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offshore for less, will engineers standard of living stagnate or decline?" asked an attendee at an
engineers conference in May.
With the economic downturn, cost pressures have intensified for corporations and public
agencies. More routine, labor intensive and often low-end functions have been moving abroad,
but the trends get more attention in an election year. WashTech, a union-affiliated lobbying
group in Seattle, issued a report last month that found offshored "telephone help desks" in 42
states.
Despite the political noise, designers and clients here and abroad are hearing offshorings Siren
call louder than ever. "It actually could cost us more jobs if we did not have an overseas center,"
says Jack Herrmann, spokesman for WGI, which has a low-cost center in Romania. "Price is
king. If youre not in the competitive range, you wont get the business."
Globalized, high-speed communication has propelled offshoring, executives say. "Its hard to tell
now if work is done in Oman, Jordan or Pasadena," says Liz Moore, vice president of
engineering and technology for Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif. "That wasnt the case 10 years
ago when we were sending tapes with design drawings every Monday and Thursday. Now
theyre sent at the speed of light." But she says Parsons no longer uses its Philippines-based lowcost center.
More offshoring is "absolutely inevitable with the availability of professional staff as you project
forward," adds Norman Schunter, group managing director at W S Atkins plc, Epsom. "We will
keep the front-end work close to our clients, but a lot of projects will be done overseas." Atkins
now has about 100 people working globally in its office in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Another 50 to 60 are based in Bangalore, India, focusing on non-U.K. work.
At least one U.S. owner agrees. "I dont think U.S. jobs are being lost, theyre being gained,"
says Jim Porter, vice president of engineering for DuPont Co., Wilmington, Del. "We get more
construction for our money; were able to build more projects and we have more work for the
majority of vendors." He says DuPont has offshored construction for "at least a decade," but still
uses it for less than 2% of total project spending. "We make certain that contractor arrangements
make business sense," says Porter. Proprietary process-related work is exempt.
Others are concerned that offshoring could spread details of critical infrastructure to outsiders,
even terrorists. "When we map for a county government, were mapping everythingtreatment
plants, airports, etc.," says Woolperts Cowden. "To have this go overseas, bothers me."
Federal offshoring legislation that has progressed farthest is in a bill originally set to retaliate
against World Trade Organization sanctions. Offshoring language, added by Sen. Christopher
Dodd (D-Conn.), would ban federal contracts to firms that offshore and require states to certify
that federally funded work is done here. It passed the Senate but has not yet been touched by the
House.