Systematic Literature Review of Contracts Management for BIM-Based Projects: A Conceptual Framework Based on Agile Practices

Contracts management for building information modeling-based projects (BIM-contracts) is an emerging research area for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. It presents unique challenges due to the need for new legal and contract models tailored to BIM’s collaborative and digital characteristics. Despite growing interest, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that synthesize current knowledge and provide in-depth analysis of this topic. This study addresses this gap by conducting a systematic literature review (SLR), combining qualitative and quantitative methods. From an initial pool of studies, 55 articles were selected and analyzed by means of bibliometric and content analysis. The first relevant publication appeared in 2009, but most research on this topic has been published in the last five years, indicating increasing interest, likely driven by the need to comply with implementing BIM mandates. The findings identify four major dimensions of gaps in the procurement and contract management process: technological infrastructure, project stakeholders, policies and procedures, and contract agreements. Based on these findings, the study contributes to the field by presenting a conceptual framework rooted in agile project management (APM) methodologies, i.e., an agile BIM-contract framework. The framework outlines key management challenges and connects them with agile practices offering an innovative foundation for BIM contract management. It encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and supports the development of more adaptive contract management strategies in BIM-based projects.