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Countries and markets 2011
Construction industry in the USA – Part 1 Underground engineering / infrastructure
This article reflects on past, trends, current structural data and forecasts for the ongoing business year at the US-American market. Though there are fewer major projects at present due to the crisis, there is a great interest in large corporations being capable of realizing extensive public contracts and construction works. Possibly, construction corporate groups from Asia might also have a growing influence.
In 2011, the construction industry in the U.S. has passed a slight recession in the field of civil engineering as a whole, but it is most probably expected to enjoy a stable growth at the turn of 2011 and the years to come. There is a strong demand stimulus coming from the energy sector. However, German construction companies may have a hard time owing to the overwhelming national competition. To have own subsidiaries or co-operations with US-American companies are the best prerequisites for business success.
Market development / demand
The civil engineering sector has managed to overcome the slowdown in the economy at the end of 2008 relatively well in comparison to other sectors of industry and serv¬ice. The economic stimulus program of the government „American Reinvestment and Recovery Act" (ARRA) has provided for a vital stabilization of current as well as new projects in favor of the infrastructure sector. A part of the the demands for replacement will remain at a high level. There are furthermore significant equipment needs due to new regulations of the Environmental Protection Agen¬cy EPA. Thousands of municipalities have to adapt their drinking water supply systems to more severe environ¬mental protection standards.
The wastewater treatment and waste disposal have been a growth field in the U.S. economy for several years now. In this sector, construction activities reach a record level with US$ 24.9 billion in 2010. Medium-term esti¬mates show annual growth rates in the construction vol¬ume in the range of 4 to 6 % in this sector in the period of 2011 until 2014.
The construction volume in the energy sector will in¬crease again in the range of double-digit growth rates as of 2012. The growth path in the energy sector is said to con¬tinue for the construction industry at least until 2014. The great demand is above all due to new environmental regu¬lations of the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the great demand in the distribution network. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, new pow¬er plants with an overall capacity totaling to 258 GW will have to be built by 2030 in order to meet the growing de¬mand and to replace old power plants. The North Ameri¬can Electricity Reliability Corp. forecasted that new high- voltage transmission lines with an overall length of about 21.000 km would be laid by 2015.
Production/Industrial structure
According to „County Business Pattern", the 773,614 US- American construction companies employed about 7 mil¬lion people in 2008. Some 99% of these companies are small and medium-sized enterprises with a workforce of less than 100 people. The workforce of 8,176 companies ranged between 100 and 499 people. There is a total number of 539 companies in the industry with a work¬force of 500 and more people. Owing to the real estate cri¬sis, the number of small enterprises might have gone down considerably in 2008. There is a continuing process of construction companies operating as general contrac¬tors. The dimensions of the market and a permanently high stability prevailing in spite of the crisis are incentives for foreign corporations to take part in the US-market by acquisition. At present, about 100 foreign construction groups including well-known German corporations are operating in the USA. In the field of engineering services and construction works, the number of foreign corporations will even continue to grow. As far as co-operations are concerned, German companies are still interested in US-American construction companies that have gained experience and proven business relationships with public authorities (Federal Government, Military). As the private sector launches a fewer numbers of major projects due to the crisis, there is an increased interest in the large corpo¬rations being able to carry out comprehensive public con¬tracts and construction works. The construction corporate groups from Asia (Japan, the PR of China and India) might even have a growing influence in the USA.
Business practice
In the USA, there are generally tenders for public building contracts as well as larger building contracts from the pri¬vate sector. There is however no central database. Planned projects of the Federal Government are published in the „Federal Procurement Data System" (https://www.fpds. gov). Information and tender details for public building projects of the individual states are available on their re¬spective Internet pages. This also applies to the majority of municipalities.
Furthermore, there are private service providers offer¬ing information on projects in the construction industry like Onvia (www.onvia.com) or TendersZeal (www.ten- derszeal.com).
For foreign construction companies it is not easy to enter the US-American market. In case of tenders, the US- American regulations of the „Buy American" provisions on awarding public contracts to non-US-American com¬panies impose severe restrictions. It is an advantage here if a company can refer to successful former projects in the USA or to sound co-operations with American construc¬tion groups. For entering the market and developing the same, it is necessary to build up and maintain a solid net¬work of contacts with companies and institutions in the country. It is hardly possible for a foreign company to manage without a well-established subsidiary or a strong US-American partner.
The architecture and engineering firms make use of the „Design-Bid-Build" projects for their business devel¬opments. Good contacts and the co-operation with such companies play an important role. In an increasing number of projects companies operate as general contrac¬tors being also responsible for planning and design serv¬ices as well as the construction works.
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