I like what you and Dion @Moult suggest if still bSI insists on STEP/EXPRESS or XMI (XML)
And I think I suggested before both decoupling and also the structure ISO 10303-21 standard provides
Personally these days I think SysML can solve the majority of issues
There’s a long time I’ve found a “missing part” in OpenBIM process that caused this issues but I’ve waited to see what will do some people who work on IDM Toolkit projects and even COBie
I have something that will change the game some have started