CCC Professional Ethics & Standards 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: During a bid evaluation, a contractor offers a cost consultant tickets to a major sporting event. The most ethical course of action is to:
- Decline the gift because it could influence or appear to influence professional judgment (Correct answer)
- Accept the tickets but disclose them afterward
- Accept the tickets if they cost less than the consultant's daily rate
- Accept them and give them to a family member
Correct answer: Decline the gift because it could influence or appear to influence professional judgment
Gifts from parties with a stake in the consultant's decisions should be declined to avoid actual or perceived bias.
Question 2: A cost consultant's report will be used to secure project financing. Including optimistic productivity assumptions the consultant knows are unrealistic constitutes:
- Misrepresentation, a violation of professional ethics (Correct answer)
- Acceptable advocacy for the client's interests
- A normal negotiating tactic
- Permissible if labeled as preliminary
Correct answer: Misrepresentation, a violation of professional ethics
Knowingly presenting unrealistic assumptions to influence financing decisions is a form of misrepresentation prohibited by ethics codes.
Question 3: Which situation requires a certified cost consultant to disclose a potential conflict of interest before accepting an engagement?
- The consultant owns stock in the contractor whose claim they will evaluate (Correct answer)
- The consultant previously worked in the same industry
- The consultant uses commercial estimating software
- The consultant belongs to the same professional society as the client
Correct answer: The consultant owns stock in the contractor whose claim they will evaluate
A financial interest in a party being evaluated is a direct conflict that must be disclosed before accepting the work.
Question 4: A junior estimator under a CCC's supervision produces an estimate with unsupported assumptions. The CCC signs off without review due to deadline pressure. This primarily violates the duty of:
- Professional diligence and responsible oversight (Correct answer)
- Client confidentiality
- Fair competition
- Continuing education
Correct answer: Professional diligence and responsible oversight
Certifying work without adequate review breaches the supervising professional's duty of diligence and responsibility for work issued under their name.
Question 5: In marketing their services, a cost consultant may ethically:
- Describe factual qualifications, certifications, and verifiable project experience (Correct answer)
- Guarantee specific cost savings percentages to all prospects
- Claim credit for projects performed entirely by a previous employer's team
- Exaggerate the size of past projects to appear more experienced
Correct answer: Describe factual qualifications, certifications, and verifiable project experience
Advertising must be truthful and factual; guarantees of outcomes and inflated or misappropriated credentials are unethical.
Question 6: A consultant discovers mid-engagement that completing the client's requested scope would require them to violate a building cost disclosure regulation. The consultant should:
- Inform the client that the request cannot be performed lawfully and propose a compliant alternative (Correct answer)
- Complete the work as requested since the client assumes legal risk
- Complete the work but document objections privately
- Bill extra for the added legal risk
Correct answer: Inform the client that the request cannot be performed lawfully and propose a compliant alternative
Professionals must not knowingly participate in unlawful acts and should advise clients toward lawful alternatives.
Question 7: Two consulting firms agree privately not to compete for each other's clients in a region. From an ethics standpoint, this arrangement is:
- Improper because it undermines fair competition and may violate law (Correct answer)
- Acceptable as standard professional courtesy
- Acceptable if clients are notified after one year
- Required by most professional societies
Correct answer: Improper because it undermines fair competition and may violate law
Market allocation agreements suppress fair competition and can be both unethical and illegal under antitrust law.
CCC Professional Ethics & Standards 3
During a bid evaluation, a contractor offers a cost consultant tickets to a major sporting event.
The most ethical course of action is to: