Camas firm selected for federal contracts

Management Engineering Associates in Camas last week learned it’s on the list of contractors selected to receive recovery act contracts to retrofit federal buildings with energy efficiency improvements.

The U.S. General Services Administration will sign the contract with a consortium of engineering firms that also includes Geo-Marine Inc. in Plano, Texas, Burns and Roe in Oradell, N.J., and George Butler Associates in Lenaxa, Kan. The agency has earmarked $5.5 billion total in stimulus money for energy efficiency measures in federal buildings.

Under the blanket purchase agreement, the firms will be tasked with converting existing federal facilities throughout the U.S., including office buildings, courthouses, laboratories and warehouses, to high-performing green buildings.

The Camas company expects to provide about $1 million in electrical and mechanical engineering services under the contract in the next few years in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska, said Bill Ward, owner of Management Engineering Associates and a Port of Camas commissioner.

The award means Management Engineering, which employs four workers, will be able to hire more local engineering firms on a temporary basis to help carry out the work, Ward said.

Ward’s firm has been awaiting funding to work with the U.S. Forest Service on enacting energy conservation strategies in the ranger districts of Clark and Skamania counties, for example. The stimulus grant could help speed those projects and put his company to work in the process, he said.

“This recovery act has been a very positive influence on the design professions,” Ward said.

General Services has awarded Management Engineering Associates many contracts in the past decade to perform facilities maintenance and management services on federal buildings.