It is mandatory for most projects as of January 2024. Dubai Municipality mandated full BIM submissions for building permit applications from January 2024, covering infrastructure and large-scale buildings. This means if your project requires a building permit from Dubai Municipality and falls within the mandate scope, your submission must include an IFC-compliant BIM model and your information management processes must align with ISO 19650 data protocols. Non-compliant submissions face delayed approvals and potential rejection. The practical implication is that you need a configured Common Data Environment — Autodesk Forma Data Management is the platform most UAE firms use — and a team trained on the correct document submission workflows before the first permit application is submitted. Contact Accienta to confirm the specific mandate requirements for your project type and location within the UAE.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing mandated BIM for all new construction projects from January 1, 2024. This requirement covers not just design BIM but BIM for entire project lifecycle planning — meaning your BIM workflows need to support design, construction management and information handover, not just 3D model production. For firms working on Vision 2030 programmes — whether NEOM, Red Sea Global, Qiddiya, Diriyah or residential programmes like ROSHN — the employer information requirements of these programmes typically go beyond the MOMRA minimum, specifying ISO 19650 compliance, defined information delivery milestones and digital handover obligations. Accienta advises on the specific BIM delivery requirements of the Saudi programme your team is working on and configures Autodesk Forma to meet those requirements — contact Accienta with your specific project and client details for an accurate assessment.

ISO 19650 is the international standard for managing information over the lifecycle of a built asset using BIM — it defines how a Common Data Environment should be structured, how documents should be named and versioned, how information should flow between project parties and what information needs to be delivered at each stage of a project. In the UAE, Dubai Municipality references ISO 19650 in its BIM mandate and Abu Dhabi DMT's Digital Engineering Policy for Municipal Infrastructure is explicitly aligned to ISO 19650. In Saudi Arabia, major employer programmes including Red Sea Global — which received BSI Kitemark certification for ISO 19650 delivery — and NEOM specify ISO 19650 compliance in their employer information requirements. In practice, if you are working on a major UAE government, Dubai Municipality or Saudi gigaproject, ISO 19650 compliance is either mandatory or effectively required to win and retain the contract. Accienta configures Autodesk Forma Data Management to ISO 19650 requirements for every GCC client engagement.

NEOM programmes specify comprehensive digital delivery requirements in their employer information requirements — full ISO 19650 compliance, specific information delivery milestones aligned to project stage gates, defined BIM uses for design validation, construction management and asset information, and digital handover obligations at project completion. The complexity and scale of NEOM's programmes — which involve design teams across multiple countries, multiple contractors and sub-programmes at different stages simultaneously — make a correctly configured Autodesk Forma environment not just a compliance requirement but a practical necessity for managing information across that level of programme complexity. It is worth noting that as of early 2026, NEOM's scope and delivery timeline are under review with some packages being restructured or reprioritised. Accienta advises clients bidding on NEOM-related work on the current programme status and the specific digital delivery requirements of the package they are pursuing — contact Accienta with your specific NEOM package details before configuring any platform environment.

The starting point is a 30-minute discovery call with Accienta — free, no commitment. In that call, Accienta establishes which Autodesk products you have licences for, which UAE or Saudi authority or client your project is delivering to, what your specific digital delivery obligations are and what your team's current capability is. From that conversation, Accienta produces a specific recommendation — which Forma products to activate, what the configuration scope is, how long it will take and what it will cost. Most urgent UAE and Saudi project deployments can have a working configured Autodesk Forma environment within five to eight business days of the engagement starting — with your team trained and using the platform within the same week. The worst starting point is attempting to configure Autodesk Forma yourself under live project pressure while simultaneously delivering a construction programme to a client who is auditing your BIM compliance at every design stage gate.