By American Institute of Architechts. An integral part of the prime owner-contractor agreement, the general conditions of the contract sets forth the responsibilities of the owner, contractor and architect during construction. Through references to A201 in owner-architect agreements and subcontracts and the flow-down of A201 into subcontracts and other lower tier agreements, the general conditions bring order to an otherwise disjointed process. On building projects in the United States, the most commonly used general conditions document is AIA Document A201, General Conditions of the Contract for Construction. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) published the first general conditions document in 1911. A201–2007 is the sixteenth edition. Due to its long history, A201 has been widely cited in litigation conducted over nearly 100 years. The American Institute of Architects Legal Citator, 2007 (updated annually and published by Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., a member of LexisNexis Group) provides a useful guide to case law citations to A201 and other AIA agreements. Like its predecessors, A201–2007 is the product of many years of discussions involving owners, contractors, subcontractors, architects and engineers, as well as legal and insurance counsel, all of whom shared their recommendations for how best to adapt A201–1997 to serve not only the contracting environment of 2007, but also the foreseeable future. AIA contract documents intend to serve fairly all participants in a design and construction project. Because one party’s interests may conflict with another’s, the AIA strives to balance those interests through a reasonable apportionment of risks and responsibilities that take into account the best interest of the project. Due to a documents development process that gathers and analyzes input from across the design and construction industry, including the wide distribution of draft agreements and face-to-face debate, no one party’s interests are allowed to dominate. A201–2007 provides the basic legal framework for the contract for construction. This A201–2007 Commentary provides explanations for many of the legal concepts and industry practices influencing the wording of particular A201 provisions. Because of variations in the nature of individual projects, requirements of individual owners and variations in specific legal requirements from locality to locality, the standard form A201 document may need to be modified.