Last week, members of the ACEC International Committee traveled to the Italian Embassy to meet with their counterparts from the Association of Italian Engineering, Architectural, and Technical-Economic Consulting Organization (OICE) on bilateral cooperation in the A/E industry and to discuss challenges and opportunities member firms are experiencing.

The Federal Agencies and Procurement Advocacy (FAPA) Committee recently hosted Mr. Pete Perez, SES, Chief of Engineering and Construction at the US Army Corps of Engineers.

The Corps discussed their commitment to relationships, documenting best practices and lessons learned from across the federal government and industry. As Mr. Perez noted in his presentation, “there is tremendous value in the cross-pollination and knowledge transfer between industry and federal clients like the Corps, creating an invaluable way of leveraging capabilities. Creating an exchange of insights across the government and industry is essential to maintaining these relationships and improving the quality of work.”

We’re seeing movement in Congress on the five-year R&D amortization requirement and have launched a new grassroots push in support of repeal.  Please share this information with your members and encourage them to contact their Members of Congress.

ACEC president and CEO Linda Bauer Darr sent a letter to President Biden urging action on workforce issues that currently impact the engineering and design services industry. In the letter, ACEC expressed its strong support for IIJA, IRA, and the CHIPS Act but pointed out that America doesn't have enough engineers to do the work called for by this critical legislation.  

This week, ACEC was joined by the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies, Canada and the National Chamber of Consulting Companies, Mexico to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the A/E industry in North America.

Areas of discussion included tackling the ongoing workforce challenges facing the industry, including workforce challenges and related immigration issues affecting the ability of firms to attract and keep engineers from abroad.  Association leaders also discussed the need to inspire and attract the next generation of engineers, trade between the countries, the importance of promoting the use of Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) in North America and throughout the world, and many other issues.