2021 Year in Review

Throughout the past year, ACEC-PEI continued to speak out on several issues to create a stronger business environment for our members. We are proud of the important work we have accomplished over the past year on behalf of you, our members. Below is a snapshot of what we achieved.

Speaking out on Procurement Issues

Early in January 2021 ACEC-PEI shared our concerns with regards to the City of Charlottetown’s awarding of the contract for consultant services for Fire Station #3.  It was apparent that the City did not adhere to the selection process outlined in their Request for Proposals (RFP) issued for this project. You can read the full letter here. 

We feel all levels of government should use open and transparent procurement best practices to achieve quality, innovation and long-term savings.  Our concern is that this is extremely unfair to consultants, both architects and engineers, who have invested their time and money into assembling teams and writing proposals with the objective of getting the most points to win the contract.  If the decision was to be made only based on lowest fee then thousands of dollars would have been saved preparing proposals.

ACEC-PEI believes that infrastructure is a core business of all levels of government and an investment in our social, economic and environmental quality of life, not a cost to be minimized! ACEC-PEI is of the opinion that the City should ensure their procurement process properly follows its own criteria, thereby ensuring transparency, in all future Request for Proposals and Tender closings. 

Download our Best Practices document for Selecting a Consulting Engineer.

ACEC-PEI: CONTRIBUTION TO PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND’S ECONOMY

Consulting engineering firms have a significant impact on the island economy. In 2021 we hired MRSB to provide an update to the 2016 report.  We are sharing the outstanding contribution PEI consulting engineering firms made to the provincial economy in the past year. These results are impressive and show significant growth since the last economic impact report was completed for the 2015 year. You can read the full report here.

•             40.6% growth in employment

•             60.6% growth in taxes

•             78.3% growth in contribution to provincial GDP, to name a few.

In order to keep up this pace, we need to continue working with the provincial government to break the barriers in obtaining work locally and in growing our export revenues.

There is significant value in providing consulting engineering services to the PEI economy and we plan to share this message with our stakeholders, including the general public in the coming weeks with a number of social media messages.

ACEC-PEI would like to thank EngineersPEI and InnovationPEI for their support 

FPEIM NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

Read the article we submitted on Engineers as Trusted Advisors in the July FPEIM newsletter.

Young Professionals Mixer

In July ACEC-PEI hosted its first Young Professionals mixer, we had approximately 25 attend (including old professionals!).  Throughout the event we highlighted what ACEC-PEI and ACEC Canada does and why it is important for young professionals be a part of our association including being a part of a variety of professional development seminars and networking events to develop the business skills necessary to succeed in the consulting industry.

We are also pleased to announce that Janeen McGuigan of Stantec is now the YP representative on the national Young Professionals Network (YPN), you can learn more about this group by visiting the ACEC Canada website at https://www.acec.ca/

Professional Development Webinar – 2015 National Building Code

On November 30th, Steve Forrester of RJ Bartlett Engineering presented a 1.5 hour informative webinar that provided a better understanding of the 2015 NBC updates to 56 attendees. You can review the presentation materials here.

Thank you to the board of ACEC-PEI:

Jody MacLeod, President of the Board, CBCL Limited

Wade Enman, Vice-President, WSP Canada

Doug Coles, Past-President and ACEC-Canada Representative, Coles & Associates

Chris MacPherson, Treasurer, Eastech

Janeen McGuigan, YP Representative, Stantec

Ronald Keefe, Harbourside Engineering Consultants

Patrick MacDonald, Fundy Engineering

Valentine Gomez, Gomex Engineering

Peter Joostema, Joose Environmental Consulting

Corey MacPhee, Stantec

 

Finally, we want to recognize that we are a member supported association, we want to thank all our members for their support which makes all that ACEC-PEI does possible!

CBCL Limited

Coles Associates Ltd.

Eastech Engineering Consultants

Fundy Engineering & Consulting Ltd.

Gomex Engineering

Harbourside Engineering Consultants

Harland Associates

Joose Environmental Consulting Inc.

Morris Geomatics

Stantec Consulting Ltd.

WSP