CMAA, CII Celebrate Alliance's First-Year Achievements

For Immediate Release: February 7, 2011
Contact: John McKeon, jmckeon@cmaanet.org, 703-677-3361
 
     In January 2010, CMAA and the Construction Industry Institute announced a new collaboration designed to combine CII's tested, validated Best Practices with CMAA's CM Standards of Practice and the Certified Construction Manager credential – a combination summed up in the alliance's theme, "Best Practices – Best Practitioners."

     The first year of this ambitious initiative has seen major progress in bringing construction owners, Construction and Program Managers, and academia together to improve the execution of capital programs.
 
     CII, based at The University of Texas at Austin, is a consortium of more than 100 leading owner, engineering-contractor and supplier firms from both the public and private arenas. CMAA is America's sole organization dedicated to advancing professional Construction and Program Management worldwide.
 
     The first year of the alliance has produced these major milestones:

     • CII has endorsed the Certified Construction Manager (CCM) credential and begun communicating with its members about the CCM process.

     • A 23-member team composed of CII and CMAA industry professionals has been working to identify areas of alignment between CMAA's CM Standards of Practice and the 14 construction Best Practices published by CII. Participants found strong levels of alignment between the CMAA and CII documents in the areas of front end planning, alignment, constructability and change management. In other areas, the group has charted a future course toward the goal of bringing the two documents closer together. Within 18 months, CMAA plans to assure that the CCM examination adequately addresses each of CII's Best Practices.

     • CII has created an opportunity for CMAA owner members to participate in its globally respected Benchmarking and Metrics program, adding extensive data to the CII database. The CMAA owner members will benefit from immediate benchmarking of their projects against a collection of some 2,000 projects with a total constructed value of more than $100 billion.
 
     • CMAA has made presentations on certification and the SOPs at the CII 2010 National Conference and its semi-annual Project Improvement Workshops.

     • CII has organized program content for CMAA national gatherings, including a benchmarking session at the 2010 Owners Forum in Atlanta and three sessions at last year's National Conference in San Diego, focusing on benchmarking, front end planning and construction safety.
 
     • Each organization has extended special discounts to members of the other organization for event registration and document purchases.
 
     In their Memorandum of Understanding, CII and CMAA said the goal of their initiative was to "improve delivery of capital facilities in all settings by promoting the professional practice of Construction and Program Management in conjunction with the broadest possible application of recognized industry Best Practices."
 
     CMAA President and CEO Bruce D'Agostino comments, "The CMAA/CII alliance has already yielded important industry benefits by forging a closer link between CII, with its emphasis on organizational effectiveness, and CMAA, which stresses individual excellence and professionalism. Our two organizations have gotten off to a fast start and made major strides in just one year. The outlook for the future is bright."

     At CII, Director Wayne Crew notes that "the Institute originally became interested in working with CMAA because it wanted to ally with an organization capable of defining and credentialing high-level professional practice. This emphasis ideally complements CII's mission of transforming organizations. We are very excited and optimistic about what we can achieve together in 2011 and beyond."

The Construction Industry Institute, an organized research unit of The University of Texas at Austin, is a consortium of more than 100 leading owner, engineering-contractor and supplier firms from both the public and private arenas. These organizations have joined together to enhance the business effectiveness and sustainability of the capital facility life cycle through CII research, related initiatives and industry alliances. CII's Web site is located at www.construction-institute.org.

CMAA is North America's only organization dedicated exclusively to the interests of the professional Construction and Program management industry. On behalf of its 27 regional chapters and more than 6,300 public and private organizations and individuals throughout the nation, CMAA promotes professionalism in the Construction Management industry and provides resources, advocacy, professional development, certification, and business opportunities to its members. CMAA's national headquarters is located in McLean, Va. The Association's Web site is www.cmaanet.org.

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