On this week's Government Affairs Update, we're joined by Matt Reiffer to cover new congressional action on infrastructure.  We also get into the issue of a return to earmarks in the House.

National Surveyors Week, March 21-27, aims to educate the public about surveying. Much of the focus of the week is in the schools, talking about the profession and getting students excited about a career in surveying.

On the program today, Joseph Romano, a principal at Langan Engineering and Environmental Services and chair of ACEC’s Coalition of Professional Surveyors, talks about National Surveyors week and the surveying sector.

On this week's episode, we welcome back Steve Hall to talk all things PPP including a preview of next Tuesday's Small Business Committee hearing on the FAR Credits Clause and a newly scheduled T&I hearing featuring Secretary Buttigieg on the Biden Administration's infrastructure agenda.  

Matt Fultz, a principal at Matheson Financial Advisors, came on the program today to talk about firm valuations. We discuss the key factors in valuation, the steps to take to sell a firm, the most likely buyers, and why you might want to start the process today.

Matt recently presented an ACEC online class on valuation. Click here for the on-demand class.  

On today's Government Affairs Update, we re-cap the provisions of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and discuss the rescheduling of the House Small Business Committee hearing on the PPP FAR credits clause now set for March 23rd. 

In honor of Women's History Month and International Women's Day, the Engineering Influence podcast welcomed ACEC CEO, Linda Bauer Darr to the show joined by ACEC Chair-elect Robin Greenleaf and NAECE President-elect Beth Bauer to talk about the state of women in engineering and ACEC's efforts to make the industry more inclusive.  

Steve Hall and Matt Reiffer joined the program to provide an update on the PPP FAR Credits Clause and to announce ACEC's participation in a House Small Business Committee hearing on the 9th focused on that very issue.  More information about the hearing can be found here.

The podcast welcomed Tommy Wells, Director of the DC Department of Energy & Environment onto the program to discuss the District's work towards net zero emissions and the challenges his department is facing due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tommy was a panelist during the most recent ACEC Research Institute roundtable on the Future of Engineering, which focused on sustainability and renewables in a post-pandemic world.

Simon Goodhead, principal of The Coxe Group, a management consultancy in Atlanta, GA, came on the program to discuss the challenges of employee retention in engineering firms and the high cost of failing to meet those challenges.

Goodhead recently presented the ACEC online class "Why Retention is You and Not Them." Click here to access the on-demand session.

ACEC's Lynn Schloesser joined the podcast today to discuss ACEC's first ever reverse industry day between the ACEC Water, Energy and Environment Committee and EPA.  

Unlike regular industry days, reverse industry days put agency acquisition staff in the audience while industry presents their perspectives of doing business with the government.  To make the event even more unique, ACEC partnered with the Professional Services Council to bring EPA officials in as moderators, which enrolled them even further in the preparation and execution of the event. 

Overall, reverse industry days help to uncover hidden challenges in the contracting process and serve to deepen relationships between government agencies and the firms looking to do business with them.