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Christie DeLuca, AECOM Grow, increase, expand. These concepts form the foundation of a company’s strategic goals. Although not all strategies require entering new markets, at some point, firms must expand beyond existing clients or geographies to achieve significant growth. Whether you’re on the executive team or serve in the business development space, answering these questions honestly can help your team determine where your company should focus its resources to achieve realistic and meaningful growth.

Matthew Lee, Young Contracting Have you ever had to sit through a presentation where you spend the entire time checking you phone for emails and messages even though you know you haven’t received any new ones? At some point in your career, whether you are in business development, sales, marketing, management, or otherwise, most of us will have to get up in front of a group of people and make a presentation. Here are FIVE tips that may help you give a meaningful presentation.

FAR Council Addresses Many of �鶹��ý’s Concerns On Dec. 20, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council issued a final rule requiring a prime contractor to notify federal contracting officers if (1) the prime contractor makes a reduced payment to a small business subcontractor or (2) if the prime contractor’s payment to a small business subcontractor is more than 90 days past due. The rule goes into effect on Jan. 19. The FAR Council did not withdraw the proposal as �鶹��ý recommended based on a myriad of existing small business subcontractor payment legal protections. However, it did take into account many of �鶹��ý’s concerns with the proposed rule.

$8 Billion in Federal Real Property Up for Consideration Last week, the President signed into law the �鶹��ý-supported Federal Assets Sale and Transfer Act. This bipartisan law will shrink the federal footprint and streamline the disposal of excess or underutilized federal buildings. �鶹��ý has long been involved in pushing for federal real property reform and strongly supports these efforts.

Marcia Kellogg There are just some clients that your business cannot afford to have - you know who they are: the ones who are highly commodity-based and have limited experience, whose projects result in little or no profit, and who are a drain on your firm and its resources. Instead of trying to find projects that suit the firm, client-based firms identify clients with whom they can develop and nurture a partnership over time. It’s a philosophy that is primarily interested in owning the client, not the project. Most importantly, the focus of a client-based business is maintaining the relationship at all costs. Firms that align their cultures with the business goals and objectives of their clients realize a vast improvement in performance, because they have a true belief and purpose in the project and the client with whom they are working, and this spirit resonates throughout everything they do.

Julie Huval, Beck Technology The acronym “BIM” is showing up more and more in our industry. Owners are requiring it on projects, countries are setting standards for it, and firms are touting expertise in it. But what is Building Information Modeling (BIM) and, as marketers and business developers, why should we care?

If all stakeholders aren’t on board with Lean, can it work? How do you use Lean principles on construction projects where the GC is not an advocate of Lean? You can still improve your project outcomes even if all the stakeholders aren’t on board. In this webinar, learn how Ted Angelo, with Grunau has been effective using Lean by focusing his team on what they control.

The 78% increase in the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's penalty structure is now in effect, as are new reporting and record-keeping rules. OSHA is working hard to get the word out and offer employers guidance, but contractors should stay on top of OSHA's efforts.

Although the general level of safety for construction workers has improved over the years, this isn't true for catastrophic and fatal events. The resultant exposure of employers to penalties suggests that underlying assumptions for the industry's safety pyramid are due for a reassessment, write attorney Lawrence Dany and loss prevention specialist Ray Master.

�鶹��ý of America is proud to announce the launch of our 2017 project award competitions! The Alliant Build America Awards (including the Marvin M. Black Partnering Excellence category) and �鶹��ý in the Community competitions are now accepting applications. These programs recognize the nation's most impressive construction projects ranging across the building, highway and transportation, utility infrastructure, and federal and heavy divisions; those contractors excelling in their partnering and collaborative endeavors; and the charitable contractors and chapters giving back to their communities.