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“Bounty” Offered to Sections and Branches for Peer Review Referrals
Sections and Branches appreciate additional revenue sources to help carry out their programs and services. There is now another source of income available from ASCE National. The Committee on Peer Review for Public Agencies is introducing a $250 incentive for referrals that result in a peer review.
What is Peer Review?
The purpose of ASCE's Peer Review for Public Agencies Program is to help public sector engineering and construction agencies improve the management and quality of their engineering services through a quick, confidential, and affordable process. Reviewers study an organization's policies and objectives and conduct staff interviews to determine how well those policies and procedures are understood and practiced. Management areas covered include: organizational management, project management, emergency management, technical procedures, human resource management, finance, and public relations. The focus may cover planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance -- and can include an entire agency or just a portion. The team concludes the process with an oral report to the engineer/director requesting the review, and if requested follows up later with a written report.
ASCE Peer Review is a voluntary and confidential program for public infrastructure organizations and is conducted by experienced government engineer/managers who are trained in the process. Timing is typically controlled by the requesting agency. A review can be done quickly. The turnaround time can be within 90 days of the request. Cost is low for this kind of study since reviewers volunteer their time, and therefore no cost is included for their salaries. The fee covers reviewer travel costs and administration. It typically ranges from $6,000 to $20,000 but depends on the size of the agency being reviewed and whether the agency requests a more customized review to address specific challenges or opportunities that they are facing.
Benefits of a Peer Review
A peer review provides an objective outside assessment of strengths and weaknesses by fellow government engineers experienced in leadership and management. They have no stake in future work; their intent is to provide a useful service to colleagues. Agency management can gain insights into procedural difficulties, communication obstacles, organizational problems, and employee morale but also positive reinforcement from staff feedback. This helps them prioritize and implement suggestions for improvement of effectiveness in a manner that utilizes both staff and management input.
Incentive process
Sections and Branches should email Becky Waldrup, ASCE's staff contact for the Committee on Peer Review for Public Agencies, at rwaldrup@asce.org to recommend an agency. Provide the following information:
1. ASCE Section or Branch name and contact
2. Government agency name and contact information
Becky will acknowledge your submission, enter the contact information into ASCE's Peer Review tracking system, and follow-up with the agency to determine their interest. Upon completion of a review and payment of the review fee, the 'nominating' Section or Branch will receive payment of $250. There is no limit on the number of referrals that a Sections and Branches may make or the number of referral fees that they may earn.
Agencies who have used this service have found that the process is very valuable. The Committee on Peer Review for Public Agencies hopes that this incentive offer will increase the exposure of this service. Please consider participating in the referral program for the benefit of your local public agencies as well as for the financial assistance that it will provide to your Section or Branch.
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