Engineering Inc. - May/June 2003 - 12

Rich Tucker: ACEC members were recently in Washington for Consulting
Congress Day to lobby their House and Senate members on behalf of water
infrastructure investment and H.R. 20. What else can ACEC do to assist you
in moving this important legisla- tion forward? Sue Kelly: ACEC can help
get the coalition of groups energized in support of this legis- l a t i o
n . They were very helpful last year. There are groups out there that are
all coa- lescing. It's not just your organization, but m a n y other
groups that need to join together and put the pressure on Congress. There
are 435 of us on the House side, and 100 over on the Senate side. We need
every CABLE RISDON single office to know what this bill is, how t h i s
bill works, and understand why it's Richard Tucker, ACEC Environmental
Business Committee Co-Chairman, talks with impor tant. Rep. Kelly on water
infrastructure investment and H.R. 20. Your members are going to have to
say, Support H.R. 20, and here's why. State Rich Tucker: Right. ACEC
certainly believes the services of highly qualified engineering three or
four reasons, provide a leave-behind, firms. From your perspective, how
impor- that. It's particularly true in our industry, and get your business
done. tant is quality when you're procuring the where in the planning,
pre-design, and con- In addition to lobbying efforts, it's p r o f e s s i
o n a l services of an engineering ceptualization phases, you can, with a
little important for your members to make tele- firm? bit more time and a
little bit more thought, phone calls. If they have a good relation- really
save a lot down the road. s h i p with their congressman or senator, Sue
Kelly: There is no question that quality they need to pick up the phone,
call them, Steve Hall: As you know, financially dis- is absolutely
important. I learned as a small and say, This is something I care about.
tressed communities have difficulty paying b u s i n e s s w o m a n that
you never lose by This is something I need. This legislation for the
infrastructure improvements required going for quality; you gain speed and
accu- will help me to create jobs. This personal, under the Clean Air Act
or Clean Water Act, racy. When you focus on selecting the most o n e - o n
- o n e interaction with a legislator a problem you address in the bill
with the qualified firm, the job gets done much bet- really goes a long
way toward helping us get grant provision for such communities. Can ter,
and it usually gets done faster. The qual- the bill passed. you discuss
the importance of this provision, ity of the project is raised if you look
for It's important that your member firms and do you see the com- trained
people and the right things. mittee supporting a new, For example, a
professional engineer is going to look at something and say, Okay, t a r g
e t e d grant program this is a nice architectural design, but addi- such
as this? tional measures can be taken to save this Sue Kelly: I think that
the building from crumbling or having to be committee will support it,
rebuilt. The design engineer has the qualifi- as it did last year. The SRF
cations and expertise to recommend to their clients a number of options or
innovative h a s been an effective solutions that will result in the
finest quality model, but I think there's project. a l s o an
understanding Initially, focusing on quality may cost a a m o n g members
of the CABLE RISDON little bit more, but the end result is so much c o m m
i t t e e that certain far superior, it's well worth it. And not only
communities need a little that, it ends up saving you money in the more
help. This provision Lef t to right : Richard Tucker, Rep. Kelly, long run
because you don't have to redo the s e e k s to provide them and ACEC
Government Affairs Director Steve Hall. project a few years later. help. l
June 2003 1 2 E N G I N E E R I N G INC. M a y
Engineering Inc. - May/June 2003

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