AACE Board of Directors Notifies RICS of Intention to End MOU
October 25, 2011
The AACE International Board of Directors voted unanimously Oct. 16, to exercise its option to terminate its existing Memorandum of Understanding with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The termination comes in response to RICS’ earlier decision, in January 2011, to no longer honor the addendum to the MOU it had signed. That addendum provided for a facilitated path to RICS membership/certification for AACE International members.
AACE International representatives had met with RICS representatives in Montreal in April 2011 to discuss the issue. At that point, AACE International believed that it had reached an agreement in principle with RICS regarding a compromise, but it appears that compromise agreed to by the RICS representative in Montreal was repudiated by the RICS committee overseeing this area of responsibility within that organization.
In a letter to RICS on Aug. 22, AACE International Past President Steve Revay, who had chaired a sub-committee of the board addressing this issue, expressed the position: “After further reflection on what has transpired since the beginning of 2011, the AACE International reluctantly has concluded that the continuation of both the Nov. 8, 2007 addendum and the Memorandum of Understanding entered into with RICS on July 17, 2008, no longer seems appropriate.” The letter conveyed to RICS that AACE International believed that unless the agreements in principle that we had been led to believe had been agreed to in Montreal were revisited, there was no reason to continue the MOU. Subsequently RICS wrote AACE International indicating they were not willing to accept the recommendation regarding that agreement in principle from their representatives in Montreal.
As such, AACE International notified RICS that we have terminated the MOU with RICS under the provisions of Section 4.6 of the MOU. In conveying the decision to RICS, AACE International stated, “while we have concluded that terminating the MOU with RICS is the right step for AACE International at this time, we wish your organization the best in achieving its mission and believe that there may be well-defined areas of possible joint cooperation that we might find common ground on in the future.”
Under the provisions of the agreement, it will remain in effect for six months until April 18, 2012 unless RICS mutually agrees to terminate the MOU. In that case, the MOU dissolves immediately.
