CICE Impact on the Construction Industry

This report is a summary of a three-phase effort by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) to evaluate, as of mid-1985, the impact of The Business Roundtable’s Construction Industry Cost Effectiveness (CICE) Project on the United States construction industry.

Noting an apparent decline in construction efficiency and productivity since the late 1960s, The Business Roundtable published in 1982 and early 1983 a series of 23 reports with 223 recommendations to enable the construction user to optimize capital investments. This series of reports, known as the CICE Project, resulted from a study that took over five years of intensive effort and involved over 250 construction experts. The CICE findings center on how to manage construction projects better. The project study teams concluded that total savings from using CICE principles should reach at least $10 billion annually for the industry.

To determine the extent of CICE’s impact, three areas were evaluated: Exposure, Awareness, and Implementation. To get the CICE message out to industry participants, they must receive sufficient exposure to the project. Becoming aware of the detailed findings and recommendations of CICE is the next step. Finally, implementation must take place with the support of top company management for any measurable impact on the construction industry.

Leaders in the construction industry have been exposed to the CICE Project. Over one million copies of the 23 reports have been distributed (as of mid-1985) to the entire industry. Large owners and contractors have received the most exposure thus far, but designers and government agencies are beginning to hear the CICE message.

Approximately one-third of the industry is aware of the detailed recommendations contained in the CICE publications. Although it appears that a majority of the industry has a somewhat low level of awareness, it is significant that they place a high level of value on the worth of CICE recommendations as a means to lead the industry back to cost effectiveness. Twenty percent of the industry already has implemented some portion of the recommendations.

Formal implementation programs are still in the beginning stages of development and use. A sample of 15 projects with successful CICE programs reflected benefit-to-cost ratios of 10 to 1 and savings of at least 10% of total project cost. These programs tended to concentrate within limited areas of CICE such as safety, labor productivity, or constructability.

The conclusion from this CII evaluation is that there has been a significant impact on the construction industry. Construction industry leaders have developed implementation programs and are achieving significant cost savings. If the entire industry will systematically apply the CICE recommendations, annual savings could easily surpass the $10 billion figure estimated by the CICE Project. Primary recommendations are:

• The Business Roundtable should continue its efforts to provide copies of CICE reports, explanatory audio-visual programs, and personal presentations to interested organizations and individuals. (Note: As of the date of this summary report, over one and a half million copies of CICE reports have been distributed.)
• Further research studies are needed to determine how to measure more effectively the impact of CICE recommendations on construction projects.