QBS Committee Meeting Notes

ACEC Indiana

QBS Committee Meeting Notes

Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016

PCS Engineers, 1924 S. Dan Jones Road Avon, IN 46123

Attending: Bill HawkinsColleen Merkel

Shari HindsCash Canfield (call in)

______Patrick Duncan (call in)

______John Lightner (call in)

______Brad Minnick (call in)

______Lenny Noens (call in)

______Justin Perry (call in)

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October E-mail Data
Total Emailed2677
Total Views690
Total Click-Backs65
November E-mail Data
Total Emailed2661
Total Views797
Total Click-Backs70
December E-mail Data
Total Emailed2772
Total Views882
Total Click-Backs77
January E-mail Data
Total Emailed2806
Total Views775
Total Click-Backs126
Opt Out/ Unsubscribers
100 total
10 in the last 6 months
The data shows these e-mail blasts seem to be going well with few “opt-outs” and click-backs increasing over the past four months
Gained 60 business cards from IACT and IACC Conference booths; several good discussions with clients at both conferences.
Added 70 new county commissioners to the list in Nov. 2016—list from Stephanie Yaeger
Request for future communications ideas; the suggestion was made that ACEC members hand out QBS brochures at their booths and encourage folks to stop by the QBS booth.

Comments from Tara Damin:
Two municipalitiesactually said we shouldgear this talk toward city/towncouncil members (and I would add in county councils) since THEY hold the purse stringsand tend tobe most criticalwhen it comes todoling out funds for the cost of professional services.Just aswe see withthe decision makers,there arethose who control the purse strings who do not fullyunderstand theultimate cost of biddingprofessional services. (It makessense --- so while we still need to drill thisconcept into the heads of project selection committee members, it would not hurt tomake sure the fiscal bodies understand the consequences, as well.) Shari Hinds
To follow up on talks with council members, I believe a good direction would be to present to the regional planning commissions, as they have many representatives from several counties. I’ve sat on the Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commission, both full and executive boards, for 3 years. Indiana 15 RPC represents 6 counties that include Pike, Perry, Spencer, Dubois, Orange and Crawford counties. The full board is comprised of 43 members, from city and county councils to commissioners. I think this would be a great opportunity to get in front of several key stakeholders at once.

There was discussion about additional conferences for the QBS booth
It was recommended that the Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commission may be a good place the start since Tara Damin is a member and may be able to get QBS on the agenda. Colleen will reach out to Tara on this.

MPO conference was discussed; they do offer opportunities to exhibit. Colleen will look into this as a few members feel it may be worthwhile

Upcoming Opportunities
Indiana AWWA Conference at the Marriott Hotel – Downtown Indianapolis , Toby Church presenting—January 31, 2017
Purdue Road School Exhibit
Colleen confirmed that ACEC can provide gift cards without violating the recently adopted ethics guidelines. Consensus was that gift cards are a great idea to draw clients to the QBS both
Colleen is soliciting volunteers to work at the booth as follows:

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Greenfield’s Mayor Fewell is speaking on QBS to attendees of the Engineering Leadership Training in February; 24 people are enrolled in that training.
Alliance of Indiana Rural Water, Toby Church presenting – March 15, 2017
Colleen will look into the potential benefit of ACEC/QBS presence at national conventions.

Engineering Excellence Awards
QBS Recognition will be done along with the Engineering Excellent Award presentations. This will get QBS in front of more clients and, hopefully, encourage discussion.
Colleen will add an item to the upcoming Owners and Principles Summit to discuss ways of encouraging clients to attend the luncheon. This may be an issue since consultants are no longer allowed to pay for client-attendance.
Colleen explained that three QBS questions were added to the Engineering Excellence Awards entry form and two (of 24 total) entries included the QBS information.
Board members reviewed the two submittals and agreed both projects were excellent. The consensus was that SJCA should receive the recognition because they did a better job of highlighting the benefits and savings to the owner in their response to the third QBS item.
It was recommended that the two QBS projects be presented as examples of the success of QBS. Colleen will reach out to the applicants for permission.

Upcoming ACEC Events