NV5 growth meets Southern California infrastructure demands

San Diego — NV5, a provider of professional and technical engineering and consulting solutions, has grown to 225 professionals in Southern California ready to meet the region’s infrastructure demands. The acquisition of CivilSource, an Irvine-based infrastructure engineering consulting firm, took place just weeks prior to California Governor Jerry Brown’s announcement in February of a $100 billion infrastructure needs list for the state.

This regional strategic growth development through targeted acquisition underscores NV5’s readiness for design, planning and shovel-ready work.

Having achieved its goal of $300 million annual revenue entering 2017, NV5 has set a goal to reach $600 million by 2020 and will achieve this through strategic growth in key markets, like Southern California. CivilSource has delivered service on thousands of Capital Improvement Projects and is focused on local governments and special districts throughout Orange County and Los Angeles (including 26 of 34 cities in Orange County and 22 of 88 cities in Los Angeles County). This deep market understanding and penetration provides NV5 with the immediate ability to service the unique Los Angeles, Orange County and adjoining Riverside geographic regions despite traditionally high barriers to entry.

NV5’s growth to over 1,500 engineers and consultants globally (15 percent in Southern California), expands NV5’s opportunity to assist municipalities as they address urgently needed infrastructure repairs. As state and federal funding levels are determined, there is the continuous challenge of aging infrastructure and weather abnormalities requiring emergency public works response, as the latest California storm events have demonstrated.

“Our success is measured by our clients’ success, which means that every new NV5 office or division must be a cultural fit dedicated to service, ethics and the highest standards of excellence that our clients expect,” said Dickerson Wright, PE, Chairman and CEO of NV5. “By acquiring CivilSource, we focused on more than just existing services in Southern California; we also found a firm with the depth of talent and client-focus that fits the core foundation of our company’s 70-year history.”

A legacy of service and meaningful impact is also the hallmark of CivilSource, which was founded in 2006 by trail-blazing professional engineer Amy Amirani.

Amirani served as the Public Works Director for the cities of Hermosa Beach and San Juan Capistrano. Her regional leadership includes service as the first female president of the Southern California American Public Works Association(APWA) in 2001; a milestone in the chapter’s 50-year history. Amirani also served as the President of the City and County Engineers Association for Los Angeles County in 1997 and was awarded the Capistrano Bay Women of Distinction honor in 2005.

Amirani now serves as a Vice President at NV5. As she explains, “The timing for CivilSource to become part of NV5 comes at the beginning of what we believe is an era of significant infrastructure investments at all levels of government in Southern California.”

Many of the experienced team members that built CivilSource with Amirani and have now joined NV5 are also former public agency professionals who apply their in-depth knowledge and project specific data to deliver innovative solutions. This direct experience working within public agencies is crucial to understanding and meeting municipal and agency needs during rapid ramp-up of project funding and deployment of assets and services.

CivilSource specialized in the provision of comprehensive design and program management services on roadway, highway, and streets projects, as well as water and wastewater, flood control, parks, and facilities projects.

These services were a natural fit for NV5 (which began with California legacy-firm Nolte – the “N” in NV5) and has grown via the following five verticals (hence the “V5” in NV5):

1. Infrastructure
2. Energy
3. Program Management
4. Construction Quality Assurance
5. Environmental

Public agencies who are poised to receive funding increases for one-time infrastructure efforts look to firms like NV5 to avoid permanently staffing-up to provide engineering services necessary for design and management of multi-million or billion-dollar capital improvement projects. By hiring experienced consultants, cities, water districts, transportation authorities and others benefit from a tailored team focused on the design and construction management services on a project-by-project basis.

“By integrating NV5’s breadth of service offerings with CivilSource’s extensive client relationships, we are able to immediately respond to anticipated project increases by our clients,” said Scott Kvandal, PE, COO of Infrastructure West and Chief Synergy Officer at NV5. “The reputation of a leader like Amy Amirani and the relationships she and her team have forged with the local government staff who have overseen their work is crucial for our success.”

Amirani explains that with the expected increase in infrastructure funding throughout California, “specialized consultants will be the trusted partners that will supplement in-house engineering staff.”