ACEC President's Monthly Update - May 1, 2012
Dear Colleagues – Great to see you all at our recent convention in Washington where we had record-breaking attendance of over 1,300. ACEC’s “citizen lobbyists” once again did a fantastic job of promoting transportation, water and energy legislation. I hope you enjoyed Governor Haley Barbour’s insights on the 2012 presidential election and Governor Ed Rendell’s spirited talk on infrastructure politics. The CEO panel with HDR, Cardno, and ARCADIS leaders, as well as our keynoter CH2M HILL CEO Lee McIntire, were a hit in dealing with industry issues; and the Engineering Excellence Awards highest honor (The Grand Conceptor) was awarded to Tetra Tech INCA for the innovative New Orleans storm surge barrier. The Board meeting included our leadership transition from Terry Neimeyer to Ted Williams as chair along with new ExCom members (listed below).
--- David Raymond, ACEC President PRESIDENT’S MONTHLY UPDATE
April 1, 2012 General - ACEC’s Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. last month had record 1,300-plus attendance, aggressive lobbying by our “citizen lobbyists” on key industry issues with 300 Congressional members and staffers, and an Engineering Excellence Awards gala that was “absolutely stupendous” in the words of one attendee.
- ACEC/PAC raised nearly $150,000 at the Annual Convention toward another record-breaking year; and ACEC/Hawaii and ACEC/Indiana became the second and third states after ACEC/Wisconsin to meet their PAC goal for 2012.
- ACEC’s new national leadership took office with Ted Williams succeeding Terry Neimeyer as chair; and Gregs Thomopulos, Ralph Christie, Mike Mathews, Peter Strube and Rene Casillas joining current members Blake Murillo, Scott Perkins and Dick Welles as the 2012-13 Executive Committee.
- Supported ACEC/Minnesota in an important amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking overturn of a Minnesota court’s nullification of the state's statute of repose law pertaining to the Minneapolis bridge collapse.
- Spoke at a National Press Club press conference announcing the release of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Envision rating tool for evaluating and rating infrastructure sustainability.
- ENR magazine published a guest editorial by ACEC Environment and Energy Committee Chair Ralph Christie urging federal government approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Government Affairs - Convention lobbying generated support for key ACEC priorities, including House action on surface transportation legislation that includes ACEC-backed environmental review reforms and approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Launched Action Alerts to generate support for (a) final passage of a long-term transportation bill that sustains current funding levels, streamlines project delivery requirements and promotes contracting out for engineering services, and (b) legislation to expand the use of Private Activity Bonds to fund water projects.
- Worked with ACEC/Connecticut to help overturn an uninsurable indemnification provision being imposed in state DOT contracts.
- Granted Minuteman funding to ACEC/North Carolina to support its efforts to pass Certificate of Merit legislation in the state; and to ACEC/New York for advocacy on a $6 billion infrastructure program.
- The Federal Markets conference at the Annual Convention featured hundreds of participants and presentations by 14 federal agencies on business opportunities; one participant said it was “an invaluable source of business prospects for my firm,” and another said “I feed the information into our annual marketing plan.”
- More than 70 firms participated in ACEC’s annual Teaming Fair, with large firms seeking out small firms for subcontracting opportunities on federal contracts.
- Hosted fundraisers for Congressman John Mica (R-FL), the Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee; and Congressmen Jim Matheson (D-UT), Patrick Meehan (R-PA), and Bill Pascrell (D-NJ).
- Participated in the FIDIC delegation for meetings with the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank on procurement, integrity, sustainability, and financial topics.
- Met with EPA to engage their international program in promoting U.S. engineering innovation and services overseas.
- Developed a presentation on the benefits of QBS for the Greater African Engineering Association conference in Zambia.
Business Resources - Valuable A/E business webinars held in April: Small Business Size Standards Re-defined: Impacts on A/E Firms; Mature ESOPs: Issues & Opportunities; Design Quality: Time and Money Matter; How to Finance Your Projects in the Capital Markets; Combined Sewer Overflows: Will EPA’s Integrated Planning Framework Help Communities?
- Business webinars scheduled for May: FHWA’s New Q&A Guidance for Consultant Services Affects Procurement and Payment; Airport Construction: Federal Policy Changes and Market Outlook; A/E Business Development Today; Executive Compensation and other FAR Compliance Issues; WIFIA and PABs—Innovative Water Financing for the Future; Engineering and the Legislative Process; Engineering Faster Project Delivery with Digital Signatures; Status of America’s Biomass Industry; Federal A/E Market Outlook; Engineering and Government Agencies: Programs, Policies, Regulations; Understanding Your Key Financial Ratios; Future Trends in Healthcare and Insurance Coverage Options.
- Released two new publications: A/E/C Megatrends by Chuck Roberts, and Owner’s Guide to QBS, authored by ACEC’s Management Practices Committee.
- Added Shop Drawings and Submittals to the 46 on-demand webinars on ACEC’s Education webpage, which are available 24/7 for all professionals in need of topic-specific professional development hours (PDHs).
- Save 20% on gifts for Mother’s Day (May 13), graduations, or any day at FTD as a member benefit of ACEC. See the ACEC Bookstore for more information.
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