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ACEC PAC Needs Your Help For the last several years, ACEC-SC has been a bell weather state making or exceeding our ACEC PAC goals early in the year. The ACEC PAC year is drawing to a close and ACEC-SC members have not responded as they have in the past. ACEC-SC is some $8,000 shy of its goal. ACEC PAC, the ACEC Legislative Staff and ACEC professional and volunteer leadership all work to make the consulting engineers’ voice heard in Congress and the Administration. As Dave Raymond says doors have opened for ACEC because of the strong political program ACEC has created. That program, point blank, is largely the result of a strong, large Political Action Committee. Make a contribution before the end of the year and close the ACEC-SC gap between our contributions and our goal. The goal is based upon the size of the member organization. ACEC-SC is not expected to raise as much as California, Texas, New York or even North Carolina or Georgia. Our goal is reasonable. You just need to make a contribution for your company’s sake. ACEC-SC and SCSPE Boards Affirm Introducing Legislation to Strengthen Qualification Based Selection for Public Entities The engineering groups are seeking legislators as to introduce a bill fashioned after an existing law in the architects’ practice act. If passed, engineers will be prohibited from bidding on public work. “A registered engineer or surveyor may not enter into a contract for professional services on public work on any basis other than direct negotiation thereby precluding participation in any system requiring a comparison of compensation,” is the pertinent section of the legislation. If an engineer does provide a price to a public body, then he or she may face disciplinary action by the SC State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors as a licensing issue. ACEC-SC and SCSPE Boards Discuss Architects’ Proposed Regulations Just as the SC State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors released its proposed regulations for comments a couple of years ago, the architects’ board has circulated its proposed changes to regulations. Of concern was one section dealing with periodic site observations of construction. Some had read the sections dealing with site observations in the proposed regulations as a potential invasion of engineering responsibilities and others saw the inspections as an additional cost to the construction. Others were concerned that the new language might lead to confusion by code officials as to who had responsibility. However, after deliberate discussions in their separate board meetings, the general consensus derived was that the regulations deal only with architects’ responsibilities and do not infringe upon the practice of engineering. The SCSPE Board of Directors found it had no objection to the wording in the proposed regulation while the ACEC-SC Board of Directors decided it was not prepared to take a formal position, given the short notice, but the registration language, as it is presented, does not appear objectionable. ACEC-SC Executive Director Begin Term on ACEC Executive Committee ACEC holds an Executive Committee orientation meeting in Washington for incoming executive committee members. Mr. Jones represents the NAECE (National Association of Engineering Council Executives) on the executive committee. The NAECE President serves as an ex-officio member of the ACEC Executive Committee. The ACEC Executive Committee is responsible for oversight of the staff and ACEC operations between the bi-annual ACEC Board of Directors meetings ACEC has over 5,000 consulting engineering firms as members through the state organizations representing some 55,000 engineers and other employees. Small Business Administration is Changing its Size Rules Joe Jones, Executive Director, said, “I always thought the SBA classified businesses as small if they had 500 or fewer employees. That’s not even the case now. The SBA has ‘benchmarks’ determining small businesses, those that qualify for SBA benefits.” The federal agency has three general standards qualifying businesses for SBA programs. Manufacturers qualify if they have 500 or fewer employees; wholesalers qualify with 100 or fewer employees while most other businesses qualify if they have $7 Million or less in annual receipts. However, each industry has its own standards. Jones said he expects a large number of engineering firms already qualify in South Carolina. Currently SBA is looking at 138 industries and is expected to change the standards on 71 of them allowing more companies in these industries to qualify for SBA programs. Maintaining the Education Edge
The American Council of Engineering of South Carolina is a member of organization of the ACEC-SC Reports is published for members firms and friends by
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"What we do is all around you."
2010 SC Engineering Conference Issues “Call for Papers” ACEC Needs Your Help: MEMBER ACTION NEEDED
We would like to thank those that have committed to participate in this year's annual meeting as an exhibitor or sponsor. Bronze Trade Show Exhibitors
November 13
We would like to thank those that have committed to participate in the 2009 SC Engineering Conference. Silver Bronze Mid-Morning Break Sponsor Trade Show Exhibitors
ACEC-SC would like to thank our members for your continued support. For membership information contact Ginger Booker at ginger@jma-associations.com. The mission of ACEC-SC is to promote and protect the business interests and professional standards of engineers in the state of South Carolina; and to improve member firms' ability to profitably provide quality services to their clients. ACEC-SC is an Organization of more than 80 Engineering firms employing more than 4,000 individuals. Membership Information
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