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Background
Petitioner, a nonprofit corporation with a principal place
of business in Bristol, Virginia, at the time of filing its
petition, was formed under the laws of Virginia on April 7, 1995.
Developments and concerns within the structural steel fabrication
industry, and particularly the response thereto by the American
Institute of Steel Construction, Inc. (AISC), led to petitioner’s
genesis. AISC is a nonprofit organization exempt from Federal
income taxation pursuant to section 501(c)(6). Since its
founding in 1921, AISC has been engaged primarily in the creation
of standardized engineering codes and specifications for use in
the fabrication and construction of steel-framed buildings and
bridges.
During the 1960's, a number of governmental agencies and
private industrial owners and developers approached AISC and
requested that it develop a certification program for structural
steel fabricators. As technological advances had increased both
the predominance and the complexity of steel’s role in commercial
and residential structures, a growing concern over potential
differences in quality had arisen among entities attempting to
select contractors for this component of a building project. Yet
few owners and developers had sufficient expertise, time, or
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