9. Some brief about AACE International

Introducing AACE International

The AACE (the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering) is another non -profit organization (but it requires some membership-related fees) that organizes academic meetings and publishes guidelines for Contract Administration in Construction Projects known as “AACE International Recommended Practices”, focusing on cost, schedule, and risk management, as well as practices on an extension of time claim and/or financial claim. The AACE’s publications are widely accepted internationally, and the construction industry in the country like Thailand should study to upgrade their practices in local construction projects toward international standards.

AACE was founded in 1956 by 59 cost estimators and cost engineers who attended the meeting arranged by the American Association of Cost Engineering at New Hampshire University. AACE International’s headquarters located in West Virginia, USA. Currently, there are 8,500 members in 100 countries around the world.

Some list of Recommended Practices that AACE International has published includes:- 

Risk management related publishing

•     Contract Risk Allocation - As Applied in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
•     CPM Schedule Risk Modeling and Analysis: Special Considerations
•     Developing a Project Risk Management Plan
•     Escalation Using Indices and Monte Carlo Simulation
•     Integrated Cost and Schedule Risk Analysis and Contingency Determination Using Expected Value
•     Integrated Cost and Schedule Risk Analysis Using Monte Carlo Simulation of a CPM Model
•     Quality Control / Quality Assurance for Risk Management
•     Required Skills and Knowledge of Decision and Risk Management
•     Risk Analysis and Contingency Determination Using Expected Value
•     Risk Analysis and Contingency Determination Using Parametric Estimating
•     Risk Analysis and Contingency Determination Using Range Estimating
•     Risk Assessment: Identification and Qualitative Analysis
•     Risk Treatment
•     etc.

Time Schedule and time claim related publishing (the UK called “programme”,whereas, the United States called Schedule). 

•     Forensic Schedule Analysis
•     Identifying the Critical Path
•     Level of Effort Planning and Execution on Earned Value Projects - Within the Framework of ANSI EIA-74
•     Original Baseline Schedule Review - As Applied in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
•     Planning and Accounting for Adverse Weather
•     Recovery Scheduling-As Applied in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
•     Required Skills and Knowledge of Earned Value Management
•     Responsibility and Required Skills for a Project Planning and Scheduling Professional
•     Schedule Classification System
•     Schedule Constructability Review
•     Schedule Design - As Applied in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
•     Schedule Levels of Detail-As Applied in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction
•     Schedule Update Review - As Applied In Engineering, Procurement and Construction
•     Scheduling Claims Protection Methods
•     Time Impact Analysis - As Applied in Construction
•     Tracking the Procurement Process using a CPM Schedule - As Applied in Construction
•     etc.

Financial claim related publishing

•     Cost Engineering Terminology
•     Cost Estimate Classification System
•     Direct Labor Productivity Measurement - As Applied in Construction and Major Maintenance Projects
•     Earned Value Management (EVM) Overview and Recommended Practices Consistent with ANSI EIA-748
•     Establishing Labor Productivity Norms
•     Estimating Lost Labor Productivity in Construction Claims
•     Project Code of Accounts
•     Analyzing S-Curves
•     Reviewing, Validating, and Documenting the Estimate
•     etc.

In addition to “Recommended Practices” publication, AACE also offers various training courses for practitioners by online distance learning to qualify for certification as required by some multinational companies who indicates that the job applicants must have these certificates.

AACE International divides the professional certification into three levels :-

1.Technician Level Certifications,  this level accredits 2 specialized disciplines.

    Certified Cost Technician (CCT)

    Certified Scheduling Technician (CST)

2.Professional Level Certificates, this level accredits 4 specialized disciplines:

    Certified Cost Professional (CCP)

    Certified Estimating Professional (CEP)

    Earned Value Professional (EVP)

    Planning & Scheduling Professional (PSP)

3. Expertise Level Certifications, this level accredits 2 specialized disciplines:

    Certified Forensic Claims Consultant (CFCC)

    Decision & Risk Management Professional (DRMP)

Each professional certification is valid for 3 years. During the 3 years period, the certified practitioner in a specialized discipline (or more), will need to renew the certificate(s) by collecting points called by AACE as “Continuing Education Units (CEUs)” earned from continuous updating of work knowledge that required for 12CEUs from 4 selective categories. 
    Category A: Performed (maximum 6 CEUs)

    Category B: Professional Development (maximum 10 CEUs)

    Category C: Industry Contribution (maximum of 10 CEUs)

    Category D: Volunteer Service (maximum of 10 CEUs)

If one does not want to renew its certification by collecting CEUs as mentioned above (or cannot get 12 CEUs within 3 years), he or she can choose to take the examination again like a new practitioner who has never received a certificate. The renewal of both methods will be charged with fee according to the number of certificates held in various disciplines.

The next episode will introduce the American’s Project Management Institute (PMI), another non-profit organization who operates in a similar manner to AACE but with project management practice that does not specifically focus on only construction projects. Core principle of PMI’s practice applies to all occupational industries concerning management of a project with a definite start and end point unlike routine operation work. If interested, please follow ...

References and Credits 

Http://web.aacei.org