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Excerpt: Industry Overview: Engineering Services The US engineering services industry includes over 45,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $135 billion. Large companies include Jacobs Engineering Group and URS Corporation, and the engineering divisions of large construction companies like Fluor and Bechtel. Half the firms in the industry are small with fewer than five employees; less than 5 percent of engineering services firms have more than one office or location. The industry is highly fragmented: the 50 largest firms account for only 35 percent of industry revenue. About 100 firms have more than $100 million of annual revenue. Demand is driven largely by the construction needs of companies and governments and the desire of industrial customers to improve the efficiency of operations. Profitability depends on the ability to accurately predict costs for a project. Small firms, which can effectively compete with larger ones by having expertise in a particular field, are often hired as consultants on larger projects if they have special expertise. Buy Entire Industry Report: $129 Source: http://www.hoovers.com/engineering-services/--ID__33--/free-ind-fr-profile-basic.xhtml ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: Small Business Industry Size Standards The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is responsible for establishing thresholds by which firms within specific industries are considered to be small businesses for the purposes of eligibility for special programs and loans offered by SBA, as well as small business classification when competing for federal contracts. The current small business size standard for engineering firms is $4.5 million in annual gross receipts-averaged over a three year period. In recent years, SBA has undertaken an initiative to restructure size standards. As part of the restructuring, SBA proposed, in 2004, to implement a dual size standard on engineering firms that would have limited the small business classification to engineering firms that employ less than 50 employees (full and part time) and have annual gross receipts less than $7 million. ACEC and other industry representatives opposed SBA's proposal. Based on widespread opposition SBA rescinded the proposal and vowed to keep working on another viable solution. SBA is expected to review the engineering size standard in 2008. Source: http://www.acec.org/advocacy/committees/08priorities/small_business.cfm ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: Clients and the Power of Sharing Contacts For anyone starting out as a consultant, the first challenge can be finding clients. And even if you get your first assignment, how do you find the second, third and other future assignments? Being a part of an IEEE Consultant Network provides two great advantages. First is the opportunity to meet with other consultants and second repeated exposure provides opportunities to develop those contacts to assist in helping you find clients. Look for consultants with similar backgrounds. See if you can assist them on projects. You may get the chance to take on assignments they are unable to. Make sure you’re in the Consultants Database [www.ieeeusa.org/consultants]. The database provides another opportunity to share work with others. You may see a project or assignment that interests you, but you can’t do all of the work. Search the database to find others to partner with. If you already have an on-going business, why would you want to share your clients or contracts with another consultant? Well, if you can’t take on an assignment, but you find your client a person who can, they’ll remember you for helping them out. The other consultant will appreciate the opportunity. And at some point, going the extra mile will bring you work from that client, or the other consultant. The Consultants Network offers the power of a network, if you’re willing to use it. Source: http://www.ieeeusa.org/business/Newsletter/AICN%20Winter%202009.pdf ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: Engineers Supporting Local Community Activities, Building Engineering Awareness Are engineers really less interested in supporting their local communities than scientists? The last Harris interactive poll on the public’s perception of engineers and scientists says “yes.” As part of its approximately $100,000 public-awareness program to promote engineering and engineers, IEEE-USA continues a modest, long-term multi-media public relations effort to counteract misconceptions about engineers, including that they are less involved in community activities than their scientific peers. IEEE-USA volunteer leaders and staff point to the organization’s long-time support of community activities during Engineers Week. For example, IEEE-USA launched EWeek’s first Family Night at Intelsat Corp. in Washington, D.C., when the organization led the multi-society EWeek outreach effort in 1994. The Family Night was the precursor to EWeek’s Family Day that attracts as many as 8,000 youngsters and adults to the National Building Museum for “hands-on” and “minds-on activities” with engineers “to invent something new.” IEEE-USA is currently one of the two major sponsors of the Family Day event. Over the years, local IEEE volunteer members have joined IEEE-USA staff to interact with youngsters and assemble engineering kits. EWeek Family Day has drawn adults and parents from the most and least affluent parts of the Washington, and has served as a model for other events in local communities. It has also attracted local and national media attention. Source: http://www.todaysengineer.org/2009/Apr/community-activities.asp ------------------------------------------------------------- Excerpt: Consulting: The Dawn of a New Era In recent years, the engineering profession’s employment landscape has been dramatically reshaped as a result of growing job dissatisfaction, downsizing, outsourcing, layoffs, and early retirements, to name but a few of the contributing factors. Many engineers have moved from salaried positions to independent consulting practices. Some engineers prefer working at home or on-site as self-employed independent contractors, full-time or part-time. IEEE-USA also created the Alliance of IEEE Consultants Networks (AICN) to bring all of those consultants networks under one umbrella. A committee, made up of practicing consultants from various networks, serves as the AICN Coordinating Committee (AICNCC). The AICNCC welcomes volunteers, and the committee membership changes frequently. It is estimated that the AICN and its networks include some 3,000 consultants. Some local networks charge their members a fee for membership, but many do not. The IEEE does not charge a fee for membership in a Consultants Network or in AICN. A consultants network (CN) is a group of members who are interested in getting together with consultants to share ideas, contacts, leads, and to network. They learn from each other about consulting and consulting opportunities. CNs have regular meetings throughout the year. A typical meeting will include an optional dinner, time for networking and mentoring (a very important part of the meeting) and usually an invited speaker (often the best speakers are members of the network who can speak about their areas of expertise). Source: http://www.todaysengineer.org/2008/Sep/consulting.asp |
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