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BUSINESS NEWS BURNS & MCDONNELL UPGRADING CLIMATE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR NUCLEAR SECURITY FACILITIES Burns & McDonnell has secured two agreements extending the firm’s work in support of federal facilities and operations that enhance U.S. national security through the military application of nuclear science: ❚ ❚ TheNational Nuclear Security Administration recently awarded Burns & McDonnell a five- year agreement to perform architectural, engineering, and at-risk construction management work on the agency’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems at its eight national Department of Energy laboratory sites. The Cooling & Heating Asset Management Program will reduce operating costs, increase energy efficiency, and improve air quality while addressing failing or end-of-life HVAC systems. ❚ ❚ Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies recently contracted with Burns & McDonnell Facility Engineering Services to provide engineering, architectural, and utility management services for operations in Kansas City and New Mexico. Honeywell FM&T manages and operates the Kansas

City National Security Complex and the Bannister Federal Complex, both in Kansas City; and a smaller operation at the NNSA Office of Secure Transportation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The facilities are involved in manufacturing and transportation of components critical to the maintenance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The agreements are designed to boost efficiency and effectiveness within the federal programs. The CHAMP agreement, for example, will enable investment of an estimated $75 million through a single contract, rather than splitting up five years of efforts across eight sites, to reduce administrative burdens and leverage purchasing power. Modern supply-chain management techniques will benefit NNSA through lower prices and reduced time necessary for repairs, replacements and modernization of HVAC components. Design work began this month. “I’m proud of the CHAMP team,” says Mark Martinez, LLNS’ principal associate director of operations and business. “The selection of Burns & McDonnell is a crucial

milestone in our efforts to modernize HVAC infrastructure complex wide in order to further NNSA’s mission and perform cutting-edge science.” Burns & McDonnell FES, a subsidiary of Burns & McDonnell, has supported Department of Energy operations in Kansas City for more than a decade – providing utility system management, engineering/design support and construction oversight for Honeywell FM&T plant management operations. When NNSA decided to relocate from a 3 million-square- foot facility into a new one measuring 1.5 million square feet, the FES group served as owner’s representative for NNSA and oversaw the successful move of the complex’s 3,000 pieces of equipment and 40,000 moving crates. “We are proud to support NNSA in its effort to address its critical infrastructure needs in protecting our nuclear enterprise,” says Dave Barr, vice president and director of federal projects at Burns & McDonnell.

CONFERENCE CALL, from page 7

TZL: What is the role of entrepreneurship in your firm?

TZL: What has your firm done recently to upgrade its IT system? KP: We upgraded our firewalls to Layer 4 technology which classifies all traffic, including encrypted traffic, based on ap- plication, application function, user, and content. This al- lows us to create comprehensive, precise security policies, resulting in safe enablement of applications. This also per- mits only authorized users to run sanctioned applications, greatly reducing the surface area of cyber-attacks across our organization. We also recently upgraded our internet connections to 1Gbps to assist with the increased usage of cloud-based computing. TZL: What’s your preferred strategy for growth, M&A or organic? Give us a synopsis of how your firm effected growth in the recent past. KP: P2S prefers organic growth, but has used M&A where appropriate to add expertise in a certain market segment. Over three years ago, we performed a successful acquisition of an established healthcare consultant, but since then we have averaged 25 percent organic growth. TZL: What’s the greatest challenge presented by growth? KP: The greatest challenge with growth is onboarding new staff quickly to the firm’s methodologies and culture. Over the past three years, P2S has made great strides on formal mentor and new hire programs. Based on feedback from our managers and new employees, these programs are effective at getting new employees engaged and productive.

KP: Entrepreneurial thinking is part of our culture and en- couraged daily. Six years ago, P2S created an Incubator Team to harvest solutions and innovations for the ever-chang- ing needs of our clients. A team of P2S staff with diverse backgrounds meets on a regular basis to discuss current is- sues from energy policy changes and updates to new tech- nical tools and creative design solutions. The think-tank at- mosphere of the Incubator Team encourages all P2S team members to spawn forward-thinking ideas for our clients. “A team of P2S staff with diverse backgrounds meets on a regular basis to discuss current issues from energy policy changes and updates to new technical tools and creative design solutions.” TZL: What’s your prediction for 2017 and for the next five years? KP: This year will be another strong year for P2S. Year- to-date, we are up approximately 30 percent over our net revenue from last year with growth in most of our mar- ket segments. Most of our educational work is tied to bond funding that’s already been approved. This current fund- ing will extend project work out four to five years. We also expect our utility infrastructure work to see continued growth in the public and private sectors for the next five to 10 years.

THE ZWEIG LETTER September 11, 2017, ISSUE 1215

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