Closing the Books on a Busy and Impactful Year

In last week’s message, we recapped some of the key metrics, initiatives, and successes of the ACEC Research Institute (note: there’s still time to add the Institute to your holiday giving list!), and our Marketing & Communications and Meetings, Exhibits & Awards departments. This week, as promised, we will close the year by revisiting some of the work of our Advocacy and Business Resources & Education teams.

The 118th Congress is expected to finish its business this week. It’s been a tumultuous two years, but despite the hyper-partisan atmosphere and a contentious election cycle, ACEC saw success in pushing major policies over the goal line, including:

• New flexibility to negotiate higher fees for firms working for the Defense Department.
• Help for DBE firms working for State DOTs through an increase in the Personal Net Worth cap and rules that facilitate interstate DBE certification. 
• Secured exemption for engineering industry in Administration’s PLA executive order.
• NEPA Reform to streamline project delivery for needed infrastructure projects.
• A new federal aviation program that increases funding for airport projects, broadens authority to use drones, and sets aside funding for resiliency and PFAS.
• Boosting the Workforce Pipeline through reforms to the H-1B visa lottery system recommended by ACEC to prevent abuses in the system.
• Expanding Nuclear Energy through legislation promoting new technologies and improving licensing process.
• A $17 billion Water Resources Development Act that includes 21 new Army Corps of Engineers construction projects, 162 new project studies, nearly 200 environmental infrastructure projects, and reauthorization of the National Dam Safety Program.

Election year politics got in the way of final passage of a key ACEC priority this Congress – restoring the deductibility of R&D expenses – but we scored a major win with an overwhelming vote in the House to fix the problem and – in the process – elevated ACEC’s stature in Congress on this critical priority. Our progress this year will serve us well as we mobilize for a much larger tax fight in 2025.

Looking ahead to the new Congress, the twin agendas of tax and infrastructure will be led by long-time friends of ACEC. Congressman Jason Smith (R-MO) shepherded the tax bill through the House and will be leading the Ways & Means Committee again next year. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) will be the new Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. And Representative Sam Graves (R-MO) was granted a waiver to stay on as Chair of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. We’ll continue to report as other lawmakers are assigned to these and other key committees.

The ACEC Political program has had a productive year. ACEC attended both national party conventions, meeting with key lawmakers, hosting congressional events, and participating in various activities that aligned with our advocacy issues. In November, ACEC PAC supported 334 candidates winning 317 races for a 95%-win rate. Our team was busy with events at The Residence hosting 42 events, which raised a little over $1 million. Additionally, the PAC hosted 16 congressional receptions for ACEC state member organizations at the Capitol Hill residence. Our MOs are closing in on another successful year of PAC fundraising, with 40 states at goal as of press time, with many others close behind. Notably, California has set a record for state fundraising, raising nearly $115,000 and going strong.

This year, we added two strong new members to our Advocacy team. Bradley Saull is our Vice President for Federal and International Programs, responsible for federal government contracting policy and international market opportunities. Before joining ACEC, he worked for the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Department of Justice. Jordan Baugh is our Vice President for Water and Environment. He spent 16 years on Capitol Hill, focused on environmental, infrastructure, and economic development policy.

For our Business Resources & Education department, 2024 marked a change in how ACEC approaches our education offerings. At the end of the day, the purpose and function of BRE is to serve our member firms and the employees who work for them. To that end, the BRE developed in 2024 a syllabus that focused on topics of both broad and niche interest. A quick glance at the year’s most-attended online classes (all of which can be found here) shows the breadth and depth of offerings. From a deep dive into the Chevron decision to how A/E firms can shape a more inclusive culture, these sessions all had one common theme: they were born of member need and designed to meet that need.

In keeping with that feedback, the BRE team also launched our Market Intelligence Committee (MIC), which is charged with analyzing and interpreting key market trends in both the public and private sector. The MIC expanded the scope of our Market Intelligence team by delivering curated and timely content on issues that affect the engineering industry. In that same vein, the BRE team also rolled out a new Market Intelligence Dashboard, which offered an enhanced level of interactivity for our members to analyze critical market indicators.

Last week’s message noted the record-setting number of attendees at our Annual Convention and Fall Conference – our two biggest events of the year. Coming in a very strong third were our 21st Annual Forums in Denver, where more than 500 HR, IT, Business Development, and Finance professionals came together to network and discuss the unique issues facing these very important constituents of ACEC. Most of our Forum attendees were non-engineers who work for engineering firms – an important reminder that both our Council and our industry are a big tent. Speaking of that big tent, this year’s gathering also included the first-ever meeting of the Women’s Leadership Forum. In this time of gratitude and taking stock, it can’t be stressed enough that none of these events would have been possible without the support of our generous sponsors.

As we celebrate the successes of 2024 and embrace the spirit of the holiday season, we want to take this opportunity to thank Chairman Gary Raba, Chair-elect John Rathke, and all our volunteer leaders for their invaluable work on behalf of the Council. We also look forward to working with our next Chair-elect Dan Larson, and with our incoming Vice-Chairs Andy McCune, Orhan Ulger, and Kurt Yoshii.

The coming year holds a great deal of possibility for ACEC, and I am excited for what lies ahead. This will be our last message until January. On behalf of all of us at ACEC, we thank you for your continued support and wish you and your families a warm, joyous holiday season and a happy, healthy New Year.