Nineteen of the nation’s largest engineering firms will be seeking small A/E firms to be subcontractors for federal contracts at the Teaming Fair during the upcoming ACEC Convention in Washington, D.C.

Participating large firms include AECOM, CDM (with Wilbur Smith), CH2M HILL, Hanson Professional Services, Jacobs Engineering Group, KCI Technologies, Gannett Fleming, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Kleinfelder, Black & Veatch, PBS&J, Stantec, Michael Baker, Merrick & Company, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Psomas, Stanley Consultants, STV and Tetra Tech.

Large-firm representatives will conduct prescheduled one-on-one interviews with small-firm representatives. Small firms interested in participating should register for the Teaming Fair now as appointments will be made in the order they are requested.

For information on the Teaming Fair, click here. For information on the upcoming Convention, click here.

ACEC is leading a coalition of industry, municipal, labor, and environmental organizations to protect water infrastructure funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011.

In a letter to the Senate leadership, the Council and other stakeholders expressed strong support for maintaining current funding levels for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds and resisting efforts to cut the programs.

For a copy of the letter, click here.

Following the devastating floods in Queensland, Australia, the Australian Trade Commission and ACEC held a special briefing last week for U.S. engineering firms interested in participating in the rebuilding effort.

Two-dozen Member Firms attended the meeting at the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C., which covered a range of flood-related projects totaling hundreds of billions of dollars, including planned infrastructure improvements for energy, hospitals, schools, transportation and water. For a copy of the PowerPoint presentation, click here.

“The briefing was excellent, opening a window into a major market,” said Susanna Florian of Parsons.

ACEC is working with the Embassy on an upcoming web-based program for firms interested in business opportunities in Australia.

Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-NY) (left) and ACEC President Dave Raymond at ACEC headquarters.

ACEC hosted newly elected Representative Nan Hayworth (R-NY) this week at an industry roundtable focusing on regulatory and infrastructure issues in the new Congress.

Hayworth said that federal infrastructure funding “should be a priority” and called on the engineering industry to participate in setting the direction for future investment.

Hayworth, who is a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, also responded to concerns over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s narrow interpretation of the engineering exemption in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The SEC would require engineering firms to register as “municipal advisors” if they do cash-flow modeling and other feasibility studies for municipalities.

In comments to the SEC, ACEC has asserted that these activities are integral to engineering work and different from advice on municipal securities and other financial products. Click here to read ACEC’s letter.

ACEC/Wisconsin ACEC/PAC Champion Rose Morgan

For the fifth consecutive year, ACEC/Wisconsin is the first state in the nation to meet its annual ACEC/PAC fundraising goal.

“Our members totally understand how much federal legislation impacts their firm, and how effective ACEC’s advocacy efforts are on their behalf,” said PAC Champion Rose Morgan of EMCS, Inc. in Milwaukee.

For more information on ACEC/PAC, or ACEC political program activities at the Convention, contact Greg Knopp, executive director, Political Affairs at gknopp@acec.org, or Elizabeth Coit, PAC director at ecoit@acec.org.

Chief Information Officers from four leading firms will discuss the impact of current and emerging technologies on firms’ bottom lines during the CIO Panel on April 1 at the upcoming ACEC Convention.

James Walsh of AECOM will moderate the panel discussion, which will include Pete Dyke, ARCADIS; Christopher Pinckney, Psomas; John Marinello, WSP Flack + Kurtz; and Steve Ross, Thornton Tomasetti.

For more information on the ACEC Convention, click here.

ACEC encourages Member Firms to participate in the new ACEC/ZweigWhite Financial Performance Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Environmental Consulting Firms. Deadline for participation is March 25. To get a link to the survey questionnaire, contact Jeff Beard at jbeard@acec.org.

The survey will provide current composite information about a number of key business indicators, including firm growth rates and profit margins, bonus and personnel remuneration amounts, business strategies for the next three, five and ten years, and a breakdown of client base by region. Individual Member Firm responses are confidential.

ACEC Member Firms that participate in the survey can purchase the final report at a discount of 25 percent off the regular price (for a net cost of only $109).

ACEC’s online seminar Responding to Requests for Discounts or Unilateral Fee Reductions drew more than 160 Member Firm participants. To purchase and download the recorded session, click here.

In the program, P. Douglas Folk of Folk & Associates outlined the ways firms can deal with client requests for discounts or reductions, including legal challenges and the application of Federal Acquisition Regulations.