Construction Industry Resources & References

The following list of resources and references was developed as a simple one-stop destination for anyone searching for additional sources of information relating to the areas of design, construction, real estate, development and/or auditing. This listing is not intended to be an exhaustive or all-inclusive list as there are many more resources available. In addition, we do not manage or control any information maintained by these third-party organizations and associations. If desired, please contact us to request correction of any information listed herein. Also, please contact us (info@wiszco.com) to request having your organization added to, or deleted from our list.  Please click on a resource or reference to be directed to their site.

 
Resources of Information
 
              
The AIA has been the leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners since 1857. For more than 120 years, AIA Contract Documents has been the mainstay of the construction industry featuring a comprehensive suite of contractual documents that address the full spectrum of design and construction projects, large and small. The American Institute of Architects publishes more than 100 contracts and administrative forms that are recognized throughout the design and construction industry as the benchmark documents for managing transactions and relationships involved in construction projects. The AIA's prominence in the field is based on 120 years of experience creating and updating its documents. The history of AIA Contract Documents dates to 1888 when the AIA first published the Uniform Contract for use between an owner and a contractor. In 1911, the AIA published its first standardized general conditions for construction. The 2007 edition of AIA Document A201™ is the sixteenth edition of those general conditions.
 
 
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the national, professional organization for all Certified Public Accountants.  Its mission is to provide members with the resources, information, and leadership that enable them to provide valuable services in the highest professional manner to benefit the public as well as employers and clients. In fulfilling its mission, the AICPA works with state CPA organizations and gives priority to those areas where public reliance on CPA skills is most significant.  To achieve its mission, the Institute has the following objectives:
 
Advocacy - Serves as the national representative of CPA’s before governments, regulatory bodies and other organizations in protecting and promoting member interests.
 
Certification and Licensing - Seeks the highest possible level of uniform certification and licensing standards and promotes and protects the CPA designation.
 
Communications - Promotes public awareness and confidence in the integrity, objectivity, competence and professionalism of CPAs and monitors the needs and views of CPAs.
 
Recruiting and Education - Encourages highly qualified individuals to become CPAs and supports the development of outstanding academic programs.
 
Standards and Performance - Establishes professional standards; assist members in continually improving their professional conduct, performance and expertise; and monitors such performance to enforce current standards and requirements.
 
 
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) represents more than 144,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society.  ASCE is an ANSI-accredited standards development organization that produces consensus standards under the direction of its Codes and Standards Committee.  The Society established Civil Engineering Certification Inc. (CEC) to support specialty certification academies for various civil engineering specialties.  In order to promote the goals of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Board of Direction has adopted official Policy Statements, Position Papers and Resolutions on major technical, professional and educational issues of interest to the civil engineering community and the Nation.
 
 
The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association with 77 chapters representing 25,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms with two million employees. ABC's membership represents all specialties within the U.S. construction industry and is comprised primarily of firms that perform work in the industrial and commercial sectors of the industry. ABC is the construction industry's voice with the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government and with state and local governments, as well as with the news media. ABC's mission is the advancement of the merit shop construction philosophy, which encourages open competition and a free-enterprise approach that awards contracts based solely on merit, regardless of labor affiliation. Through its national office and chapters, ABC's objective is to provide its members with an organization to deal with issues on an industry-wide basis. ABC's activities include government representation, legal advocacy, education, workforce development, communications, technology, recognition through national and chapter awards programs, employee benefits, information on best practices and business development through an online contractor search directory. ABC was founded in 1950 when seven contractors gathered in Baltimore, MD to create an association based on the shared belief that construction projects should be awarded on merit to the most qualified and responsible low bidders.  Their courage and dedication to the merit shop philosophy spread rapidly, and within time, ABC became the fastest-growing association in the United States.  Today, ABC is recognized as one of the leading organizations representing America's business community and the U.S. construction industry.
 
               
Located in the metropolitan Washington, DC area, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) is the leading association for the construction industry.  Operating in partnership with its nationwide network of Chapters, AGC provides a full range of services satisfying the needs and concerns of its members, thereby improving the quality of construction and protecting the public interest. AGC was established in 1918 after a request by President Woodrow Wilson.  Wilson recognized the construction industry's national importance and desired a partner with which the government could discuss and plan for the advancement of the nation. AGC has been fulfilling that mission for the last 90 years. A full service national trade association with a nationwide network of exceptional chapters, AGC represents more than 33,000 leading firms in the industry - including general contractors, specialty contractors and service providers and suppliers. AGC members play a powerful role in sustaining economic growth, in addition to producing structures that add to productivity and the nation's quality of life. AGC is truly the "voice and choice" of the construction industry. AGC's vision is to promote a better industry for the professionals who build America's future and their vision is to serve the nation's construction professionals by promoting the skill, integrity and responsibility of those who build America.
 
               
The Association of College and University Auditors (ACUA) is an international professional organization serving institutions of higher education across the globe. Since its establishment in 1958, ACUA has provided its members a collegial forum for exchanging and sharing knowledge and generating new ideas. ACUA is committed to increasing members' knowledge of auditing, regulatory compliance and risk management in higher education.
 
 
The Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) is a professional association that serves the constituency of local government auditors throughout the United States. The organization offers a wide-range of benefits to its members by offering resources, promoting educational opportunities and providing resource tools. Conceived in 1984 and officially formed in 1989, N.A.L.G.A. (as it was formerly known as) encourages peer reviews, networking and information sharing among its members. They also encourage members to participate in their “Awards Program”, which recognizes individuals and organizations for achievement, accomplishment and contribution to the profession.
 
Construction Audit & Cost Control Institute, Inc.                              
 
A website managed by R. L. Townsend & Associates, inc. that is dedicated to the sharing of information for Owner organizations who are interested in training programs relating to both construction audit and construction cost control. Additional reference material is also available on-line on this site.
 
               
The Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) is “The Source & Resource for Construction Financial Professionals” and the only nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the construction financial professional. Established in 1981, CFMA’s General Members represent all types of contractors – including generals and subs – as well as developers, construction managers, architects, engineers, principals, and material and equipment suppliers. Associate Members include the accounting, insurance, surety, software, legal, and banking specialists who serve the construction industry. CFMA chapters in major cities from Maine to Hawaii offer local workshops, seminars, and programs that complement the extensive member services provided by CFMA Headquarters in Princeton, NJ.  CFMA currently has more than 7,000 members in 88 chapters throughout the U.S.

Construction Management Association of America

CMAA is North America’s only organization dedicated exclusively to the interests of professional Construction and Program Management. The Association was formed in 1982 and has 25 regional chapters.  The professional construction management services concept has grown out of a universal recognition throughout the design and construction community that quality-focused, cost-effective, dispute- and injury-free project delivery does not occur without a deliberate commitment and effort to manage the project delivery process.  The cost and complexity of today’s capital projects, the importance of time, and the need to deal with unanticipated events and unforeseen conditions all argue the need for an integrated and managed approach to planning, design, and construction of the built environment. Owners are faced with an array of project delivery options, each of which involves costs and benefits matched against the needs of the owner and the specific project.  The task of management is to ensure that the value of those various project delivery methodologies is realized in achieving the owner’s objectives.  The Mission of CMAA is to promote and enhance leadership, professionalism, and excellence in managing the development and construction of projects and programs.

Construction Owners Association of America

COAA was founded in 1994 to serve the interests of construction project owners. COAA is comprised of a diverse group of men and women representing construction project owners throughout America.  COAA is dedicated to making a significant and lasting impact on the construction industry through its leadership by creating a unified, collective voice for owners' issues in the construction process.   Through these efforts, COAA supports project owners' success in the design and construction of buildings and facilities through education, information and developing relationships within the industry. The management of the design and construction process requires knowledge of an industry whose technology evolves and changes continuously.  It requires interfacing with all the groups involved in the construction process. Timing becomes critical to the owner's bottom line. Changes and decision-making endlessly occur.  Disputes and litigation may become an issue.  Owners and Developers, both public and private, have needed a forum to discuss these challenges.  A meeting place to gather, share common goals, learn, discuss, survey the future and share a collective voice.  Those are the goals that fostered the founding of Construction Owners Association of America.
 
 
The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) is an organization that maintains and advances the standardization of construction language as it pertains to building specifications.  CSI provides structured guidelines for specification writing in their Project Resource Manual, (formerly called the Manual of Practice (MOP)). CSI authored MasterFormat, which is an indexing system for organizing construction data, particularly construction specifications. For many years MasterFormat consisted of 16 Divisions of construction, such as Masonry, Electrical, Finishes, or Mechanical. In November 2004, MasterFormat was expanded to 50 Divisions, reflecting the growing complexity of the construction industry, as well as the need to incorporate facility life cycle and maintenance information into the building knowledge base. In this way, MasterFormat will eventually help facilitate Building Information Modeling (BIM) to contain project specifications. In November of 2009, CSI launched GreenFormat, an online database organizing sustainable product attributes. Manufacturers in the construction industry can list product information based on five categories in an online comprehensive questionnaire. Designers, specifiers, and building constructors can find product information which is organized by MasterFormat divisions and titles.
 
               
The Defense Contract Audit Agency is responsible for performing all contract audits for the Department of Defense, and providing accounting and financial advisory services regarding contracts and subcontracts to all DoD Components responsible for procurement and contract administration. These services are provided in connection with negotiation, administration, and settlement of contracts and subcontracts. DCAA also provides contract audit services to some other Government Agencies.
 
Emporis      
 
Emporis is a large and free-to-use website about buildings. Information can be found on this website for any structure, from a hut to a skyscraper, in more than 60,000 cities worldwide. Their audience consists of professionals from the building industry and people with an interest in buildings. The roots of Emporis.com go back eight years from now when the website was started. Since then, we have become the world's biggest public source for building information. However, the content displayed is just a small part of the vast amount of information which is available in the database.
 
The focus of their work is the full life cycle of a building. Emporis features buildings from over one hundred years ago to futuristic properties planned for 2020 and beyond. The database features all imaginable construction types and usages: office buildings, hotels, towers, metro stations, tunnels, schools, stadiums, police stations, bridges, to name just a few. The data comes from a variety of sources such as data researchers, building related companies, the public audience, vendors, and last, but not least, and editorial community. These involved contributors are located in every part of the world and add to the great success of the Emporis platforms. As a result Emporis.com grows on a 24/7 basis virtually every second, mostly unnoticed by the public audience.
 
               
Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee is a broad coalition of stakeholders in the project delivery process. They have been developing and endorsing quality contract documents and encouraging their use through education and promotion.   EJCDC documents are prepared with the advice of legal counsel and reflect the experience and knowledge of the many engineers, owners, contractors, and other construction-related professionals who comprise the committee.
 
               
Engineering News-Record provides the news, analysis; commentary and data that construction industry professionals need to do their jobs more effectively.   ENR products include a weekly magazine with more than 70,000 paid subscribers, a website with over 90,000 unique visitors a month and a series of in-person events. The audience includes contractors, project owners, engineers, architects, government regulators and industry suppliers—many of whom work around the world. ENR connects diverse sectors of the industry with coverage that everyone needs about issues such as business management, design, construction methods, technology, safety, law, legislation, environment and labor.
 
               
The National Association of Construction Auditors was created to enhance the control environment related to construction projects, by addressing the needs of:
 
1.        Auditors who spend a significant amount of their efforts auditing and/or controlling construction projects; and
2.        Owner construction/facilities management personnel who want to improve their knowledge base of contracts and process controls resulting in their construction projects being better managed and controlled; and
3.        Project Managers/construction management personnel who want to improve their knowledge base of contracts and process controls, thereby improving the overall product delivered to their customers.
 
The NACA grants the designation of Certified Construction Auditor (CCA) and Construction Control Professional (CCP) to the individuals with the expertise in these areas. The National Association of Construction Auditors is committed to providing resources, information, and leadership for NACA members, their clients, and the public to ensure the highest standard of construction controls possible.
 
 
The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, is the worldwide representative voice for REITs and publicly traded real estate companies with an interest in U.S. real estate and capital markets. NAREIT's members are REITs and other businesses throughout the world that own, operate and finance income-producing real estate, as well as those firms and individuals who advise, study and service those businesses.
 
 
SkyscraperPage is the world's finest resource for skyscraper and urbanism enthusiasts.  Featuring unique skyscraper diagram illustrations, a world-wide buildings database, one of the world's busiest skyscraper-themed discussion forums and one-of-a-kind skyscraper posters, SkyscraperPage.com is a one-stop resource for the skyscraper enthusiast in everyone. Comparison diagrams are now in place enabling the comparison of any structure in the diagrams to other notable tall structures of the world.  The new diagrams can be linked through from the left-column of the building-details pages.
 
 
Established in 1941, The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) is an international professional association of more than 150,000 members. Throughout the world, The IIA is recognized as the internal audit profession's leader in certification, education, research, and technical guidance. The IIA is the internal audit profession's global voice, recognized authority, acknowledged leader, chief advocate, and principal educator. Members work in internal auditing, risk management, governance, internal control, information technology audit, education, and security.
 
 
The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a 501 c3 non-profit organization committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. With a community comprising 78 local affiliates, more than 20,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 100,000 LEED Accredited Professionals, USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to soar to past $60 billion in the near future.  The USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials, concerned citizens, teachers and students. Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs. USGBC's mission is to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.



 

Useful Audit References
 
 
 
Federal Acquisition Regulation                 
 
The Federal Acquisition Regulations System is established for the codification and publication of uniform policies and procedures for acquisition by all executive agencies. The Federal Acquisition Regulations System consists of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which is the primary document, and agency acquisition regulations that implement or supplement the FAR.  The vision for the Federal Acquisition System is to deliver on a timely basis the best value product or service to the customer, while maintaining the public’s trust and fulfilling public policy objectives. Participants in the acquisition process should work together as a team and should be empowered to make decisions within their area of responsibility. The FAR essentially represents “model procurement policy” of how all public agencies spend taxpayer dollars.
 
 
False Claims Act (18 U.S.C. 287 - Criminal) (18 U.S.C. 3729 Civil)
 
Federal and State False Claims Acts has been the most successful weapon in combating fraud against taxpayers. Since 1986, more than $25 billion has been recovered by federal and state governments across the United States as a result of false claims lawsuits. Federal and State False Claims Acts prohibit any individual or business from submitting, or causing someone else to submit, to the government a false or fraudulent claim for payment.
 
 
Fraud and False Statements Act (18 U.S.C. 1001)
 
This statement makes it illegal to engage in any of three types of activity in any matter within jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States.
 
(1)                 Falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact by any trick, scheme or device
(2)                 Making false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations
(3)                 Making or using any false document or writing 
 
 
Truth in Negotiations Act (10 U.S.C. 2306(a))
 
The U.S. Government expects complete and accurate pricing information in contract negotiations. In fact, a law exists which is called the Truth in Negotiations Act. Known by its acronym TINA, it requires government contractors to (1) submitcost or pricing data and (2) to certifythat such data is current, accurate and complete on the date of final agreement on price, commonly referred to as the "handshake." In general, there are some very specific requirements relating to TINA. They are as follows:
 
Cost or pricing information or data includes all facts that prudent buyers and sellers would reasonably expect to affect price negotiations significantly. Cost or pricing data are factual, not judgmental, and are verifiable. Factual information or data includes such things as cost breakdowns on materials, subcontracted items, standard commercial items, direct labor hours and dollars and indirect expenses.  It can also include:
 
·          Vendor quotations
·          Nonrecurring costs
·          Information on changes in production methods and in production or purchasing volume
·          Data supporting projections of business prospects and objectives and related operations costs
·          Unit cost trends such as those associated with labor efficiency
·          Make or buy decisions
·          Estimated resources to attain business goals
·          Information on management decisions that could have significant bearing on costs
·          Historical data upon which estimates are based.
 
APPLICATION
 
TINA applies to all U.S. Government contracts or contract modifications over $650,000. There are exceptions to the requirement to submit certified cost or pricing data. The key exceptions are:
 
·          Adequate price competition exists
·          The price is set by law or regulation
·          The acquisition is for a commercial item
·          The head of the contracting activity for the government agency grants a waiver.
 
CERTIFICATION
 
There are phases to the process of certifying the data:
 
Internal Sweep:  A process where representatives of an organization must verify all cost or pricing data to assure that it is current, accurate and completeas of the final date of agreement in price.  If additional cost or pricing data is identified and is considered relevant to the price negotiation, the data must be summarized and provided to and/or disclosed the government.
 
Certificate:  In this phase, the cost or pricing data is updated as appropriate and the “certificate” documenting that the cost or pricing data is current, accurate and complete as of the date the price was agreed upon, is executed and submitted.  It is submitted after the internal sweeps phase.
 
 
LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
 
The competitive sealed bid process has been used predominantly throughout the public and private sectors for many, many years and is considered to be one of the “pillars” of public construction law. In fact, competitive bidding laws predate the American Civil War and were a major reform to the public procurement process. They were enacted to deter public officials from favoritism and to prevent fraud by government employees in the award of contracts for public works.
 
However, during World War II, the government recognized the need to acquire equipment, ammunition and supplies quickly to support the war effort.  This precipitated a need to alter the federal procurement policy of open competition, low bid to one that limited competition to providers capable of meeting stringent delivery schedules.  Consequently, the War Powers Act of 1941 was passed and granted the Department of Defense (DoD) authority to negotiate and limit competition in the acquisition process.
 
The usefulness of this alternative to open competition became evident even during peace time.  Accordingly, the Armed Services Procurement Act granted exceptions to formal advertising and permitted negotiation on a limited basis.  However, perception of abuse by government contractors led to a congressional examination by the General Accounting Office (GAO).  The GAO report, issued in 1959, confirmed that contractors were indeed overcharging the government on negotiated contracts.  This was further confirmed by additional reports and findings.
 
As a result of those findings, in 1962, Congress passed Public Law 87-653, The Truth In Negotiations Act(TINA).  It is currently codified at 10 U.S.C. 2306(a).  TINA was enacted to place the government negotiator on equal footing with the contractor at negotiations.  The legislative intent was to give the government, informational parity with contractors and subcontractors during price negotiations so that the payment of excess prices could be avoided. TINA required government contractors to submit cost or pricing data and certify that such data are accurate, complete and current.  More importantly, TINA required a downward adjustment to the contract price, including profit or fee, if it was subsequently determined that the data submitted was inaccurate, noncurrent or incomplete. Such data was referred to as "defective" data.
 
Violations of TINA are typically referred to as "defective pricing", which is a term used by the government to describe situations whenever contractors submit defective cost or pricing data and such data causes increased contract prices.  In such cases, the government will require a reduction in the price of the contract along with the payment of penalties and interest costs. If a contract is defectively priced, each invoice submitted under that contract can be considered a civil or criminal false claim subjecting both a company and an individual to additional liability.  Examples of defective pricing violations included instances where proposed costs have been overstated significantly or where small costing errors have been compounded by large quantities.
 
Further, intentional failure to comply with TINA can result in significant additional penalties for both a company and individual employees. Beyond defective pricing, if data is knowingly concealed or submitted when known to be false, a company and its employees may be criminally charged with fraud for submitting false claims or making false statements.  Penalties can include fines, suspensions, debarment from future government business and even imprisonment. Primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with TINA rests with the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).
 
The concepts espoused by TINA and all other provisions relating to “contracting by negotiation” are more fully described and contained in Part 15 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).  We believe that the principles contained in that section are extremely relevant and useful for entering into successful negotiated agreements which, by definition, include change orders. Lastly, we further believe that it is important to note that while The Truth in Negotiations Act is only applicable for “government contracts”, a savvy private sector owner will recognize and understand the importance of these concepts and will incorporate the same principles into their private sector contracts.