and can't reject an offer that proves equivalence (Public Procurement Law, section 20), so read what yours says.

How does it relate to VNĪ's BIM requirements?

VNĪ's requirements (version 2.0, section 1.3) list LVS EN ISO 19650-1:2019 and 19650-2:2019 among their references, next to LVS 1052:2018, British documents such as BS 1192:2007 and PAS 1192-2:2013, the BIM Forum's level of development specification and the COBIM 2012 handbooks. How closely they follow the standard can't be said without its text. They also set concrete rules for a tender, such as meeting frequencies, file names, formats and deadlines.

The same ideas go by different names. This mapping is ours, not VNĪ's, and it is approximate. The ISO terms are as UK guidance uses them, since the standard's text was not read:

One difference worth knowing is who provides the common data environment. UK guidance reads part 2 as making the client accountable for it from before the tender, directly or through a third party, and accepts that hosting can move to the lead supplier after appointment. VNĪ's requirements let the supplier provide it from the start.

And LVS 1095:2026?

LVS 1095:2026 does a different job: it is a national standard for what a client asks for in a contract. LVS and VNĪ both say it is built on VNĪ's BIM documents. Neither announcement mentions ISO 19650, and the standard's text was not read for this article, so we can't say how it refers to the series. The visible link runs through VNĪ: its requirements reference parts 1 and 2, and the standard is built on its requirements.

For a tender, this means checking which document it names. If it names more than one, ask which prevails where they differ.

Where does the revision stand?

ISO is rewriting parts 1 to 3. On 4 November 2026 its catalogue showed:

Stage 40 is the enquiry, when a draft international standard (DIS) goes to ISO's members for a vote. ISO's table gives 40.93 as “Full report circulated: decision for new DIS ballot”, and substage 93 means the current phase is repeated. So the drafts go to another vote rather than on to a final draft, and ISO's pages give no publication date. Those for the current editions carry only a general note that replacement is expected within months.

ISO's pages already show some of what changes:

• The end of each title changes from “Information management using building information modelling” to “Information management”.
• The draft part 2 is set to replace both ISO 19650-2:2018 and ISO 19650-3:2020, and its new title no longer names a phase, though its abstract on ISO's page still speaks of the delivery phase. The draft part 3, also listed as replacing ISO 19650-3:2020, gives guidelines for carrying out the part 2 process.
• Parts 4, 5 and 6 are not in this revision.

What does it mean for you? For now, nothing. ISO says the current editions remain current, and LVS's list of committee projects shows LVS EN ISO 19650-1:2019 and 19650-2:2019 as in force. A draft is not a standard, so we wouldn't name one in tender documents. We found no timetable for Latvian editions.

What is this article based on?

The standards' text is sold by ISO and LVS, and it was not read for this article. The article rests on ISO's and LVS's catalogue pages, VNĪ's requirements and the UK BIM Framework's free guidance on ISO 19650, so check the standard before relying on a particular clause.

How Digitalyse can help

We set the rules every party delivers to and check that they do: information requirements, BIM execution plans and model reviews at each project stage. See BIM management.

Sources

Checked on 4 November 2026.

• ISO/DIS 19650-1, with its life cycle
• ISO/DIS 19650-2, with its life cycle
• ISO/DIS 19650-3, with its life cycle
• ISO 19650-1:2018
• ISO 19650-4:2022
• ISO/TC 59/SC 13: all parts of the series with their stages
• ISO's harmonized stage codes
• LVS catalogue, search for 19650
• LVS catalogue: BIM standards and guidance from CEN/TC 442
• LVS: list of CEN/TC 442 projects, with the status of parts 1 and 2
• LVS: BIM standards
• LVS: the standards reading room
• LVS: the new Latvian standard for BIM client information requirements, 9 July 2026
• VNĪ: its BIM requirements become the basis for a new Latvian standard, 17 August 2026
• VNĪ BIM requirements, version 2.0, sections 1.1, 1.3, 3.2 to 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 4.2 and 4.3
• Rail Baltica BIM Employer's Information Requirements, RBDG-MAN-030-0107, section 2.2
• Standardisation Law, section 13
• Public Procurement Law, section 20
• Cabinet Regulation No. 529 “Ēku būvnoteikumi”, points 74.¹ and 236
• Annotation to the amendment of Regulation No. 529, 23-TA-816
• UK BIM Framework guidance, part 2: parties, teams and processes for the delivery phase, edition 6
• UK BIM Framework guidance, part C: the common data environment, February 2021 issue