ACEC President's Monthly Update - September 22, 2011 (see Sept. 1 update for reference)
Dear Colleagues – We’ve had a busy month – lobbying full bore on infrastructure funding, 3% repeal, and other critical issues. The Army Corps of Engineers adopted our position that commissioning services need to be performed by engineering firms and selected through QBS. Our outside auditors gave us an “A+” and said we were “among the best managed associations.” Congratulations to ACEC/MA, ACEC/SD, and ACEC/WA for being the latest to cross the ACEC-PAC goal line. And registrations for our Fall Conference are strong. State leaders should be receiving their Board materials within the next few days. Hope to see you next month in Las Vegas.
--- David Raymond, ACEC President PRESIDENT’S MONTHLY UPDATE
September 22, 2011 General - Secured important extensions for aviation and highway/transit programs at current funding levels for four and six months, respectively, following an ACEC Action Alert that generated nearly 1600 letters and emails to Members of Congress.
- ACEC’s auditing firm Larson Allen gave the Council a clean bill of health, commended “ACEC’s capable professional staff, well-designed policies and procedures, and effective planning” and said ACEC is “among the best managed associations.”
- ACEC and ASCE leadership held joint meeting to discuss ISI, RCEP, licensure, and advocacy – toward mutual understanding and potential new areas for collaboration.
- At the request of the coalitions, launched Coalitions Quarterly, a consolidated newsletter of five ACEC coalitions – CASE, COPS, CAMEE, SFC and LDC – to replace the five individual coalition newsletters.
Government Affairs - ACEC chairman urged Congress to repeal the 3 percent withholding mandate at a Capitol Hill press conference (see ENR.com for 9/26/11 at http://bit.ly/opzzCe); and both the chairman and president met with Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) – a Senate champion for 3% repeal who will be featured in the November/December issue of Engineering Inc.
- ACEC/Massachusetts, ACEC/South Dakota and ACEC/Washington became the latest MOs to meet their annual ACEC/PAC goal.
- Army Corps of Engineers adopted ACEC’s position that commissioning services be performed by engineering firms and selected through QBS in a recent Corps ID/IQ solicitation.
- Successfully worked with the U.S. Air Force, Air Combat Command to publish solicitations for A/E services through FedBizOps in a manner that will attract more proposals for work.
- Urged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to issue a “presidential permit” needed to allow the Keystone XL pipeline to cross from Canada into the United States, bringing petroleum from Canadian oil sands to U.S. refineries, creating over 20,000 engineering, construction, and manufacturing jobs.
- Hosted leaders from ACEC/New York and ACEC/West Virginia for Hill visits and issue briefings.
- ACEC/PAC hosted fundraising events for Representatives Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Wally Herger (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY); also hosted in-state fundraisers for Congressmen Larry Bucshon (R-IN), John Culberson (R-TX), Tim Holden (D-PA), and Mike Honda (D-CA) and Congresswomen Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Niki Tsongas (D-MA) and candidate Roger Goodman (D-WA).
Institute for Business Management - Popular business webinars this month: How to Improve Cash Management—the Essential Survival Tool; Reignite Your Ownership Transition Plans; Transportation Funding Trends and Financing Alternatives in Today’s Economy; De-mystifying the Lost Commandments of Business Ethics; The Five Traits of Best-In-Class Companies.
- Conducted latest iteration of the Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Communities course, which included comparisons of various sustainability rating systems.
- Held two well-attended forums - Finance Forum (48 attendees) and IT Forum (34 attendees) to discuss best practices.
- Bookstore Top Sellers: Value Redesigned; Leadership Without Easy Answers; The Art of the Long View; Marketing in the 21st Century For Design Professionals; Clientship, 2nd Edition; Value Pricing for A/E and A/E/CM Firms; Ownership Transition: Options and Strategies, with CD, 3rd Edition.
- Launched BooksforEngineers.com with new discounts and lower prices for ACEC members on all products in the store
- Offered ACEC members savings on Matteson Partners’ talent search system OiS-3 Talent Solutions: http://www.ois-3.com/acec.aspx
- RCEP.net now has 86 registered education providers and almost 18,000 individual professional records.
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