About Bodø Municipality
Bodø Municipality is a major public entity in Northern Norway, responsible for providing essential services and infrastructure to its residents. This includes the construction and management of schools, kindergartens, and other public buildings, ensuring they meet high standards of safety, functionality, and regulatory compliance.
The Challenge: A costly dispute over insufficient documentation
Mørkvedbukta School and Kindergarten was supposed to be completed in the fall of 2021. However, Bodø Municipality refused to take over the building when the necessary occupancy permit was not granted. A primary reason for the refusal was that the Facility Management (FDV) documentation provided by the contractor was unsatisfactory.
The case went to the district court in the spring of 2023, but the municipality initially struggled to prove the extent of the deficiencies.
“In the district court, they read out the documentation that had been delivered. You have to be particularly skilled in this field to judge whether everything that should have been included was actually there or not.”
— Sissel Olga Pettersen, Project Manager at Bodø Municipality
Without a clear, data-driven way to demonstrate the gaps, the district court ruled that the delivery was sufficient. The sheer volume of documents—around 12,000 files—made manual verification practically impossible.
The Solution: AI-powered evidence
When the contractor appealed the ruling on other grounds, the municipality seized the opportunity to appeal the decision regarding the delayed and inadequate documentation. To strengthen their case for the Court of Appeal, they brought in Findable.
Findable used artificial intelligence to automatically sort, categorize, and analyze the entire set of FDV documentation. The platform generated a comprehensive deficiency report, visualising exactly what was missing or inadequate compared to the requirements.
“With Findable, we got a visual overview that showed us exactly what percentage of the documentation had been delivered and approved at four different points in the process.”
— Sissel Olga Pettersen, Project Manager at Bodø Municipality
The AI analysis revealed critical issues that were easy to miss manually. For instance, operation manuals for key systems like heat pumps and ventilation were present but contained no useful information—rendering them useless for actual building operations.
The Results: A landmark legal victory
When presented with the clear, visual evidence from Findable, it became undeniable to both the municipality and the court that the documentation did not meet the required standards. The visual deficiency report turned a complex, technical argument into clear facts.
This evidence was crucial in Bodø Municipality winning the appeal, securing approximately 30 Million NOK in liquidated damages.
“Without the new technology, the alternative would have been to manually read around 12,000 documents. That would not have been possible.”
— Sissel Olga Pettersen, Project Manager at Bodø Municipality
Setting stricter standards for the future
The case has changed how Bodø Municipality approaches construction projects. They now see the necessity of setting stricter requirements for contractors and using technology to verify compliance throughout the project, not just at handover.
“The contractor should use services like Findable, so that from the start, we can define and clarify what important documentation needs to be in place,” Pettersen concludes.