The Green Bridge to Somewhere

The interest is amazing. Two train bridges made from 100% recycled milk jugs, detergent jugs and tires. They are the first of their kind in the world. It started with the interest by our client at Fort Eustis in the Commonwealth of Virginia wanting to do something green and meaningful. It was accomplished thanks to the ability of Job Order Contracting to allow collaboration and innovation between owners and contractors and the fact that the base has had a long term successful JOC program in place and a team at Centennial aligned with their goals.

Recently ENR ran a story on the bridges at Ft. Eustis. It was exciting to see this project come together and take shape. It is a positive testament to job order contracting, sustainability and creativity.

Yesterday, at media day for the bridges, spokespeople from Centennial, Axion, who manufactures the material and Ft. Eustis described the project and its benefit to the environment to local TV and print media. They noted that the material is just as durable as traditional materials, has the same life expectancy, without the maintanence worries. It also keeps these materials out of landfills.

Phil Reed, Fort Eustis Directorate of Public Works Engineering Division chief, said "Centennial, our go to team, allowed us to use a design-build fast-track process to get into the hands of the new technology and came up with this for a better alternative for the long term and allowed us to complete the process in half the time that we would have using conventional construction."

There is a strong tie in public funded construction and job order contracting for sustainably. We wrote a white paper, Shades Of Green on this topic and it sets the ground work for why JOC and sustainability go hand in hand in a public facilities environment.

RSC materials being delivered to the construction location.

Train bridge was built to sustain a 130-ton load.

Members of Centennial's Ft. Eustis team pose for picture on completed bridge.

Job Order Contracting Helping the Commonwealth

In the recent May edition of the Commonwealth Contractor I had the opportunity to write an article on Job Order Contracting and how it is helping the public facilities with their renovation and repair efforts. The article is titled Job Order Contracting a Collaborative Solution For Virginia Facilities Owners.

At the core of this article is the ability to share on the benefits of JOC, including:

· Responsive support allows for reduced backlog of projects

· More funds are applied to construction instead of procurement costs

· The majority of the funds go to the local economy

· Growth of small, minority and disadvantaged subcontracting businesses

· Dependable ongoing relationships

· Reduced or eliminates claims, change orders and punch lists

Every public facilities person needs a job order contracting program!

For more information public facilities managers and construction managers should look to the industry association, CJE The Center For JOC Excellence and their regional chapter.

Brand Store Remodeled

We have just updated our branding and marketing guidelines for 2010. It was interesting to work through this update and think back almost 6 years when I started on all this. It was pretty much a clean slate. No written guidelines, no marketing plan. Centennial had operated for 15 years very successfully as a stealth brand, but the founder realized that to grow into new markets and non-federal segments, we need to grow the brand recognition and the awareness of job order contracting and take it all to the next level.

The process started with the traditional brand development efforts. Assessment of the current brand, interviews with the clients, with the key field and corporate leaders, the subcontractors, the industry and even the competition. What did the Centennial brand mean, represent, say? What was the promise held and committed to by the brand. Everything was explored, refined, defined and tested. I was blessed to have a solid starting point – a brand that truly lived up to the inferred promise, “Building relationships that withstand the test of time by keeping our promises and honoring our commitments”.

From no web, no written guidelines to where we are today is fun to remember. So with the recent release of the new standards, including marketing, development and public relations processes, samples and more it is worth stopping and recognizing how far we have come and re-engaging a vision of where we are headed. It is more than a binder or a website – it is a general alignment of all areas of Centennial on a single brand message and image. The new brand store is one level of the effort.

Texas Time

I recently spent a week traveling all over the great state of Texas. The goal was to get a sense of how the different markets are doing in the state and also to start building a plan for the legislative activities for 2011. It was a great trip, seeing a lot of old friends, visiting the Centennial teams and regional industry leaders, meeting with clients and getting a sense of the state’s activity level. I spent time with our lobbyists John and Marta Greytok of Texas Government Solutions. I was also able to stop by to say hi to Laura Fowler and as always gain a sense of energy and positive movement forward in the state.

A few thoughts jump out after this whirlwind tour:

1. Texas was the trailing indicator state on the construction industry economic issues and it is the leading indicator state on the recovery. Almost as if the economic issues that started for the country in 2008 are just a speed bump in Texas.

2. Texas is already seeing a build up of new design and engineering project requests and solicitation development (the pre-curser to construction work).

3. The mood across the state was positive and very focused on growing the economy. Everyone could see the need, the demand and the interest in public construction. Doesn’t mean there aren’t tough areas and situations, but the real sense was positive and confident.

4. The 2011 legislative calendars are being built right now and that there is going to be an effort to get legislation on the docket again to try and clean up the construction procurement laws, this includes design-build, CM at risk and job order contracting.

5. I am going to really try and help the local Texas JOC industry (owners, trade associations, educators, coops, contractors, subcontractors, consultants, etc.) work together to make sure job order contracting is not singled out and/or attacked. We need to find a way to work together to bring the right type of bill to the floor. All indicators are positive for this effort at this time.

6. Sense of growth and optimism.

One site I like to reference and track in Texas is ARRA Texas Eye On The Dollars .

All Indicators are Trending Positive

On April 27th, I attended a Design-Build Institute of America Mid Atlantic chapter meeting at Ft. Myer, VA. The 2010 Economic Outlook in the Construction Industry (with a key focus on the Washington, DC region) at The Officers' Club at Fort Myer to by Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University .

The full presentation can be found here: 2010 Economic Outlook Construction.

The takeaways for me were a few simple points:

1. The top economic indicators are trending in the right direction. This is a positive thing.
2. We are not out of the woods yet – there will be ups and down in the rest of 2010 (or someone adding too many zeros to a stock sell order).
3. By 2011 the turn around will be well under way.
4. Do everything you can today to get your business in order and build up resources.

For Centennial I had the clear sense we are doing all the right things (have been since before the economic issues, during them, and still are).

Recycled Structural Composite Bridges Media Day

Construction is almost finished on the first ever recycled structural composite railroad bridges! Centennial built these “plastic” bridges at Fort Eustis, VA for the U.S. Army. On May 27th, we’re holding a media day at the base to unveil the bridges. If you’re a member of the media interested in attending, please email me at dcarrithers@cce-inc.com.

Stay tuned for more photos from the event!

Centennial Connection Hits Mailboxes!

The April 2010 Connection focuses on our federal work. It also includes a wrap up of Centennial’s Annual Leadership Conference and regular columns about safety, new business and community service projects.