PRESIDENT'S MONTHLY UPDATE
ACECL Board of Directors February Meeting

The ACECL Board of Directors met on February 21, 2019 at the Baton Rouge Capitol Hilton prior to the Critical Issues Summit.

The board discussed the ongoing issue of how the term “governmental function” in the state ethics code relates to contract professional consulting services. For many years ACECL has exhaustively sought a statutory solution to give member firms clarity on how state ethics code provisions relate to their work with governmental entities, particularly in light of past decisions handed down by the Board of Ethics and the courts. Rather than try to file legislation in 2019, the Board will work over the next several months to convene impacted professionals and agencies to work on a possible solution for 2020. This will also include reviewing contract language with public agencies.

The Board voted to appoint the following individuals to the Louisiana Engineers Selection Board:
·         Mr. Warren Hull, retired
·         Mr. Kent Poyser, WDG

The Board also voted to appoint Mr. Bren Kramer as its representative on the EBR Engineer and Surveyor Selection Board following the MovEBR program manager(s) selection.
Submitted Committee written reports are attached.
The next meeting of the Board of Directors will be March 15, 2019.
SAVE THE DATE
2019 BUSINESS FORUM AND ACEC PAC EVENT
May 16, 2019
9:00am – 5:30pm
Renaissance Hotel, Baton Rouge
ACECL will once again host a Business Forum bringing national speakers to Louisiana to give practical tips and advice on improving your firm’s bottom line! ACEC National President Linda Darr will be the luncheon speaker and we will once again have a member roundtable discussion focused on engineering business issues. AGC and AIA are invited co-hosts.
ACEC-PAC FUNDRAISER
TOPGOLF of Baton Rouge
May 16, 2019
6:00p-8:00pm
Come for the Forum and stay for the Par-Tee!
Help ACECL meet its 2019 ACEC PAC Goal
$200 per person
Includes: TopGolf games, all equipment, hors d'oeuvres, and (2) drink tickets
Only 50 tickets are available and they will go fast!!


CALLING ALL EVENT SPONSORS

Support the ACECL Business Forum and PAC Event by securing your sponsorship now!
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DO BUSINESS IN NEW ORLEANS?


SWBNO

Ghassan Korban and Yvette Downs of the SWBNO have committed to keeping dialogue open with ACECL and LAGC as they tackle the monumental task of instituting internal control processes for tracking and paying invoices as well as developing an effective process for managing project delivery.  ACECL and AGC have been told that the SWBNO will stop issuing work for which there are no funds as they get a handle on what is obligated and what funding needs remain. They acknowledged they have a long way to go. Expect less projects in the short term. 

IMPORTANT TO THOSE WITH CONTRACTS WITH SWBNO – AS OF JANUARY 1, 2019, ALL INVOICES MUST HAVE A PURCHASE ORDER (PO) NUMBER INCLUDED.  PLEASE GET WITH YOUR PROJECT MANAGER TO GET A PO ISSUED ON YOUR CONTRACT!! THIS MUST BE ON ALL OF YOUR INVOICES.

Ghassan Korban will be the guest speaker at the April meeting of the ACECL New Orleans Chapter meeting.

City of New Orleans

ACECL members joined the LAGC New Orleans District meeting held February 26 to hear from Ramsey Green, the Deputy CAO; Joe Threat, PDU Director; and Keith LeGrange, DPW Director about their plan for managing the agency (DPW) and, in particular, the $2 Billion JIRR Program. The best that can be said of this meeting was that there was commitment to be fully transparent and to do something about the issues confounding the agency. They asked for patience as they right the ship. Their stated goal is to get $200 million obligated and projects issued in 2019 and $300-$400 million by end of 2020. All monies must be spent by 2023 unless an extension is granted. 

Other comments of interest:

  • current engineering pool will remain in effect;
  • problems getting paid should be directed to Joe Threat;
  • NOLA DPW and SWBNO are working together to improve coordination of projects including a putting design review staff together and developing Standard Operating Procedures;
  • no plan to use a contract program manager but will augment staff with embedded contractors;
  • DPW staff will proactively get invoices processed and a vendor portal is coming for contractors to submit invoices and support documentation;
  • City is relying on the fact that there is capacity in the A/E/C community to handle the projects coming out but no published schedule of anticipated projects is planned other than the 90 day Outlook;
  • do not intend to disrupt the current engineering pool for inspection work although it is reviewing all monies spent;
  •  committed to building capacity for DBE firms;
  • bonding $300-400 million in 2019 & 2020 to support contracted projects as FEMA reimbursements are processed;

ACECL and LAGC will continue to engage with CNO DPW to monitor these issues and will invite Mr. Green and team to update group in the near future.
** COMING IN 2019 **

INAUGURAL ACECL ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Planning is underway for the first ACECL Engineering Excellence Awards program. The EEA banquet celebrating the winning projects will be held in conjunction with Project Outlook on November 21, 2019

Stay tuned for more information!
So, exactly what did the Governor issue last week relative to the 2019-2020 Executive Budget?

The Louisiana constitution requires that the governor submit to the legislature a budget estimate for an upcoming fiscal year that includes a recommendation for appropriation from the state general fund and from dedicated funds which does not exceed the official forecast. The Revenue Estimating Conference is the committee that determines the official forecast. Traditionally, this four- person committee made up of the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House, Commissioner of Administration and an independent economist meets periodically during a fiscal year to revise the official forecast for the current year and the ensuing year based on two estimates presented – one by the Governor’s Division of Administration and the other by the Legislature’s Fiscal Office. The REC vote on the official forecast must be unanimous or the existing forecast remains. Since the start of the current fiscal year the REC has not had a unanimous vote to change the 2019-2020 forecast with the Speaker of the House, Rep. Taylor Barras, blocking the adoption of an updated forecast stating he wants more data to support the increased forecast. 

Well, what does that mean?

The result is that the REC has not recognized the increased revenue associated with the .45 cent sales tax renewal passed in the final special session last year, fees or self-generated revenue numbers. The practical result, in the Governor’s opinion, is that an executive budget proposal for FY 2019-2020 based on the official forecast last adopted in June of 2018 would require $2 billion in cuts. The Governor, therefore, chose to go against tradition and presented a “proposed” budget that is based on the eventual estimate that he expects REC to make before July 1, 2019. 

What now?

Normally, the Governor’s Executive Budget (now just a ‘proposed’ budget) becomes the starting point for legislative debate and is the basis of the Appropriations Bill (HB 1). Expect the author of HB 1, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Rep. Cameron Henry, to submit a different budget via HB 1. This is new territory in the budgeting process. More developments to come.
BATON ROUGE MAYOR SHARON BROOME ISSUES
RFQ FOR MOVEBR PROGRAM MANAGERS

On Friday, February 22, 2019, Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Broome issued two RFQ proposals for program managers for the $1.1 billion MoveBR Infrastructure program. ACECL advocated for the RFQ process after some public discussion suggested the proposal may include cost consideration. The Mayor opted to divide the program into an $805.5 million New Capacity Improvement Projects program and a $312.6 million Community Enhancement, Improving Existing Corridors, and Traffic Management program.
Thank You to our Sponsors!

Doreen Brasseaux
President & CEO
ACEC of Louisiana
ACEC of Louisiana | 225.927.7704 | dbrasseaux@acecl.org | www.acecl.org