Lycoming County Receives ACEC/PA Award

Lycoming County has received the 2008 Client of Distinction Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Pennsylvania.  The presentation took place on February 7, 2008 at the Hotel Hershey in front of several hundred leaders from the engineering profession.

The ACEC/PA Client of Distinction Award recognizes an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and growth of the consulting engineering profession.

ACEC/PA Executive Director Andy Hilt said:  “There were many characteristics that I thought stood out.  The fact that Lycoming County is consistently professional, progressive and fair in its business practices. Further, county personnel commit significant advocacy efforts to important infrastructure investment, planning, and development activities extending far beyond the County’s rural borders and small population in north-central Pennsylvania. This makes Lycoming County a strong partner of the engineering industry and the interests ACEC /PA seeks to advance.  What the staff and leadership of Lycoming County do, clearly makes a positive impact on all that live there.”

Lycoming County was nominated for this award by Keith Kuzio. Keith’s nomination was based on the approach Lycoming County chooses to take.  Keith said:  “Lycoming County understands business costs and recognizes that complex procurement and contracting processes increase cost of government and professional service fees. Their procurement process is kept simple. The county’s three-page professional services agreement (including signature page) has nine terms and contains just 500 words. It does not contain indemnification clauses or other terms that require lengthy negotiation or which raise professional liability concerns.  This approach is a good example of the sense of urgency that the county takes when it comes to managing and improving infrastructure.”  Keith’s nomination received letters of endorsement from McTish, Kunkel & Associates, MACTEC Engineering & Consulting, and Herbert, Rowland & Grubic.

In 2007, Lycoming County provided direct advocacy in support of public infrastructure investment and development via the following activities:

•  Congressional briefings in Washington, DC regarding FFY 2008 appropriations
•  State Legislator briefings for regional priorities for 2007 PA Capital Budget Authorization
•  Oral and written testimony for regional priorities for the PENNDOT 12-Year Program Update
•  Conduction of Transportation Day in Lycoming County on October 20, 2007, to highlight recent major investments in bridge, highway, rail, trail and airport infrastructure

As well, eight Lycoming County personnel serve on 27 different national, state and regional organizational boards and committees related to public infrastructure investment, planning and development.

With its philosophy of selecting firms based on qualifications and project performance, Lycoming County has a long-standing practice of utilizing consulting engineers to provide professional services on challenging projects throughout all departments in county government. In 2007, a total of fifteen engineering firms have been under contract with Lycoming County, five of whom are ACEC/PA members.

Although Lycoming County is rural in nature with only about 120,000 residents, it utilizes industry best practices in its business practices, partnering and advocacy on behalf of the entire consulting engineering industry. Lycoming County, through its various departments, contracts a broad variety of engineering services and provides an excellent example of how the public and private sector can work together to deliver value-added services that benefit not only the county jurisdiction, but the region and state as well.