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Engineering Firms Post Modest Gain on Local Billings

Orange County’s largest engineering firms saw increased business for a third year in a row, rising 2% to $2.8 billion in local billings for the 12 months ended June 30.

This week’s Business Journal list features 38 companies with headquarters or significant operations in OC.

The annual list, which continues to grow and includes more companies this year than in any previous year, ranks firms by revenues generated through their offices here.

Collective companywide billings were about $49.5 billion, up 32% year-over-year.

The OC share of the firms’ work accounted for less than 6% of overall revenues, a decline of about two percentage points from a year earlier.

Twenty, or about half, of the entries reported increased billings, while nine experienced declines. The Business Journal estimated numbers for nine firms.

The top three companies maintained their spots.

• Fluor Corp. led the flock by a wide margin, with about $1.6 billion in estimated OC billings, more than half the entries’ total. The Irving, Texas-based company has an office in Aliso Viejo, where it had its headquarters from 1999 to 2006 before moving to Texas.

Fluor didn’t disclose amounts for companywide billings and current OC office backlog. The Business Journal estimated its employee totals remained flat, at 301 overall, with 199 licensed engineers.

• No. 2 CH2M Hills Cos. had $524.8 million in billings through its Santa Ana office, up 9% year-over-year. Its increase of more than $43 million was the largest dollar-value jump on the list.

The OC slice makes up about 8% of the Englewood, Colo.-based firm’s total billings of $7 billion for the same time period, up by 9%.

CH2M had 281 employees in OC as of August, down by 11 from a year ago. Roughly one in four employees is a licensed engineer.

• OC-based work for No. 3 Aecom Technology Corp. grew faster than its overall business. The Los Angeles-based firm had about $80.4 million in billings through its office in Orange, an 11% increase. Firmwide revenue totaled $8.2 billion, up 2% year-over-year.

Aecom reduced its OC workforce last year by 7% when it cut 33 jobs, leaving 424.

• No. 7 Irvine-based RBF Consulting had a slip in OC billings, while its companywide revenue grew more than fivefold. Moon Township, Penn.-based Michael Baker Corp. acquired the firm in 2011.

RBF had $576.5 million in billings overall during the year, including $41.9 million through the Irvine office, a 16% drop.

• The Santa Ana office of Los Angeles-based Psomas moved up four spots to No. 20, with a 24% increase in OC billings to $11.2 million. Its OC office, which employs 103 workers, including 21 engineers, currently has backlog of more than $17 million.

Psomas’ companywide billings stayed flat at about $69.2 million.

• No. 35 Las Vegas-based JBA Consulting, through its Irvine office, had the largest percentage growth in OC billings, with a 63% increase to $2.8 million.

It’s had a relatively small OC office since 1984 when it began here with a primary focus on healthcare clients. JBA took on a diversification initiative in 2011, led by Vic Sibilla, director of operations for the OC office who joined the firm that year and moved here from Las Vegas.

JBA has four domestic locations and a handful of overseas offices, including in Macau, China; Hong Kong; and Australia.

“We originated as a mechanical engineering firm, and we migrated to tech services,” Sibilla said. “We became an international company in 2007. When you think about what happened to the economy, everything contracted in 2009. Luckily, we were prepared to take advantage of some of the emerging markets in Asia.”

Sibilla said the gaming and hospitality industries in Vietnam and Macau have been key revenue drivers for the company.

JBA overall had $20.3 million in billings for the year, down about 13% from the year-ago period.

“This year, we’re on track for $26 million,” Sibilla said.

• Irvine-based VA Consulting Inc. is a newcomer to the list, landing at No. 29, with total billings of $7.2 million. That’s a 60% increase year-over-year, helped by a “healthy market” overall, according to Chief Financial Officer Michael Carter.

VA works primarily with public-sector clients, including cities, counties, water districts and utility agencies, which combine to account for about 65% of its current client mix, according to Carter.

“Quite frankly, public-sector clients are the ones that have helped us out” as we faced increased competition during the recession, he said.

VA Consulting has 53 total employees in OC after hiring 21. Among them are 20 licensed engineers.

Other Newcomers

Other newcomers to the list include No. 23 Massachusetts-based CDM Smith Inc., which through its Irvine office notched $10 million in billings, up about 11% year-over-year. CDM had nearly $1.2 billion in companywide revenue and increased employee headcount here by 9% to 60, including six licensed engineers.

• Rancho Santa Margarita-based GMU Geotechnical Inc. made the list for the first time, coming in at No. 31, with $6.1 million in local billings, down about 2% year-over-year. The company has $5 million worth of work in backlog.

One of its notable projects is 520 Newport Center Drive, a 19-story office tower being developed by Newport Beach-based Irvine Company.


Download the 2013 OC’s LARGEST ENGINEERING FIRMS list (pdf)

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