Engineering Inc. - January/February 2004 - 11

Chairman Robert Herz came under fire during a hearing of the Sen- the
removal of the more demanding provisions. The deal will allow ate
Securities and Investment Subcommittee over the impact FAS the
Administration to move forward with its outsourcing initiative 150 would
have, particularly on smaller firms. Subcommittee Chair- and eliminate the
harmful provisions. The Transportation spending man Mike Enzi R-Wyo. , a
certified public accountant before com- bill, included in the larger
Omnibus Appropriations bill, is slated to ing to the Senate, challenged
the FASB chairman for not doing a clear Congress in late January. better
job of vetting the new standard with the industry prior to In related
news, the House and Senate completed their conference i m p l e m e n t a
t i o n . Herz pledged to improve outreach as further on the F.Y. 2004
Interior Appropriations bill. At ACEC's urging, changes are contemplated.
conferees removed language from the House bill that would prevent ACEC
President Dave Raymond, in testimony before the Subcom- the Department of
the Interior from conducting public-private com- mittee, explained that
FAS 150, if implemented in the future as it is petitions. Instead, the
final bill requires the Department to submit currently written, will
artificially and unfairly eliminate the net worth an annual report to
Congress on the progress of its competitive of many non-public engineering
firms throughout the country. Ray- sourcing plan. mond warned that the
drastic shift to debt that FAS 150 would SBA Reauthorization require on
the financial statements of closely held firms could jeopard- Pending,
Size Standard ize their ability to obtain new clients, loans, bonding and
insurance. Changes Expected Engineering firms, and indeed the construction
industry as a ACEC was successful in inserting language whole, rose up in
strong opposition to this flawed policy, said into the Small Business
Reauthorization ACEC Chairman Eric Flicker. And our voices were heard. a n
d Manufacturing Act of 2003 H.R. ACEC will continue to closely monitor FASB
and work with 2 8 0 2 , which would provide for more them to ensure that
future actions reflect the financial realities facing accurate data about
small business con- the engineering industry. tracting within the federal
government. AIR-21 Reauthorization Crosses Finish Line The reauthorization
bill is expected to go John O. Woods, Jr., to the House floor when Congress
returns principal, Woods-Peacock The House and Senate cleared a final bill
to reauthorize AIR-21 in 2004. ACEC's legislation specifically Engineering
Consultants, Inc. H.R. 2115 , which provides over $60 billion for the
Federal Avia- tion Administration over four years. The bill would increase
Airport requires that federal agencies report the Improvement Program AIP
funding for infrastructure projects dollar value of small business
participation in joint ventures and from $3.4 billion in F.Y. 2004 to $3.7
billion in F.Y. 2007. The final teaming arrangements with large businesses,
in addition to current package also includes key environmental streamlining
provisions for prime and subcontracting reporting requirements. airport
terminal and runway projects that were advocated by ACEC. Capturing an
accurate portrait of all large and small business par- ticipation within
the federal marketplace will provide ACEC with Outsourcing Battles
Continue valuable data when providing input to the federal government
regard- ACEC prevailed in a high-profile Senate fight on outsourcing and,
ing contracting policies affecting both large and small businesses, as of
this writing, is working with Congressional leaders and the said John
Woods, principal of Woods-Peacock Engineering Consul- White House to
ensure that the final omnibus spending package tants, Inc. protects the
ability of private industry to pursue federal contracts. ACEC also is
working with SBA as the agency contemplates This year's appropriations
process has been marked by intense changes to the small business size
standard for engineering services. fights in the House and Senate over the
Administration's competitive The current engineering size standard, $4
million in annual gross sourcing initiative, which promises to open
commercial activities receipts, is used by federal and state agencies as a
threshold to deter- currently performed by government employees to
competition from mine whether a firm is eligible to compete for projects
set aside for private industry. The policy has drawn fierce opposition
from labor small businesses. SBA is considering converting the size
standard advocates on Capitol Hill. from a gross-receipts basis to a
number of employees basis. Senator Barbara Mikulski D-Md. offered an
amendment to the It's always a concern when SBA toys with the size
standard, said F.Y. 2004 Transportation spending bill that would have
prevented all Kathy Dewkett, owner of Dewkett Engineering, P.C. Depending
on federal agencies from implementing President Bush's outsourcing ini-
the size of your firm, you could lose your ability to qualify for small
tiative. The Mikulski amendment was narrowly defeated by a 48
http://www.acec.org
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