This Week in Washington

This weekly report is written by the American Society of Civil Engineers' Government Relations staff. If you have questions or comments about any items in this report, please contact Brian Pallasch, Michael Charles, Martin Hight, Austin Fulk, or Nora Smith by e-mail at govwash@asce.org. To read past articles from This Week in Washington go to /pressroom/news/grwk/index.cfm

Inside This Week:

• Education Bill in Conference
• Hawaii Congressman Seeks Changes in Military Contracting Process
• Free Breakfast in Houston for Key Contacts
• New Congressional Fellow Begins Year
• Back Home Visits Program Up and Running
• State Government Relations Update

1. Education Bill in Conference

A Conference Committee has begun the work of ironing out the differences between the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate versions of H.R. 1 / S. 1, the ?Leave no Child Behind Act of 2001.? The bills touch on a large number of school issues including local school district flexibility in spending federal money, testing and sanctions for under-performing schools. P<> ASCE has focused its attention on the math and science provisions of the two bills. In a letter to House and Senate conferees, ASCE voiced full support for the math and science provisions of the Senate bill. Both bills establish and fund math and science partnerships between universities and local school districts, but the Senate bill goes farther by reauthorizing the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Math and Science Education, establishing the Preparing Tomorrow?s Teachers to Use Technology grants program and grants for technology in the classroom. ASCE also supports the higher appropriation levels provided for in the House bill.

2. Hawaii Congressman Seeks Changes in Military Contracting Process

Congress is considering annual legislation to authorize billions of dollars of new spending for all Defense Department programs. Among the provisions in H.R. 2586, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2002, is an amendment added by Representative Neil Abercrombie (D-HI) altering the requirements for architectural and engineering work outsourced by the military services, potentially making it much more difficult for private-sector firms to win contracts. The amendment, which was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee (HASC) in August and should be acted on by the House soon, would toughen the bidding process for private firms.

Thousands of jobs currently performed by Defense Department contractors would be subject to public-private competitions. At present, the Pentagon holds only public-private competitions for jobs performed by federal employees. Public employees would also be given an opportunity to compete for new work that may have been awarded to the private sector under current law. By 2005, at least 30 percent of all new contracts would be awarded through public-private competitions.

A department-wide inventory would track the cost and size of the private-sector workforce, requiring contractors to report to secure department Web sites all direct and indirect man-hour and cost information, as well as requests for payment for future and existing contracts subject to bilateral modifications. (The information collected would not be used for making contracting decisions; proprietary data would be protected; and contractors without compliant accounting systems would be exempt.)

Abercrombie?s amendment met sharp criticism when it passed through the HASC last month by a vote of 34-25. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Readiness, led the opposition, backed by contractor groups including the Contract Services Association. At the same time, some engineers have expressed concern that the proposed legislation would be a means of curtailing or even abolishing the Pentagon?s use of private-sector engineering and architecture firms.

?This amendment would not stop [the practice of] contracting out,? Abercrombie said, responding to the criticism while introducing his amendment. ?It?s intended to ensure that there is real public-private competition before work performed by Defense Department civilian employees is contracted out. The administration claims that savings come from competitions, whether the work stays in-house or is contracted out. This provision is intended to ensure that these competitions actually occur.?

Abercrombie?s amendment-which exempts certain engineering services from the cost-savings studies, such as research and development, construction and depot maintenance-would require the Defense Department to subject its public-private competitions to A-76 reviews, used for years by the Office of Management and Budget as a way to effectively find commercial support services in the private sector. Ironically, A-76 reviews-intended to provide administrative flexibility in the government?s ?make or buy? decision process-have in the past been used as a mechanism to turn jobs over to the private sector.

3. Free Breakfast in Houston for Key Contacts

Will you be attending the 2001 Civil Engineering Conference and Exposition in Houston? If you are, we'd like to buy you breakfast to say Thank You for all you do for ASCE's Government Relations program. On Thursday, October 11 from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., members of ASCE?s Key Contact Program are invited to learn more about the accomplishments of the 107th Congress and how to make the most of the Key Contact Program. Representatives John Culberson (R-TX) and Ken Bentsen (D-TX) have been invited to be the keynote speakers.

ASCE?s Key Contact Program provides members with the opportunity to help shape public policy in areas that affect the civil engineering profession. This breakfast is offered free of charge to Key Contact Program members by the ASCE Government Relations Department. Advance registration is required. You must RSVP, so please contact Nora Smith, at (202) 789-2200 or nsmith@asce.org to reserve your seat or to learn more about the Key Contact Program.

4. New Congressional Fellow Begins Year

ASCE?s 2001-2002 Congressional Fellow is settling in on Capitol Hill. Dr. Kevin Womack is on a one-year sabbatical from his position as Professor of Civil Engineering at Utah State University. He brings 21 years of experience as a practicing structural engineer, researcher and teacher. He is currently participating, alongside more than 25 other scientific and engineering fellows, in the orientation program conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS). He will select his assignment with either a Senate or House member?s personal staff or on a committee staff. His monthly reports will appear in This Week in Washington.

5. Back Home Visits Program Up and Running

This summer, ASCE?s government relations department launched a Congressional ?Back Home? Visits program. This program allows ASCE members to meet with their Member of Congress during the Congressional recesses to discuss important civil engineering issues.

Thank you to the following members for their early participation and leadership in this important program:

• Randy Over and John Konrad met with Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
• Steve Fisher met with Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO)
• Richard Cassin met with Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY)
• Chris Ayika met with Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN).

For more information on how you can meet with your Member of Congress, please contact ASCE?s government relations department at (202) 789-2200, or govwash@asce.org.

6. State Government Relations Update

ASCE provides updates on individual state government matters affecting civil engineers. For more information on the following item(s), or any other state government relations matters, please contact Austin Fulk, ASCE?s Manager of State Government Relations, at (202) 789-2200 or via email at afulk@asce.org

ASCE AT NCSL
ASCE participated in the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Annual Meeting from August 12-16. ASCE staff had the opportunity to interact with state legislators and legislative staff from around the country and worked to promote legislative issues of concern to civil engineers, including the 2001 Report Card for America's Infrastructure and its message of the need for more investment in our nation's infrastructure.

The forum was an excellent opportunity for ASCE staff to educate decision makers about civil engineering issues in both formal and informal settings. Many legislators were already aware of ASCE and our mission, which allowed an opportunity to reinforce what they already knew about engineering issues. Other legislators were not as familiar with ASCE, and the interactions provided an excellent opportunity to introduce them to engineering issues. On the whole, the conference was a major success and served as a powerful way to promote legislative issues of concern to civil engineers.

Civil Engineer Nominated for Virginia Legislature
Tom Rust, a civil engineer, won the Republican nomination for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates on August 21. Rust holds both bachelors and masters degrees in civil engineering, owns his own consulting company, and has served his community in numerous capacities, including as the mayor of Herndon, Virginia. Rust's top priority in his campaign was transportation, where he favored more funding for roads and mass transit as well as innovative solutions to transportation problems, such as telecommuting. If elected, Rust will be the only civil engineer in the Virginia Legislature.

Note: While ASCE cannot endorse candidates for elective office, it encourages all civil engineers to be active in politics and the public policy process, including running for office as the nominee of whichever political party they support.

State Legislative Update
The following bills were recently introduced in state legislatures across the country. If you have questions about particular legislation, please contact Austin Fulk. These bills affect the civil engineering profession, but ASCE National has not taken a position on them unless otherwise noted.

Alabama
Following complaints about unethical awarding of state contracts, an executive order has been issued by the governor and several bills have been introduced into the legislature (which is now meeting in special session) to deal with the issue.

Executive Order 57, issued by Governor Don Siegelman, requires among other provisions that the state Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor Licensure Board to maintain a list of engineers qualified to perform work for the state.

H.B. 4 and S.B. 75 would require that if a state agency selects a professional for a project who's bid is more than 10% higher than the bid of the lowest qualified proposal than the reason for selecting the particular proposal must be documented in writing.

H.B. 52 and S.B. 18 would require competitive bidding, without exception, on all state contracts worth over $25,000.

S.B. 70 would require all parties to a contract with the state of Alabama worth over $100,000 to file copies of all documents relating to the contract with the Alabama Ethics Commission.

S.B. 94 would require all persons who submit a proposal or bid to the state to file a disclosure statement with the Alabama Ethics Commission about their relationship with the public officials overseeing the bid.

S.B. 106 would allow the legislature, by passage of a resolution, to void any state contract for goods or services.

Illinois
S.B. 833 would require any state agency seeking to procure professional services to make these proposals available electronically and in print.

Oregon
H.B. 2196, which was recently enacted, prohibits anyone who is not a registered landscape architect from practicing landscape architecture.