Printable Version

President's Report

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

I would like to emphasize two relevant activities in play right now that need your serious consideration; the Engineering Excellence Awards Program, and our local ACEC/PAC Sweepstakes.

The 2012 ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards Program is a great opportunity to feature your company to the world and strut your stuff!  Considering the time and effort you put into one good proposal for a major project, a similar effort will get you statewide attention and promotional opportunity in numerous industry venues (and a nice panel to hang in your lobby).  Seriously, where else can you get the backing of a professional association like ACEC/CO working for you as your partner, to feature you and your work to a critically important audience? Read more..

In the News

Mentors and Protégés Recognized before Transportation Commission

CDOT and ACEC/CO recently recognized the recent team of mentors and protégé’s before the Transportation Commission on June 16.  In 2004, CDOT and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado (ACEC/CO) entered into an agreement to develop a Mentor-Protégé program that would provide opportunities for Emerging Small Businesses to hone their business skills by working closely with volunteer established professional services consultants.  This collaboration was set up to assist CDOT and the transportation industry in general to build a more effective diverse consultant base for the future. To view photo and names  Read more..

State Architect Receives 2011 QBS/CO Champion Award

Larry Friedberg, AIA, Colorado’s State Architect, is the recipient of the 2011 QBS/CO Champion Award. Larry was chosen due to his efforts to educate the business community and Colorado’s state agencies on the importance of following Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) Procedures. QBS Colorado is an organization formed by AIA/CO, ACEC/CO, and National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE/CO) to be an advocate for qualifications-based selection of professional services. Read more..

July Marks Last ACEC/CO Monthly Newsletter

New ACEC/CO Online Magazine to Debut in August

This issue of the monthly "Voice" will be the last for the ACEC/CO online newsletter. However, we will continue to send out the "Weekly Voice" for industry updates and meeting and Council notices.

Beginning in August, we will be publishing an online quarterly magazine that will be taking place of the newsletter and our annual print magazine, "Engineering Colorado." In the quarterly magazine, you can expect to see more in-depth articles on industry trends, ACEC advocacy, and important messages from the ACEC/CO President, Eric Young.

Be watching next month for the new ACEC/CO online magazine!

Catch up on the 2010-11 Wake-Up Call Breakfast Series

Our Wake-up Call Breakfast Series is over for the summer but if you missed out on any of the programs, we got you covered! Now you can catch up on all of the 2010 and 2011 Wake-up Call presentations by purchasing the podcast recordings through ACEC/CO. Read More..

Membership Notices and Engineers in the News

Membership Notices for new and prospective members and other membership changes.

Engineers in the News from our members and member firms.

News from National

ACEC/PAC Sweepstakes
ACEC Colorado is holding a local ACEC Political Action Committee (PAC) sweepstakes with a chance to win one of two prizes: Grand prize is $2,500 and 2nd prize is $500. There are only 400 tickets available and each ticket is $50. The drawing will be held Monday, August 1, 2011. For more details on the sweepstakes, Click here. ACEC/PAC contributions go toward supporting our advocates and their ongoing efforts in Washington D.C.

Also, we would like to thank the following ACEC/CO members who have contributed to ACEC PAC this year: Read more..

Update on Federal Highway Bill Status
Last week, congressman John Mica and other leaders of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee unveiled a broad outline of their surface transportation authorization bill. Read more..

ACEC Looking for Unusual Engineering Projects for Engineering Inc.
Got an unusual engineering project? Engineering Inc. wants to know! ACEC will be highlighting four member firms involved in out-of-the ordinary engineering projects in the November/December 2011 issue of Engineering Inc.

If your firm is involved in a rare project and you think it would be of interest to Engineering Inc. readers ACEC would like to hear from you. Read more..

President's Report
From ACEC President Dave Raymond on the latest developments of ACEC's government affairs on your behalf. Read more..

ACEC/CO Events Calendar

Register online, by calling 303-832-2200, or by e-mail for ACEC/CO programs.

• EEA Intent to Enter Deadline Coming Up
  There's no better way to showcase your engineering innovations, hard work, and supportive clients than entering your project into the 2011-12 ACEC Engineering Excellence Awards. First time entrants, or those who have not participated in the last 7 years, receive over 50% off the entry fee! The deadline to submit intent to enter is July 22, 2011. Find out everything you need to know here.
  
  
• July Committee Meetings
  To view the schedule for upcoming ACEC/CO committee meetings, Read more..
  
  
• ACEC/CO Annual Golf Tournament
  ACEC/CO invites you to participate in the Annual Member/Guest Golf Tournament Monday, August 8, 2011 at the Golf Club at Bear Dance in Larkspur, Colorado. Take a break from the daily grind and enjoy a day of golf with a client or friend. Proceeds from the tournament go toward the ACEC/CO scholarship fund. Read More..
  
  
• SAVE THE DATE - ACEC Regional Conference
  Save the date for the ACEC/CO, NM, UT, NV and AZ Regional Conference on September 22 - 24, 2011, to be held at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, NM.

Additional Professional Development Opportunities and Events

• Seeking Industrial Engineers for Online Survey
  NCEES and IIE are currently seeking licensed industrial engineers to participate in an online survey that will be used to update specifications for the PE Industrial exam. Read more..
  
  
• Free LEED CMP Course
  Through the Green Careers for Coloradans Grant, the LEED CMP Class, “New Construction/Contractor Awareness Course” is being held at no cost* for USGBC LEED AP accredited professionals (with or without specialty) and for USGBC LEED Green Associates, July 15, 2011 at AGC. Read more..
  
  
• 2011 Green Building Summit & Expo
  September 20, 2011 at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center, Englewood, CO. Co-sponsored by ACEC/CO, this will be Colorado's largest commercial Green building conference of the year. For more information, Click here..
  
  
• Rocky Mountain Energy Epicenter
  The 23rd Annual Natural Gas Strategy and Investment Forum will be held August 1-4, 2011 at the Colorado Convention Center. Sessions explore the most interesting and difficult elements of the highly interconnected and quickly evolving Rocky Mountain energy conversation. Read more..

In the News

Mentors and Protégés Recognized before Transportation Commission

On June 16th, CDOT and ACEC/CO recognized the recent team of mentors and protégé’s before the Transportation Commission.  In 2004, CDOT and the American Council of Engineering Companies of Colorado (ACEC/CO) entered into an agreement to develop a Mentor-Protégé program that would provide opportunities for Emerging Small Businesses to hone their business skills by working closely with volunteer established professional services consultants.  This collaboration was set up to assist CDOT and the transportation industry in general to build a more effective diverse consultant base for the future. 

This is the third set of Mentors and Proteges that have gone through the program these past two years.  Deborah Ferraro, A Creative Environment was paired with Gina McAfee, Jacobs Engineering.  Jason Margraf, J3 Engineering Consultants was paired with Skip Hlad, AECOM.  Kari McDowell, McDowell Engineering was paired with HDR. Jeff French, Peak Civil Consultants was paired with Maureen Paz de Araujo, HDR. Richard Pagan, RJ Pagan and Associates was paired with Jeffery Kullman, Adkins formerly PBS&J.  Eduardo San, San Engineering was paired with Steve Smith, Parsons.

The Peer Advisory Group was also recognized for their participation in the program and support of these protégés: Lauren Evans of Pinyon Environmental; Saeid Saeb of Rocksol Consulting; Navin Nageli of Navjoy.  The program is overseen by a five Member Advisory Board: Bernie Rasmussen of CDOT, Jeff Clevenger of Jacobs  Engineering, Karen Gonzales, at-large member, and Marilen Reimer, ACEC/CO; and supported by CDOT staff Greg Diehl and Katherine Williams.

State Architect Receives 2011 QBS/CO Champion Award

Larry Friedberg, AIA, Colorado’s State Architect, is the recipient of the 2011 QBS/CO Champion Award. Larry was chosen due to his efforts to educate the business community and Colorado’s state agencies on the importance of following Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) Procedures. QBS Colorado is an organization formed by AIA/CO, ACEC/CO, and National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE/CO) to be an advocate for qualifications-based selection of professional services.

The mission of QBS Colorado is to promote quality and value in professional design services in the construction industry. We believe that a professional and constructive relationship between the government client and design professional is paramount to ensuring team spirit, quality services, and a public building that is a credit to your organization and the citizens you serve." Colorado Association of Geotechnical Engineers (CAGE) and Professional Land Surveyors of Colorado (PLSC) are also members of the organization. For additional details and QBS resources, please go to their website at http://www.qbscolorado.org/. 

ACEC/CO is looking for two members to represent the Council on the QBS/CO board.  If you are interested, please contact Marilen Reimer at 303-832-2200 or mar@acec-co.org.

News From National

ACEC/ PAC Sweepstakes

ACEC Colorado is holding a local ACEC Political Action Committee (PAC) sweepstakes with a chance to win one of two prizes: Grand prize is $2,500 and 2nd prize is $500. There are only 400 tickets available and each ticket is $50. The drawing will be held Monday, August 1, 2011. For more details on the sweepstakes, Click here. ACEC/PAC contributions go toward supporting our advocates and their ongoing efforts in Washington D.C.

We would like to thank the following ACEC/CO members who have contributed to ACEC PAC this year:

Update on Federal Highway Bill Status

Last week congressman John Mica (R - FL) and other leaders of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee unveiled a broad outline of their surface transportation authorization bill.

Click here to view the 17-page summary document. 

As expected, the bill is constrained by the House-passed budget that limits spending to levels supported by existing Highway Trust Fund revenues, totaling roughly $230 billion over the next six years.  Chairman Mica stressed the fact that the Senate committee proposal – $109 billion over two years – would essentially bankrupt the Trust Fund after 2013 and that his bill is fiscally sound and sustainable.

It appears that the bill will include many of the project delivery reforms that ACEC has long advocated to streamline environmental and other regulatory reviews that stall projects.

Chairman Mica gave no new details on when he expects to introduce the bill text for committee consideration.  A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, July 12.  He said they continue to discuss the timing of the bill with Republican Leadership; it is not expected to move to the full House until sometime after the August summer recess.

From ACEC National

ACEC Looking for Unusual Engineering Projects for Engineering Inc.

Got an unusual engineering project? Engineering Inc. wants to know!

ACEC will highlight four Member Firms involved in out-of-the-ordinary engineering projects in the November/December 2011 issue of Engineering Inc.

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.

This article was taken from ACEC's Last Word

President's Report

General

• Minuteman Fund grants awarded to ACEC/Florida to secure liability protection for design professionals and defend QBS, and to ACEC/North Carolina to secure Certificate of Merit legislation.
  

Government Affairs

• Met with House and Senate transportation committee leaders to review key provisions of pending surface transportation legislation, including funding levels and programmatic reforms.
  
  
• Led a major grassroots push on 3% withholding repeal in association with the U.S. Chamber, including a national sign-on letter to Congress, action alerts, and media outreach including a full-page ad in Roll Call.  Cosponsors of the House repeal bill now stand at 177, Senate at 25.
  
  
• Urged the Small Business Administration (SBA) to adopt a small business size standard for engineering firms of $10 million in annual gross receipts (as opposed to the SBA's proposed $19 million); called on the agency and Congress to adopt policies to better track small firm prime and subcontracts, and give agencies more flexibility to use teams of small, medium and large firms.
  
  
• Called on the White House to prevent federal agencies from skirting the required notice and comment process when issuing new regulations.
  
  
• A delegation from the Vietnam Engineering Consultants Association and representatives from member firms met at ACEC headquarters to discuss business opportunities for U.S. firms in Vietnam, which boasts the fastest growing economy in Asia.
  

 Institute for Business Management

• 10% discount on all EJCDC products, pricing that continues through July 31; 20% on Megaprojects through July 12; 10% on the 2010-2011 Industry Trends Survey; 25% on signed books from past keynote speakers.

• ACEC and ASCE agreed to co-promote each other’s designation and certification programs: ASCE will promote ACEC’s ExecEng (Leadership Excellence in Engineering), MgtEng (Management Excellence), MgtPro (Professional Management) and EXW (Expert Witness) designations; and ACEC will promote AAWRE (Water Resources), AGP (Geo-Professionals), ACOPNE (Coastal, Ocean and Port Engineers), and BSCP (Building Security) designations.
  

By Dave Raymond, ACEC President

Engineers in the News

The RMH Group hired Jeffery Schwiethale as a senior electrical engineer in its health care services division.

Mark Luna, PE, has joined Martin/Martin's mountain office, in Edwards, Co., as senior project engineer.

CH2M Hill named Matthew McGowan senior vice president of corporate development.

Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers of Lakewood has been selected as a finalist for the 2011 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.

Jessica Jones, EIT, LEED AP O+M, of The RMH Group, was selected as one of Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine's "Top 40 Under 40," an award that recognizes outstanding young engineers from across the country.

Mark Jurgemeyer was elected vice president of Denver's Stanley Consultants at the company's annual board of directors meeting.

Phil Jackson has been hired as a staff engineer in the Colorado Springs office of Kumar & Associates Inc.

MWH recently announced that Kimberly Strong has joined the company as vice president of ethics and compliance.

CTL Thompson named Art Taylor business development manager for its Denver office.

HDR named Susan Gilbert as west region director for its water business group. Rick Pilgrim has joined the company as a vice president and senior project manager in the transportation business group.

Kleinfelder recently named Jane Boand as principal professional and environmental planning project manager in the firm's Littleton office.

Lamp, Rynearson & Associates Project Engineer Erin Mathews, PE, received her Colorado professional engineering license. Dave Berglund, PLS, transitioned into the position of survey project manager.

Mark L Murphy, an engineer with Boulder's Drexel, Barrell & Co., has earned his registration as a professional engineer in the state of Colorado.

Hatch Mott MacDonald announced that Rob Martin, PE has obtained his professional engineering license from the State of Colorado.

The Colorado Chapter of Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) hosted the annual Marketing Excellence Awards on May 19. The event highlighted the industry's best-of-the-best marketing pieces and individuals. Congratulations to: JVA Inc. for the People's Choice Award for its "Holiday Cheer Beer" piece; CH2M Hill for the Internal Communications Award for its "New Year, New You! Employee Wellness Campaign"; and Shaffer Baucom Engineering & Consulting for the Promotional Campaign Award for "It's Time to Re-connect!" campaign.

Scott Myers, PE, has joined Terracon's Denver office as a senior project engineer.

John P. Clark's company, RMG Engineers has acquired Colorado Engineering and Geotechnical Group, Inc.

Seth Samsell, PE, project manager for Aqua Engineering Inc., passed the Professional Engineering Exam-Civil to become a Colorado licensed professional engineer.

MKK Consulting Engineers Inc. promoted Julie Lougee to director of marketing and business development, and hired electrical engineer Ashlee Downham.

In Memory

We are saddened to inform you that Jay Brasher of Jacobs Engineering and ACEC/CO member died in a rafting accident in Utah on June 30, 2011. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jay's family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time.

Additional Professional Development Opportunities and Events

Seeking Industrial Engineers for Online Survey
NCEES and IIE are currently seeking licensed industrial engineers to participate in an online survey that will be used to update specifications for the PE Industrial exam. The survey is part of a professional activities and knowledge study, known as a PAKS, and is designed to gather information about the knowledge and skills required for professional practice from a diverse range of licensed engineers in industry, consulting, the public sector, and academia.

NCEES staff and testing professionals will use response data in developing future specifications for the exam, which is used throughout the United States for licensing purposes.

Participants must be licensed professional engineers with at least four years' experience in industrial engineering. Surveys typically last about 40 minutes. To be counted, survey responses must be received no later than 8 p.m. Eastern on August 3.

To access the NCEES website and PAKS survey click here:

Free LEED CMP Course
Through the Green Careers for Coloradans Grant, the LEED CMP Class, “New Construction/Contractor Awareness Course” is being held at no cost* for USGBC LEED AP accredited professionals (with or without specialty) and for USGBC LEED Green Associates. This 8-hour course will be July 15, 2011 at AGC. For more details, go to  www.agccolorado.org, Events and Training.

Class Includes:

• I=Day In-Class Training
• 6 LEED – Specific Hours / 5 AIA CEU’s
• Course Handouts (printed slides)
• On-line Study Toolkit
• Leed BD+C Memorization Matrix (11x17 study sheet)
• Access to 4x100 online BD+C Practice Exams
• Access to our LEED experts for follow-up questions
• Certificate of Completion

800 Grant St Suite 100

Denver CO 80203

303-832-2200; Fax 303-832-0400

www.acec-co.org

acec@acec-co.org