The conversation around AI in construction and capital program management is no longer theoretical. At Construction Management Association of America 2026 in Aurora, Colorado, that conversation takes center stage — and CIPO will be there, at Booth #122, with something worth showing.
We are exhibiting at the CMAA Annual Conference from October 4 through 6 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center. This year’s program is built around the questions that matter most to construction managers and capital program owners right now: how do you govern programs at scale, what does AI actually change, and how do you move from managing individual projects to delivering coordinated, outcome-driven capital programs?
These are questions CIPO was designed to answer. And this year, we are bringing Phase 2 of CIPO AI to show you what that looks like in practice.
CIPO AI Phase 2 Is Live — Come See It at Booth #122
For anyone who has been following CIPO AI, Phase 2 is now live. This release brings Spec Interrogation and Duplication Detection into the platform — running directly inside your existing project data, with no implementation, no data migration, and no switching between systems.
What that means for capital program teams in practice:
- Search across project specifications and documents using plain language
- Auto-generate draft submittals before the review process begins
- Flag duplicate RFIs and submittals before they create downstream confusion
- Accelerate every review cycle with AI-drafted responses that reviewers edit and approve
CIPO AI does not bolt AI onto an existing workflow. It runs inside the owner’s governed operating model — connected to your projects, your records, your specifications, and your program data. That distinction matters, especially as the industry starts separating AI tools that understand construction from AI that understands your capital program.
Stop by Booth #122 to see a live demo and talk through what Phase 2 looks like for programs like yours.
Sessions on Our Radar
CMAA 2026 has a strong lineup across program delivery, owner perspectives, and the role of AI in construction management. Five sessions worth putting on your schedule:
1. Opening Plenary: AI vs. Human — The Construction Management Championship Match
Sunday, October 4 at 3:30 PM | Aurora Ballroom
This is the session that sets the tone for the entire conference. A panel of construction managers, program managers, and owners takes on the defining question of the moment: what does AI actually change about how capital programs are managed, and where does human judgment remain irreplaceable? The panel includes voices from CDM Smith, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, HNTB, Jacobs, Whiting-Turner, and MBP. For CIPO, this conversation is directly relevant to how we built CIPO AI — not to replace the program manager, but to give them better intelligence at every decision point.
2. Trust the Tool, Check the Output: Responsible AI for Construction Teams
Monday, October 5 at 1:00 PM | Summit 4-5
Following up on Sunday’s plenary, this session gets more specific: how do construction teams actually adopt AI responsibly, and what does accountability look like when AI is involved in decisions? Presented by voices from Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, HNTB, MBP, and Whiting-Turner, the conversation moves from the high-level debate to the on-the-ground reality. This is the kind of practical framing that will help teams evaluate AI tools — including CIPO AI — with the right questions.
3. Owner Forum: What's Getting in the Way of Project Delivery?
Monday, October 5 at 10:00 AM | Valley 2
Rivian and the Connecticut Department of Transportation share what is actually slowing down project delivery from the owner’s perspective. For construction managers in the audience, this is a rare, unfiltered look at the friction their clients are feeling. For CIPO, it is a reminder that the problems we were built to solve — fragmented information, slow approvals, limited visibility — are not abstract. They are costing owners real time and real money on real programs.
4. Beyond the Project: A Conversation on Program Management
Monday, October 5 at 4:15 PM | Valley 2
HDR’s Erin Slayton makes the case for program management as distinct from project management — and that distinction is one CIPO is built around. Managing a capital program means governing across projects, funding sources, departments, contractors, and years of decisions simultaneously. Most project management tools were not designed for that. This session is a concise articulation of why program-level thinking matters, and why the tools owners and CM firms use need to reflect that.
5. Closing Plenary: Straight from the Owners — What's Ahead for Capital Programs
Tuesday, October 6 at 12:00 PM | Aurora Ballroom
The conference closes with owners speaking directly about what is coming for capital programs — the Architect of the Capitol, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center sharing what they see ahead. For everyone in the room who supports owner-side program delivery, this is the session to end on. It is a forward-looking view of the complexity, scale, and expectations that capital program teams will need to meet — and the platform question that sits underneath all of it.
Who Should Stop By Booth #122
CMAA brings together a unique mix of construction managers, program managers, owner representatives, and the agencies that hire them. If any of the following describes you or your team, we would love to connect:
- CM firms managing capital programs on behalf of public agency owners
- Owners evaluating or upgrading their PMIS for complex capital programs
- Program managers curious about what AI looks like inside an owner-controlled platform
- Anyone who has worked on a program that ran CIPO and wants to see what Phase 2 of CIPO AI adds
CIPO is the PMIS built for owners of public infrastructure — giving public agencies and the construction management teams that support them one governed system to plan, deliver, and continuously improve capital programs. We bring projects, workflows, financial controls, documents, field activity, and portfolio intelligence into an owner-controlled system of record, from planning through operations.
Come find us at Booth #122. We will be there all conference.
