OUR VISION
A successful, trusted and sustainable consulting engineering industry.
The mission of the Association of Consulting Engineering Companies is promoting a business environment that recognizes and rewards our members’ expertise and contributions to society.
ACEC works with the federal government and other national stakeholders to promote a positive business and regulatory climate that allows our members to provide the highest level of services and best possible value to their clients. ACEC is also a resource to members on industry issues and trends.
Our Strategic Priorities
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES AND ACTIVITIES
ACEC’s strategic priorities were updated in 2019 and are outlined below. These priorities represent the association’s purpose and guide the core activities ACEC undertakes as an organization.
ACEC worked diligently for a more favorable public policy and business climate for consulting engineering companies in all sectors and by extension for all Canadians. We did this by influencing the federal government and collaborating with national stakeholders on a host of issues to help make Canada competitive and prosperous.
Our annual Parliament Hill Day provides opportunities for representatives of ACEC member firms to meet face-to-face with federal politicians on issues of major importance to our industry.
Our Parliamentary Partners Program, an initiative which invites ACEC members, including past participants of ACEC’s Parliament Hill Day, to liaise with Members of Parliament and candidates in their own communities, leveraging ACEC members’ local connections year-round.
Our Bring an MP to Work program helps raise the industry’s profile with national decision makers, highlighting the importance of consulting engineers to a vibrant community. By having an MP visit engineering projects, firms showcase their contribution to the social, economic and environmental quality of life in Canada while raising the visibility of their firm in the community and nationally.
Our In Discussion with ACEC series of Q&As between ACEC-Canada President and CEO John Gamble, government decision makers and business leaders examines the issues and challenges that impact the consulting engineering sector.
We monitor and respond to federal government bills, regulations, programs and policies; and we develop position papers and briefing notes that support ACEC policies.
ACEC staff meets regularly with federal politicians from all parties and with key decision makers in the civil service on priority industry issues.
ACEC provides written briefs and testimony to House of Commons committees including Finance, Government Operations and Transportation and Infrastructure.
ACEC updates its members on important government policies and programs impacting the consulting engineering sector.
We promote the use of business practices, including procurement systems, delivery models, and contracts, that offer consulting engineering firms a fair and appropriate sharing of risk and reward.
We work with our members, insurance experts and leading industry lawyers to provide a suite of professional service agreements for consulting engineering companies and their clients.
ACEC represents the consulting engineering sector on the Construction Industry Consultative Committee (CICC), the Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC), and the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC).
We are an official supplier of ACEC, FIDIC and CCDC documents. Members may also access documents from the American Council of Engineering Companies at members’ prices.
We monitor industry trends through ACEC’s business benchmarking survey, compensation and benefits survey, client survey, and identify relevant external statistics and surveys. Since 2015, we have partnered with Silver Maple Leaf Partner Deltek on their financial performance benchmarking survey of architecture and engineering firms.
Our ACEC annual national leadership conference offers industry leaders and young professionals a business program focusing on key industry issues, business practices, forecasts and emerging trends.
We leverage international relationships with the American Council of Engineering Companies and FIDIC to observe trends and stay current on best practices in the industry.
We offer relevant training, seminars and webinarsto help principals, senior management and project managers make their projects and their firms more successful.
We represent members’ interests on the Federal Industry Real Property Advisory Council (FIRPAC), a joint committee which acts as a liaison between key federal departments and organizations representing the design and construction sector.
Consulting engineers have an important story to share about how their contributions to society generate economic wealth, create safe and sustainable communities, and help protect the environment. Since these contributions are rarely recognized by the public, increasing the stature and influence of our member firms by showcasing the impact of their contributions to Canada’s social, economic and environmental quality of life is a yearlong endeavor for the ACEC team.
The Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards showcase the year’s best projects by ACEC member firms before an audience of industry leaders and key stakeholders. It makes ACEC one of the highest profile industry associations in Canada.
We partner with other organizations and support programs that provide opportunities to raise the profile of consulting engineering to clients, politicians and other industries.
Our Engineering Legacies multi-media student outreach campaign showcases consulting engineering as the career of choice for engineering students. Since 2009, ACEC and its Member Organizations have made presentations to thousands of engineering students across Canada.
Canada is one of the strongest and most influential voices in the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) with ACEC members playing key roles on various committees and programs.
We meet with Global Affairs Canada and Export Development Canada to help ACEC members explore international market opportunities.
Each year, ACEC oversees a process for awarding the prestigious Allen D. Williams Scholarship to a young professional of an ACEC member firm, enabling the winner to attend the annual FIDIC conference.
Providing opportunities for meaningful engagement that supports your firm’s business needs is critical to our success as a national business association. This year, we made great strides in our efforts to increase the value proposition for our member firms by creating opportunities to develop, participate, and utilize programs and services to support these needs.
ACEC’s Chair and President conduct a national tour of Member Organizations to solicit industry feedback on issues and trends.
ACEC leverages Member Organizations events to host its Board meetings to provide Directors the opportunity to engage directly with member firms, regional stakeholders and provincial and municipal government officials.
We work cohesively with Member Organizations to deliver products and services to our members.
We are improving and modernizing our communications tools.
We use social media to build the profile of the association and engage with members, stakeholders, government and engineering students.
ACEC is committed to Increasing Diversity through concrete action toward diversity and inclusion of gender, backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise within the leadership of ACEC and promotes the need for, and the benefits of, diversity and inclusion in decision-making throughout the consulting engineering sector.
ACEC has amended its by-laws and board policy to ensure up-to-date and inclusive language that removes institutional barriers to seeking out diversity.
The mandate of the nominating committee expressly makes diversity an objective in considering candidates to board and executive committees.
We are beginning to gather data that represents the sector, not only current metrics of diversity and inclusion, but also data to understand and examine the impacts of our industry’s culture.
We are seeking out best practices and resources to constituency and ensure that proven resources created/led by MOs are visible and accessible across the country. This could possibly take the form of a “one-stop shop” on the ACEC Canada website or similar accessible location.
ACEC is actively supporting the 30 by 30 initiative led by Engineers Canada.
An overview of the association's purpose and the significance of its role and brand within the industry.
A message from Anthony Karakatsanis, P.Eng., Chair of ACEC-Canada Board 2020-2021.
A message from John D. Gamble, CET, P.Eng., President and CEO of ACEC-Canada.
An overview of the association's activities and accomplishments over the last fiscal year and how it has responded to the challenges faced by the industry.
Recognizing the important role and contributions of our Maple Leaf Partners to our association and our industry.
Celebrating the outstanding achievements of our member firms and remarkable individuals within the industry.
Overview and summaries of the association's financial statements and reports.
A list of the association's leaders and key contributors.
ACEC's provincial and territorial Member Organizations (MO) throughout Canada.
An overview of the association's volunteer committees, task forces, and other advisory bodies.
