CCM Professional Practice and Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A CM who also holds a professional engineering license is asked to stamp drawings prepared by an unqualified junior employee. This action would violate:
- Contract privity rules only
- Both engineering licensure laws and CM ethical standards (Correct answer)
- Owner-CM agreement terms only
- OSHA safety regulations
Correct answer: Both engineering licensure laws and CM ethical standards
Stamping work the licensed professional did not prepare or supervise violates licensure law and professional ethics simultaneously.
Question 2: When negotiating a CM contract, which practice is ethically permissible under CMAA guidelines?
- Overstating past project experience to secure the contract
- Clearly presenting qualifications and fee structure without misrepresentation (Correct answer)
- Promising outcomes beyond the CM's ability to control
- Discounting fees in exchange for equity in the owner's project
Correct answer: Clearly presenting qualifications and fee structure without misrepresentation
Honest representation of qualifications and fees is the ethical foundation of contract negotiations.
Question 3: The concept of 'professional competence' in CM ethics requires that a CM:
- Only accept projects within their demonstrated area of expertise (Correct answer)
- Accept all projects and subcontract work outside their competence without disclosure
- Pursue continuing education regardless of project workload
- Defer all technical judgments to licensed design professionals
Correct answer: Only accept projects within their demonstrated area of expertise
A CM must only undertake services for which they possess the requisite skills, knowledge, and resources.
Question 4: Which action best demonstrates the CM's ethical duty of 'fair dealing' toward contractors?
- Evaluating all bids using consistent, pre-established criteria disclosed in the procurement documents (Correct answer)
- Awarding contracts to firms that offer the CM the most cooperative working relationship
- Requiring bidders to submit below-market proposals to protect the owner's budget
- Sharing one bidder's pricing strategy with competing bidders to drive prices down
Correct answer: Evaluating all bids using consistent, pre-established criteria disclosed in the procurement documents
Fair dealing requires applying uniform, pre-disclosed evaluation criteria to all competitors equally.
Question 5: An owner instructs the CM to backdate a Notice to Proceed to avoid a contractual liquidated damages claim. The CM should:
- Comply because the owner has ultimate authority on the project
- Refuse and explain that backdating documents is fraudulent (Correct answer)
- Consult legal counsel but ultimately follow the owner's directive
- Modify the date only by one or two days to minimize the impact
Correct answer: Refuse and explain that backdating documents is fraudulent
Backdating official project documents constitutes fraud and violates both law and professional ethics regardless of who instructs it.
Question 6: In the context of CM ethics, 'stewardship' of public resources is most relevant when:
- Managing a privately funded commercial development
- Overseeing a publicly funded infrastructure project with taxpayer money (Correct answer)
- Negotiating CM fee structures with a private developer
- Reviewing contractor insurance certificates on a private project
Correct answer: Overseeing a publicly funded infrastructure project with taxpayer money
Public fund stewardship holds CMs to heightened accountability for cost efficiency and transparency on government-funded projects.
Question 7: A competing CM firm asks for references from your current client. Ethically, the CM should:
- Provide the reference freely without informing the client
- Obtain the client's consent before sharing any client information (Correct answer)
- Decline all reference requests to protect competitive advantage
- Provide only positive information about the client to build goodwill
Correct answer: Obtain the client's consent before sharing any client information
Client confidentiality requires obtaining permission before sharing client information with third parties including competing firms.
CCM Professional Practice and Ethics 3
A CM who also holds a professional engineering license is asked to stamp drawings prepared by an unqualified junior employee.
This action would violate: