The Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) has revised and expanded its Construction Management Standards of Practice (SOP). The new SOP, designed to serve as a guide to the range of services that constitute professional construction management (CM), responds to recent marketplace and technology changes.
CMAA is a McLean, Va.-based organization dedicated exclusively to the interests of the professional construction and program management industry. The organization, which has 25 regional chapters and more than 5,700 public and private firms and individuals throughout the United States, promotes the construction management industry and provides professional resources, advocacy, professional development, certification and business opportunities to its members.
The new document differs from the 2003 edition in several ways:
- Three new sections have been added, describing best practices in risk management, sustainability and implementation of building information modeling.
- The program management section has been expanded to reflect the growing interest in this strategy among owners with ongoing building programs.
- An emphasis on sustainability and risk management has been woven throughout all 11 sections of the document.
"We now have a set of standards that are much more comprehensive in addressing all the areas of expertise relevant to our industry and our practitioners," said Gary Cardamone, who chaired the group that developed the revised SOP. "Beyond setting standards of practice for all CM practitioners, this new document provides owners with guidelines for what to expect from their service providers. It raises the bar for service providers in the construction industry. It can also be used by CM firms as well as individual practitioners as an indicator of where they need to focus their professional development resources."
When asked to predict how many construction managers could use the guide, CMAA vice president John McKeon told CPC/BIM, "We hope they all will. Our membership is about 5,800, including corporate memberships and individuals.... There are probably about 5,000 individuals."
CMAA intends to promote the guide through its Certified Construction Manager (CCM) Program, which has about 1,300 CCMs, McKeon said. "The CCM process, both the training for it and the exam, are based on the SOP."
The association also plans to promote the publication through media outreach, its website (http://cmaanet.org/) and upcoming conferences. Furthermore, CMAA is urging its members who represent service provider companies to give a copy of the guide to their owner clients.
There are no current plans to schedule additional revisions to the guide, which was last revisited six years ago, McKeon said.
To purchase the 2010 Standards of Practice publication, visit http://cmaanet.org/bookstore. The publication is available for $75 to members and $150 to non-members.
Construction Management Association of America
