American Council of Engineering Companies of Oklahoma

201 N. E. 27th St., Suite 135

Oklahoma City, OK 73105

(405) 525-7696

FAX: (405) 557-1820

Web Site: www.acecok.org

E-Mail: jsullins@acecok.org

ACEC OKLAHOMA Forms

Political Action Committee--

ACEC OKLAHOMA PAC

When discussing legislative issues at both the state and national level, design professionals lament the power of the attorneys in the Legislature and Congress. It's the standard line of, "The lawyers are running (and ruining) the state/country."

 

Well, one of the reasons for this belief was brought to full light in the September 3rd issue of THE JOURNAL RECORD, when it was reported that Oklahoma attorneys and law firms made 4,994 separate contributions to Oklahoma candidates during the 2002 election cycle. These nearly 5,000 contributions totaled $2.45 million, according to data compiled by the Institute on Money in State Politics.

 

Now, let's compare this to the A/E/LS community during the same election cycle. A total of 708 design professional made contributions totaling $236,741. Engineers (519) accounted for $198,753 of the total with 180 Architects coming in at $36,973 and 9 Surveyors totaling just over $1,000.

 

Contributions from all sectors during the election cycle totaled $28,938,000. The race for Governor garnered $11.1 million, with other statewide offices totaling $5.1 million. Candidates for House seats received $5.5 million, with Senate candidates raking in $4.4 million.

 

So, all in all, lawyers accounted for some 8.5% of all contributions, while the design profession came in at a paltry 0.08%.

 

Engineers, and all design professionals, need a stronger voice in the political process in Oklahoma, and ACEC OKLAHOMA is striving to be that voice.

 

We are pleased to announce the formation of the ACEC OKLAHOMA POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE. The ACEC OKLAHOMA Board of Directors formed the committee at their August meeting, and we are now up and running and ready to be your voice in the political process.

 

Don Vick has been appointed Chairman of ACEC OKLAHOMA PAC, and the Board has set a goal of raising $7,000 to kick-start the PAC. That's only $100 per member firm! Shortly, you will receive information on how you can make contributions to ACEC OKLAHOMA PAC.

 

ACEC OKLAHOMA PAC's goal is to supplement the contributions design professionals are already making by unifying contributions under one banner.

 

ACEC OKLAHOMA PAC can make a difference, but only with your support. When you receive the information, please contribute.

September, 2003

Save the expense of time and travel by participating in ACEC OKLAHOMA's "Brown Bag Lunch" Seminar program series. ACEC OKLAHOMA is pleased to offer members this new, more cost efficient way a acquiring training for your key personnel on today's hottest topics. The seminars are presented by highly skilled and knowledgeable experts who present courses designed specifically to meet the business practice needs of engineers.

 

The sessions are "Live" interactive "on-line" sessions that enable participants to listen and react to the presentations while viewing the speaker's graphical presentation.

 

This series will be offered by ACEC OKLAHOMA in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Registration fee is only $30.00 per person and you provide your own "brown bag lunch".

 

The seminars will START PROMPTLY AT 11:30am, AND LAST FOR ONE HOUR.

 

"LUNCH AND LEARN" September 10th at the ACEC OKLAHOMA "Brown Bag Lunch Seminar!!!!!

 

Project Pre-Planning:

A Practical Guide

September 10, 2003 ­ 11:30 A.M.

 

Two Locations for your convenience:

 

Oklahoma Engineering Center

201 N.E. 27th Street

Oklahoma City

 

OR

 

Tulsa Technology Center

3638 S. Memorial

Tulsa

 

 

Presenters: Ronald Leaders, Buckley & Leaders and Invited Co-Presenter

 

Description: Focused project pre-planning is one of the primary methods of reducing costs and increasing the likelihood of project success. Industry research shows available cost savings of up to 20% through

these planning activities. Commonly used design and construction practices do very little project pre-planning from the perspective of implementing an effective project management program.

 

This program will discuss contract delivery systems and project team selection criteria. Learn to set yourself apart from the competition by focusing on a commitment to teaming and partnering. Be prepared to deliver more successful projects through contractor pre-qualification or similar techniques permitted under competitive bidding statutes.

 

 

Learning objectives:

 

1. Learn to develop and implement improved design phase services and practices that translate early construction input into more successful projects.

 

2. Use pre-planning techniques to implement better contractor evaluation and selection processes on traditional design-bid-build procedures and achieve lower costs and less schedule delay.

 

3. Learn to identify appropriate projects, owners and conditions to implement alternative contracting methods as an improvement over traditional design-bid-build methods.

 

Ronald Leaders, principal in Buckley & Leaders, emphasizes the use of innovative contracts and dispute avoidance/resolution techniques in his practice, encouraging clients to use equitable project risk allocation, contract documentation and contract administration to achieve more successful projects.

 

Mr. Leaders received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. in Metallurgy from Georgia Tech and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco. Mr. Leaders is a frequent speaker on project delivery systems and contracts and is a certified corporate trainer of negotiations from the Harvard Project on Negotiation.

 

To register for this seminar, either call (405-525-7696) or e-mail ACEC OKLHOMA (jsullins@acecok.org) as soon as possible.

 

Hope to see you September 10th at 11:30am!!!!!

Page 3

ACEC

OKLAHOMA

Engineering

Excellence Awards

Competition Opens

Work Zone Certification Classes

To Be Offered in Nov. and Jan.

The Oklahoma Traffic Engineering Association (OTEA) has been authorized by ODOT to provide instruction and testing for Work Zone Managers. OTEA also provides familiarization courses for all persons working on the rights of way. These persons include engineers, fire and police, water and sewer, utilities, and their managers.

 

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices has been adopted as state law in Oklahoma and it requires all persons working on the right of way of streets and highways open to the public to be trained in proper operation of work zones.

 

Two courses will be held at the Oklahoma Engineering Center in Oklahoma City on:

 

1. November 12, 13, & 14, 2003- Wed. thru Fri.

2. January 12, 13, & 14, 2004- Mon. thru Wed.

Registration costs are as follows:

Class with certification test $375.00

Class without certification test $300.00

Recertification Test Alone $95.00

OTEA Member Discount* $15.00

OSPE Member Discount* $25.00

ACEC OKLAHOMA Discount* $15.00

 

* Discounts apply to the full course only.

 

 

The instruction follows the FHWA's National Highway Institute course "Design and Operation of Work Zone Traffic Control." Each participant will receive a student manual and a copy of Parts 1, 5, and 6 of the 2000 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

 

The certification course is a 2-1/2 day program. Instructors for the course are Leonard West, OTEA Secretary Treasurer and Don Russell, Chair of the OTEA Training Committee. The course has as its goal to promote practices which reduce the perils and thereby protect the traveling public and personnel working in the right-of-way from harm.

 

For questions or registration information contact Don Russell at 405-722-0194 or Leonard West at 405-329-1839

---

All member firms have received information on the ACEC OKLAHOMA 2003 Engineering Excellence Awards Program. The Deadline for receipt of entries is November 7, 2003!!!!!

 

Judging by a panel of judges selected from business, government, and education leaders in Oklahoma will take place on November 14th. The five winning firms will be notified immediately following the judging to allow the firms to finalize their submissions to the ACEC competition. Awards given by ACEC OKLAHOMA will be: (1) Grand Oklahoma Conceptor and four (4) Oklahoma Honor Awards. The five (5) winning Entries are eligible to be submitted to the ACEC EEA Program.

 

Deadline for submission to ACEC is January 9, 2004, the judging for which takes place in February, 2004. The ACEC Awards presentation will be March 16, 2004 in Washington DC at which ALL ENTRIES will be displayed.

 

To enter the ACEC OKLAHOMA Engineering Excellence Awards competition, you will need to download forms in a "pdf" format. Go to the ACEC OKLAHOMA website (http://www.acecok.org), or, call the ACEC OKLAHOMA Office at 405-525-7696 and we will mail you the required forms.

 

Again, the deadline for submissions for the ACEC OKLAHOMA program is November 7th!!!!! We hope to receive your entry soon.

GSA Kicks Off Market Forecast Series

David Eakin of the General Services Administration (GSA), will address a live and webcast audience at ACEC headquarters in Washington on September 18. This is the first fall session of ACEC's Institute for Business Management's Market Forecast Series.

 

There is over $1.5 billion budgeted this year for GSA new construction, repairs

and alterations to courthouses, federal buildings and border stations. Eakin will provide participants with advice on where this money will be spent and who to contact in regions where projects are being implemented.

 

Visit www.acec.org/education to register.

Page 4

September, 2003

How Bad Are Oklahoma's Roads?

Sen. McCain, CNN's Mark Shields

To Join ACEC At Fall Conference In Phoenix

Time and time again, everyone from ACEC OKLAHOMA to the entire ODOT staff keeps telling everyone that Oklahoma's roads and bridges are in terrible shape, and that additional funding is necessary immediately.

 

Well, here's a sobering statistic from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation:

 

In a presentation sponsored by the Midwest City Chamber of Commerce, David Streb, assistant director of preconstruction, pointed out that 14 people had died in a "terrible disaster" at Webber's Falls when the bridge collapsed.

 

Streb said, while this large number of people was highlighted nationally and was a tragic loss, it also was equal to the number of people that died each week in accidents on Oklahoma highways.

 

"Fourteen people die every single week on our highways," he said.

 

In 2002, there were 636 fatal vehicle collisions resulting in 735 deaths. Streb said these numbers could be directly attributed to the condition of the state's highways, roads and bridges.

 

Over 3,000 miles of the 12,000 total highway miles were in need of rehabilitation or replacement due to inadequacies. He pointed out that this represented 25 percent of the highways, and 56 percent of the fatal accidents occurred on that 25 percent of roads.

 

That statistic alone is reason enough to do everything possible to increase highway funding in Oklahoma IMMEDIATELY!!!!!

U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) highlights an impressive list of prominent speakers set to appear at the upcoming ACEC Conference in Phoenix.

 

The Arizona lawmaker and current chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, will appear at a reception from 5:30 ­ 6:30 p.m. Friday, October 10.

 

The reception will support McCain's bid for another term as Arizona's senior Senator, and give ACEC members a unique opportunity to discuss key issues with one of our most influential policy makers.

The Fall Conference also features Mark Shields, nationally known columnist and CNN commentator, who will offer a sample of his political insights and wit during the keynote luncheon, October 9.

 

With unmatched credentials as an analyst of U.S. politics, Shields is moderator of CNN's weekly political show The Capital Gang, alongside Robert Novak, Al Hunt, Kate O'Beirne and Margaret Carlson.

 

Also scheduled to appear at the Conference is FHWA Administrator Mary Peters. Peters is a leading advocate for improving our nation's

highway and bridge infrastructure. In her current position and as the former Secretary from the Arizona Department of Transportation, she has been a national champion for improving the environmental review process, as well as striving to improve safety, reduce congestion and enhance mobility for the driving public.

 

In addition to the special guests, ACEC's Institute for Business Management will provide five professional forums: Professional Sales and Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology along with the newly added Young Leaders Forum.

 

Attendees can earn up to 22.5 professional development hours to meet their state licensing requirements for continuing education through a variety of seminars offered during the conference.

 

Registration information can be found on both the ACEC OKLAHOMA and ACEC websites (www.acecok.org, or, www.acec.org).

 

Earlybird registration ends on September 8th, so make your plans and your reservations now for what promised to be a great Fall Conference in Phoenix.