IAEI Begins Negotiations with ICC as Future Partner

The IAEI Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to appoint an IAEI Contract Negotiating Committee to begin negotiations with the International Code Council (ICC) to form a mutually beneficial partnership between the two agencies.

This decision was reached after three months of searching for a partner agency through the issuance of an IAEI Request for Proposals. The board believes that the ICC Proposal matched the established partnership criteria and will sustain IAEI far into the future as the Electrical Safety Leader.

“This decision was not entered into lightly, but the board felt it was incumbent upon us to take this action after 20 years of steadily declining membership and declining revenue,” says Michal Hofkin, IAEI Chairman. “There comes a time in an organization’s life where a shift in operations may become necessary. We have reached that crossroad.”

Following IAEI’s announcement, Chris Dubay, vice president and chief engineer for the NFPA issued “An Open Letter to the Electrical Inspection Community.” In the letter, he says that “…we very much understand it is the prerogative of IAEI leadership to make the decision they felt most appropriate for IAEI. This decision, however, focuses IAEI in a direction that is less in line with it being uniquely and singularly focused on electrical inspection.

Dubay goes on to note, “For NFPA moving forward, this means we need to adjust to ensure that those focused on performing electrical inspections have a direct connection to us and are able to bring that sole focus forward. NFPA is at the core of the electrical industry through our commitment to electrical safety and through our development of the National Electrical Code.”

The newly appointed IAEI committee is charged with initially negotiating a Letter of Intent and a subsequent legally binding contract with ICC.

However, the IAEI Negotiating Committee and the IAEI Board of Directors do not have the authority to enter into a partnership contract with ICC. At a future date when the contract is fully negotiated and agreed upon by both parties, it will be put before the entire IAEI membership for a vote of final approval. Only the IAEI membership can approve such a contract. Over the next several weeks, IAEI members will be receiving regular updates on the progress of the negotiations.