The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has assumed ownership of the National Master Specification (NMS) from Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC).
NRC has a longstanding reputation of providing the construction industry with technical expertise, strategic research, and access to world-class facilities. The group, whose engineers have contributed numerous articles to Construction Canada, works to bridge the gap between research and industrial commercialization.
In a release, NRC stated some of its goals with the specification.
“We look forward to… engaging stakeholders across government, industry associations, and the specification writing community to improve the delivery of the NMS. NRC will be working toward an update to NMS sections to reflect current MasterFormat numbering and updated referenced standards.”
NMS serves as a framework for writing construction project specifications. A reference document containing approximately 750 master specifications in both English and French, each of its sections are designed to be edited from the original master to produce a project-specific document. It is intended for use by the federal government, other public organizations, and the private sector in the preparation of construction and renovation contract documents. Individual specialty packages are also available for specifications related to:
- Architecture;
- Air Transportation;
- Building Services;
- Electrical;
- Heavy Civil Engineering;
- Interior Design;
- Landscape Architecture;
- Mechanical;
- Restoration/Conservation; and
- Structural Engineering.
The master specification will continue to be available in electronic format for various computer systems and software. In print format, it will also continue to be sold by private organizations, on behalf of NRC. For more, visit its new site.
