Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) plans to maintain current funding levels (plus inflation), but in a two-year, $109 billion bill.

House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica’s (R-FL) wants a six-year bill, but at only $230 billion.

Both bills would leverage funding by expanding TIFIA (transportation innovative financing program) and streamlining programs to increase efficiency.

ACEC continues to lobby for the highest possible funding levels in a long-term bill.

Click here to see a letter from ACEC President Dave Raymond describing the two proposals.

The Member Organization supports a bill (SB 288) that would extend contractual liability limits to individual design professionals. Currently, Florida law only protects firms.

Simultaneously, the M.O. is working to defeat a bill (SB 276) that would gut Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) by allowing A/E firms to bid against each other during the selection process.

For information on The Minuteman Fund, click here.

• Raise Your Marketing ROI
• Fast Future! Fifteen Trends and What AEC Industry Firms Must Do to Survive and Thrive
• Hiring and Integrating Discipline-Driven Talent into Your Organization
• The M&A Process—What You Need to Know
• The Win-Win Approach to Risk Management

For more on all of the educational programs at the Conference, click here. For more information on the Conference and to register, click here.

If your firm is involved in a rare or unusual project that showcases exemplary engineering achievement, and you think it would be of interest to Engineering Inc. readers, ACEC would like to hear from you. The project can be on-going or recently completed.

To submit a project for consideration, please e-mail the project name and location, a brief overview, and contact information to Andrea Keeney, at akeeney@acec.org, by Tuesday, July 26, 2011.

ACEC and NSPE will announce up to two QBS Award winners, one in the Non-Governmental Sector and one in the Governmental Sector, who will be honored during the ACEC Fall Conference in Las Vegas in October. There will also be up to four Merit Award winners, each of which will be recognized in a state event.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, July 15, 2011. Click here for the nomination form.

ACEC asks all Member Firms to participate in the Analytical/FMI 2011 A/E Executive Compensation Survey. Your firm’s participation will improve industry compensation data, provide State DOTs with accurate information, and give you the tools to benchmark executive compensation and be FAR compliant.

To participate in the survey, click here. The survey should be completed by your Human Resources Director or Comptroller. Submission deadline has been extended to July 8, 2011.

Gain a competitive edge in the growing market for sustainable infrastructure with the latest information from leading engineers and A/E industry market experts.

ACEC’s new 3½-day Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Communities course includes a field trip along with sessions on profit opportunities in sustainable development; the latest on sustainable legislation, regulations and standards; sustainable infrastructure rating systems including the new ACEC/APWA/ASCE envision system; BIM utilization in sustainable projects; sustainability audits; and applying lifecycle costing and analysis to proposed projects and programs.

Click here for agenda details and to register.

In the slowly recovering economy with profit margins remaining narrow, firms are taking a new look at Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), which promotes a collaborative project team rather than one separated by economic self interest.

In the online seminar, Integrated Project Delivery: A Look Ahead at Managing Risks, Attorney Howard Ashcraft of Hanson Bridgett LLP, looks beyond the technical to the barrier issues of traditional contracting methods, insurance procedures and risk management policies of IPD—both the current status and what you can expect in the near future.

Click here for details and to register.

The exclusive ACEC online seminar, An Inside Look at $2 Billion GSA Federal Buildings Program, July 21, 1:30-3:00 p.m., will provide the latest information on engineering services work with the Public Building Service, which owns or leases nearly 9,000 buildings for the federal government.

Bose M. Thomas, Public Building Service Office of Design and Construction Programs, General Services Administration, and Mark Steiner, ACEC, will describe specific projects, give forecasts by building type, and discuss key issues, such as how to balance diminishing budgets with the increasing demand for services.

Click here for details and to register.

Next available is Class 17, which begins in September 2011. Click here for a complete SEI description and to register. For more information, contact Deirdre McKenna at 202-682-4328.