Related Links: Aviation Board Scraps Proposals for New Orleans Terminal Board Hits Reset Button on New Orleans Airport Contract Bid protests remind us of video reviews by the referees at a football game: The review slows down the action to provide a clearer picture of what occurred, even if the interpretation isn't always as definitive as hoped. So, when a review committee scoring the construction manager-at-risk competition for a new terminal at New Orleans airport flubbed its first try, the losing team protested and later prevailed.The full New Orleans Aviation Board now must make a final decision, hopefully with some
Related Links: AECOM's $6B Offer for URS Keeps the Company Whole AECOM’s $6-billion acquisition of URS, creating the second largest construction services company, continues the trend of consolidation among construction services players. The 10 largest design and engineering firms have tripled in size since 2003—largely through mergers and acquisitions.The transaction creates a new global player with nearly $20 billion in revenue and nearly 100,000 employees across 150 countries.At the same time, this transaction highlights the challenges of pursuing profitable growth in the sector, given the struggles over the past few years at URS, itself the product of serial acquisitions. DANNIn the
Related Links: States Laws Related to Immigration and Immigrants The U.S. badly needs a comprehensive reform of its federal immigration policies, instead of leaving each state to cope with recent crises on its own, which is what's been happening lately. Since comprehensive reform is dead for 2014, the Obama administration may make a limited gesture toward reform via executive order or regulation that grants undocumented immigrants more leeway to remain in the U.S. and improves border security. If that happens, some Republican opponents may throw up their hands in exasperation with the president, although each side's basic position on these
Related Links: Brazilians Say Government Deserves a Good, Swift Kick for Broken World Cup Promises (ENR 6/16/14) Two Years to World Cup Kickoff for Brazilian Stadiums (ENR 8/22/12) Reports are coming in about abusive practices and possible corruption in the World Cup stadium construction projects in Brazil. With fresh memories of angry protests by Brazilians prior to the start of World Cup and Brazil set to host the 2016 Olympics, we have a unique opportunity now to learn.ELLISFor example, a recent government audit reportedly found that the project costs for the state of Brasília's brand-new taxpayer-funded stadium have tripled, to
Related Links: Plan to Refill Highway Fund Stokes Conflict in Congress If Congress ever progresses beyond its current partisan dysfunction, perhaps we will look back on June 18 as a turning point. That was the day Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed raising the federal gasoline tax 12¢ a gallon over two years as a way to end the impending deficit of the Highway Trust Fund, the key source of highway and mass transit construction funds shared with the states. The tax hasnot been raised since 1993, when Congress upped it from 14¢ to 18.4¢; fuel-efficient cars
I'd like to share with you some lessons learned from a long career in the construction business based on conversations with some of the best people I have ever met.LyonsWhether you're an executive, project manager or job superintendent, there is no more important task right now than attracting good people who will remain in your organization. Someone once said “don’t forget to make the good, gooder."Why my focus on leadership and why one must be great?It all started for me when I joined my local volunteer fire company. Nothing is harder than leading volunteers and that’s where I gathered my
Images Courtesy of BIG Related Links: Manhattan's Storm-Protection Plan Intended as Global Urban Model No need for intrusive barriers and floodgates in the middle of New York Harbor. If a $335-million pilot project, funded by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, is successful, instead of massive hard infrastructure to defend Lower Manhattan against the next Superstorm Sandy, the Big Apple eventually will have a 10-mile surge defense camouflaged as parkland, landscape and public art.One of the architects for the project called BIG U—the most ambitious of six schemes that recently won HUD's "Rebuild by Design" competition—is so excited
Related Links: Managing a Profitable Construction Business Beware the Economic Recovery The end of a recession is the perfect time for contractors to rebuild their organizations using new and sustainable models because growth as a business model doesn't work in a cyclical market. The successful contractor of the future will be organized to go up and down in annual sales to cope with market conditions and avoid chasing inappropriate work just to maintain volume for its own sake. The secret to this strategy is a concept that I call flexible overhead.Since World War II, there have been more growth years
Related Links: Project Delivery Spat Puts Hospital Job on Critical List Emerging Senate VA Bill to Have Panel on Construction Issues Orlando Sentinel on Delayed Completion of VA Hospital In addition to improving its responsiveness to veterans' medical problems, the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs needs to revamp its construction strategies and practices on big hospital projects and possibly hand off construction to public-private partnership concessionaires. Two hospital projects, in Aurora, Colo., and Orlando, Fla., show how the VA comes up short on large, complex new hospitals.The Orlando project, on which the prime contractor is Brasfield & Gorrie, is over