In 2016, ACEC-BC introduced the Client of the Year award to recognize clients whose people and practices support strong partnership between client and consultant. Clients selected for this award encourage positive collaboration with consulting engineering companies through effective communication, fair and transparent processes, and respectful working conditions.

Partnership is the cornerstone of excellence in consulting engineering practice, and this award gives our members the opportunity to show our appreciation to select clients who go above and beyond to build community and partnership with our industry.

In nominating the Ministry this year, much of the same comments were included as were shared in 2016 – specifically that the Ministry’s enlightened approach to their relationship with the consulting engineering industry has enabled excellence in the delivery of billions of dollars of transportation infrastructure across BC. With a focus on the Integrated Transportation & Infrastructure Services Division, the jury wished to profile what they consider a benchmark for partnership in engineering practice.

The jury noted the exceptional collaboration between the Ministry team and the engineering community including joint development of resources, presentation of the Annual Transportation Conference, high levels of engagement in the Joint Liaison Committees, and connection in other shared interest spaces including through regulation advisory groups.

The Ministry is consistently open to hearing from and acting on feedback from topics ranging from technical practice, regulation, procurement, and how we can learn from each other to promote broader engagement of underrepresented people in engineering. This culture of engagement is not new and goes back many decades including implementation of qualification-based selection for design assignments beginning in the late 1990’s.

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