Embracing change is essential to the growth and success of any business, particularly in the A/E/C industry where demand is outpacing the experts needed to perform the work, and corporate social responsibility to the community is a high priority. In 2023, DRMP embraced and implemented key changes companywide.
The result: A momentous year of growth and achieving significant milestones in business and community involvement.
Collaboration on Every Level
In 2022, and extending into 2023, DRMP worked strategically on a new business framework that enhances internal collaboration and leads to more successful project outcomes for its clients. This refined approach has also paved the way for select employees to be elevated into leadership roles. Collaboration and the use of multi-discipline teams on projects have long been a hallmark of DRMP’s success and what it was founded upon – a firm that combined both engineering and surveying. That business philosophy goes even deeper with this new alignment that pairs disciplines together and streamlines them operationally, rather than working in silos outside of projects.
The firm is not only succeeding internally through its new structure but also in gaining new staff. It is growing its collaboration with fellow partner firms on projects with the support of its strategic partnership through the Trilon Group. Joining with partner firms on surveying and transportation engineering projects has already paid off in project wins. And there are talks of additional project collaborations as the firms exchange ideas. Collaboration was the key topic of discussion among 75 leaders who gathered for Trilon’s initial Transportation Platform Summit at the company’s headquarters in Denver, Colo. During the two-day summit, leaders discussed strategies to better work together to grow each firm’s reach and service offerings.
In the more than one year of its partnership with Trilon, DRMP has successfully integrated with two other firms – Geomatics, a surveying firm in St. Augustine, Fla., and RKA, which has offices in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. These mergers further strengthen our presence and expertise in Northeast Florida and the Mid-Atlantic region, respectively.
Breaking Ground in New Markets and Enhancing Service Lines
While DRMP was refining its business operations and expanding its workforce, various market sectors have achieved success in project wins and are making progress in exploring new markets.
The firm’s Federal Services team has secured contracts that have given many of DRMP’s market sectors the opportunity to work with federal government agencies, including the U.S. Space Force, which recently awarded DRMP a monumental $49 million contract – the largest federal contract secured by the firm to date.
Out of its first mentor protégé joint venture with Whidden Surveying and Mapping, DRMP won a project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District in Florida.
In addition to its pursuits in the federal and surveying arena, the firm is expanding its investment, with the backing of the Trilon Group, for its National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) services line. In the 2021 Report Card For America’s Infrastructure – conducted every four years – more than 40 percent of the thousands of bridges across America are at least 50 years old. Led by DRMP NBIS Leader Mike McNeese, the NBIS program will kick off its first inspection contract with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) at the start of the new year.
Enhancing its Project Development & Environment (PD&E) practice also became a 2023 strategic goal for DRMP. The firm hired new PD&E Division Leader Joce Pritchett, PE, to expand its PD&E expertise in the Southeastern United States. Since joining in May, Pritchett hired Robyn Hartz, DRMP’s first Transportation Noise Group Leader, to round out the firm’s PD&E/National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) services. Hartz’s goal is to build and maintain a group of noise analysts in DRMP’s markets in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
New and Continued Commitment to Community Involvement
While DRMP has invested in changes and development for its business operations, various market sectors, and disciplines, it is making a greater impact in its continued dedication to community involvement.
New initiatives in STEM education through our Surveying staff have also made an impression among young minds being introduced to the industry.
Survey staff Geospatial Services Department Manager Brent Bass, PE, PSM, Project Manager Bryant King, CST 1, Senior Project Manager Bobby Paulk, PSM, and Survey Analyst Mary Voor, have been providing interactive, hands-on presentations using DRMP’s Augmented Reality (AR) Sand Table during STEM Family Nights and Career Days at various schools throughout the Orlando, Fla., region. The presentations give students the opportunity to interact with the sand table and learn about topography and contouring on a map.
Survey Analyst Melissa Padilla Cintron, SIT, a brand ambassador for Get Kids into Survey, a global initiative to inspire future surveyors, uses the organization’s comic books and posters, as well as technology to teach students about the profession through stimulating school presentations and learning labs at Construction Career Days events and the Great American Teach-In.
DRMP has successfully collaborated with its partner firms, fostering meaningful connections in both the business realm and community involvement initiatives.
The firm came together with Trilon partner firm, CPH, to conduct its first-ever Charity Bike Build in July to benefit The Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families in Orlando, Fla. This initiative was designed to help prepare local children for the upcoming school year.
More than 50 employees from both firms took part in the event to assemble 50 new bikes for Central Florida children, teens, and adults in need. As part of our firm’s DRMPCares program, DRMP donated 50 new bikes and CPH donated helmets and locks for all bikes, giving each recipient a complete package for their new transportation.
These new initiatives are just a few of the efforts representing DRMP’s continued commitment to the community, which is evident throughout its offices and individual employees supporting various causes.
As DRMP continues to progress in an ever-evolving industry, the year of successful changes and milestones will continue to support its reputation as a top-tier firm in business and in its giving back to its respective communities.
