The Construction Industry Ethics and Compliance Initiative (CIECI) is a special non-profit, private organization of United States (U.S.) construction industry companies earnestly committed to ethical business practices and to sharing the best ethical practices amongst its members.  The CIECI does not lobby, has no full-time staff, and depends on modest annual fees of its members for sustainment.  Established in the Spring of 2008 by thirteen visionary CEOs of  construction companies, the organization has grown modestly to 47 members as of November 21, 2011.  The CIECI is open to new members who meet the criteria of the organization.  Should you require more information or have a question, please contact our CIECI Legal Assistant, Anne Ben-Ami at aben-ami@crowell.com or 202-654-6769.

How can your company become a member of this Initiative?

The criteria and steps to membership are simple:

First, the applicant must be a U.S. company within the construction industry. The Initiative is open to responsible companies that design and build projects, including architect/engineers, general contractors, specialty contractors and subcontractors.

Second, prospective members should address correspondence to the Initiative Coordinator, signed by the CEO or President, agreeing to comply with the following CIECI Principles:

• Each member shall have and adhere to a written Code of business conduct. The Code shall establish high ethical values and compliance with the law applicable to the U.S. construction industry.
• Each member shall train its personnel as to their personal responsibilities under the Code.
• Each member commits itself to work together toward maintaining open competition in the industry, free of conflicts of interest and undue influences.
• Each member shall have responsibility to each other to share best ethical and compliance practices in implementing the Principles.
• Each member shall participate in the annual Best Practices Forum.
• Each member, through participation in this Initiative, shall be accountable to the public.

The correspondence should affirm the company's commitment to the aforementioned principles, provides a statement of current company annual revenues, and gives the name and full contact information of a vice president or management official as the key contact person for CIECI correspondence and information. Additionally, the Company must agree to pay an annual assessment to fund CIECI operations, based on the following:

There is a one time payment of $1000 for all new members.  Annual assessments, based on annual revenues, are scaled as follows:

NOTE: For new members the annual assessment (not the initial payment of $1000) is prorated on a twelve month basis (e.g. membership effective July 1 requires payment of one-half the annual amount).