Consulting Firms Expand Their Horizons

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Consulting Firms ExpandTheir Horizons

• Robert B. Sheh, ALTA Group, LLC
• and
• C. Joseph Touhill, Ph.D., P.E., DEE
• Presented at the Colloquium to Celebrate Fifty
  Years of Environmental Engineering, March 29,
  2005, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy,
  NY

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Evolution - States

• Departments of Health cede responsibilities to
  environmental or ecology agencies
• New state agencies shift from reviewers of
  plans to enforcers of regulations
• State agencies defer to federal direction and
  standard setting

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Evolution - Federal

• U.S. Public Health Service
• Federal Water Pollution Control Administration
• Federal Water Quality Administration
• Environmental Protection Agency

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Major Initiatives

• Effluent standards replace stream standards
• Federal grants for wastewater treatment
• Federal grants for area wide planning
• More aggressive enforcement
• Attack new problem areas, e.g. air pollution and
  hazardous wastes

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Public Awareness

• Torrey Canyon oil spill
• Santa Barbara oil spill
• Love Canal
• DDT Silent Spring

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• EXPANSION
• DIVERSIFICATION
• CONSOLIDATION

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Participants in the 2004 EFCG Survey
Includes primarily Environmental, Transportation
and Infrastructure Engineering Consulting
(E/C) Revenues
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• EXPANSION
• DIVERSIFICATION
• CONSOLIDATION

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Expansion

• Regional Expansion
• Bigger projects
• More engineering and scientific staff
• Federal contracts
• - EPA
• - DOE
• - DOD
• New problem areas

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Seven-Year Change in Revenue Breakout
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• EXPANSION
• DIVERSIFICATION
• CONSOLIDATION

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Diversification

• Broader practice areas
• - Planning
• - Feasibility studies
• - Design
• - Construction management
• - Design/Build
• - Waste disposal
• - Own and operate
• International perspective

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2004 Gross Revenuesby Functional Distribution
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2004 Gross Revenuesby Business Distribution
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2004 Gross Revenuesby Customer Sector
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2004 Gross Revenuesby Geographic Sector
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• EXPANSION
• DIVERSIFICATION
• CONSOLIDATION

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Consolidation

• Mergers and acquisitions
• Team contracting
• International companies

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• GROWTH

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Drivers

• Information Technology
• Globalization
• Consolidation
• People
• Natural Resource Limitations

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Drivers

• Information Technology
• Globalization
• Consolidation
• People
• Natural Resource Limitations

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Definition of the Concept

• At their January 1955 meeting, Kilcawley, Pincus
  and Burden agree upon the following definition
• Environmental Engineering is that portion of the
  science of environmental control in which
  engineering is used to conserve and develop
  worlds resources for the general well-being of
  man as measured by such indices as the absence of
  disease, comfort, convenience and productivity.

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Summary

• Few specialty firms survived
• Field dominated by Jumbo companies
• Business driven by federal regulations
• Range of projects far broader than water and
  wastewater
• Impact of large federal contracts is immense