On behalf of PDCA, I want to thank all of you who made the International Foundations Congress and Equipment Expo (IFCEE) 2018 such a tremendous success. The IFCEE Partners (PDCA, ADSC, GI of ASCE, DFI) planned on 2,750 attendees when 2018 planning began back in May 2016. Thanks to the collective participation of all associations the final for IFCEE 2018 participation was 3,383 633 attendees over the initial projection.
Any event the size of IFCEE requires planning, coordination, execution and, equally important, a post event review, so we can evaluate our performance in meeting the expectations of those attending the event. Internally, PDCA has already conducted our "lessons learned" and submitted those findings to the ADSC, who acts as the managing partner for the event. In recent discussions with ADSC, the partners will be meeting soon to discuss the 2018 event and begin preparing for 2021. In moving forward, all partners in 2018 will use the lessons learned from 2018 to ensure 2021 continues to provide a quality experience for all attendees. I hope you will join us for another IFCEE in 2021.
PDCA Updates
As PDCA continues to move into the second half of 2018, we are challenging ourselves to make a difference by making changes, updates and creating new opportunities all intended to better serve the PDCA membership, promote our industry and intensify the visibility, marketability and benefits of driven piles.
PDCA is developing a new, more robust website. The new site will provide greater resources for our members and guests, making it easier to find desired information, while providing additional functionality and metrics that will allow PDCA to measure performance, progress and quality of services.
During the PDCA 2018 strategic planning session, the Board of Directors identified "Raising awareness of the need to renew infrastructure," as a key strategy. The difficulty for PDCA to accomplish this strategy is immense, but given the number of members in PDCA, not impossible. How then do we accomplish this while also addressing other federal and state issues that impact our business and industry? By using a software service solution that includes news and policy analysis and tools for legislative tracking, grassroots advocacy and advocate and donor acquisition. The program will also report on the people and politics of Capitol Hill. Through this process and utilization of "key words," PDCA can acquire information about pending legislation and issues impacting our industry, get the word out to our members and then you can respond with feedback and the potential of influencing Congress.
PDCA also requested support from the members of the GeoCoalition during our recent meeting in Utah, June 2022. The idea was favorably received, with suggestions on how the group could move forward, including the newest GeoCoalition member, the Canadian Geotechnical Society.
PDCA is working with the newly formed Contracts and Risk Committee to present two seminars one in October and one in November. The October 18 seminar will be in Jacksonville, Fla., and the November 8 seminar will be in Houston, Texas. The seminars will present three different topics during the half-day program: Recovering for Unforeseen Conditions, Key Legal Considerations When Performing Work Under a Design-Build Construction Contract and Understanding the Differences and Similarities Between Driven Pile and Drilled Cast-In-Place. Alex Filotti (Underpinning and Foundation Skanska) and Rick Kalson (Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff) will present the first two topics and Karl Higgins (ESC Mid-Atlantic, LLC) will present the third. The seminars will be preceded by a luncheon program to discuss the importance of the two chapters in Florida and Texas and how PDCA members can support chapter efforts, get involved in their growth and long-term sustainability and provide suggestions for future events and activities. PDCA invites all PDCA members, specifically those from the Florida and Texas areas to join us for these programs.
PDCA, NCCCO and Sun Piledriving Equipment will be hosting a Practical Examiner Accreditation Program (PEAP) at Sun Piledriving Equipment's property in Frankford, Del., on August 20. The program is designed to qualify examiners for the Dedicated Pile Driver practical exam portion of this certification program. Any company utilizing a dedicated pile driving rig should be aware of the requirements to have your operators certified by November 2018, according to the latest by OSHA. By certifying the individuals who attended the PEAP, PDCA now has a pool of individuals qualified to help you certify your operators. If you need more information on how to certify your operators, contact PDCA or NCCCO to identify qualified examiners who can arrange to provide the certification written exam and practical test.
PDCA will also conduct the final Deep Foundation Dynamic Testing and Analysis course for 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. The program will present a one-day seminar on Deep Foundation Integrity Testing and Wave Equation Analysis on October 3 and a two-day workshop on High Strain Dynamic Foundation Testing on October 45. Individuals can register for one or both courses. PDCA will also offer the Dynamic Measurement and Analysis Proficiency Test, a 90-minute, multiple-choice exam that will cover the theory of wave mechanics, case method (PDA) equations, data quality assessment, data interpretation and basic CAPWAP analysis. The Proficiency test will be given on Friday, October 5. Registration for this program is now open on the PDCA website, www.piledrivers.org.
Two additional developments at PDCA that will have a significant impact are the opening of a new position, titled director, PDCA/Chapter Liaison and Membership Development. The role and responsibility of this position will be to establish and maintain a positive and dynamic relationship with all PDCA chapters, while providing support in multiple areas. The director will also be responsible for acting as the staff liaison to the PDCA Membership Committee. In this capacity, the director will develop and implement strategies, policies and procedures for advancing PDCA's membership acquisition.
PDCA is also in the process of interviewing individuals to become the new PDCA executive director. As the current executive director for the PDCA, I am reaching that "golden age" and planning my retirement. Obviously, this requires an extensive search by the PDCA Executive Committee to find the right person to lead PDCA into the future. PDCA has hired a search firm to coordinate the search, receive applications and resumes, narrow the list down to an acceptable number of qualified applicants and present this list to the Executive Committee. Those candidates will be interviewed to create a short list of three. The Executive Committee will conduct face-to-face interviews in Baltimore, Md., prior to the DICEP conference, make their recommendations to the Board of Directors and move forward with an offer for employment.
I would be remiss if I did not mention one of the PDCA's most accomplished conferences, which is coming up on September 1920, in Baltimore, Md. PDCA's 19th Annual Design and Installation of Cost-Efficient Piles will be held at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor. This traditional PDCA program is designed primarily for engineers, but certainly is relevant to anyone in the deep foundation or earth retention industry. This year, the PDCA Education Committee has assembled a fantastic line-up of presenters, including keynotes from Casey Dinges, senior managing director, ASCE and Silas Nichols, P.E., principal, geotechnical bridge engineer, FHWA. Additionally, there will be 10 general session presentations on a variety of interesting topics. For engineers requiring PDHs, up to 12 will be available for attending the entire day-and-a-half program. You can find out more about this conference by visiting the event website, www.pdca-dicep.com. There is a Lot Happening at PDCA
August 10, 2018
On behalf of PDCA, I want to thank all of you who made the International Foundations Congress and Equipment Expo (IFCEE) 2018 such a tremendous success. The IFCEE Partners (PDCA, ADSC, GI of ASCE, DFI) planned on 2,750 attendees when 2018 planning began back in May 2016. Thanks to the collective participation of all associations the final for IFCEE 2018 participation was 3,383 633 attendees over the initial projection.
Any event the size of IFCEE requires planning, coordination, execution and, equally important, a post event review, so we can evaluate our performance in meeting the expectations of those attending the event. Internally, PDCA has already conducted our "lessons learned" and submitted those findings to the ADSC, who acts as the managing partner for the event. In recent discussions with ADSC, the partners will be meeting soon to discuss the 2018 event and begin preparing for 2021. In moving forward, all partners in 2018 will use the lessons learned from 2018 to ensure 2021 continues to provide a quality experience for all attendees. I hope you will join us for another IFCEE in 2021.
PDCA Updates
As PDCA continues to move into the second half of 2018, we are challenging ourselves to make a difference by making changes, updates and creating new opportunities all intended to better serve the PDCA membership, promote our industry and intensify the visibility, marketability and benefits of driven piles.
PDCA is developing a new, more robust website. The new site will provide greater resources for our members and guests, making it easier to find desired information, while providing additional functionality and metrics that will allow PDCA to measure performance, progress and quality of services.
During the PDCA 2018 strategic planning session, the Board of Directors identified "Raising awareness of the need to renew infrastructure," as a key strategy. The difficulty for PDCA to accomplish this strategy is immense, but given the number of members in PDCA, not impossible. How then do we accomplish this while also addressing other federal and state issues that impact our business and industry? By using a software service solution that includes news and policy analysis and tools for legislative tracking, grassroots advocacy and advocate and donor acquisition. The program will also report on the people and politics of Capitol Hill. Through this process and utilization of "key words," PDCA can acquire information about pending legislation and issues impacting our industry, get the word out to our members and then you can respond with feedback and the potential of influencing Congress.
PDCA also requested support from the members of the GeoCoalition during our recent meeting in Utah, June 2022. The idea was favorably received, with suggestions on how the group could move forward, including the newest GeoCoalition member, the Canadian Geotechnical Society.
PDCA is working with the newly formed Contracts and Risk Committee to present two seminars one in October and one in November. The October 18 seminar will be in Jacksonville, Fla., and the November 8 seminar will be in Houston, Texas. The seminars will present three different topics during the half-day program: Recovering for Unforeseen Conditions, Key Legal Considerations When Performing Work Under a Design-Build Construction Contract and Understanding the Differences and Similarities Between Driven Pile and Drilled Cast-In-Place. Alex Filotti (Underpinning and Foundation Skanska) and Rick Kalson (Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff) will present the first two topics and Karl Higgins (ESC Mid-Atlantic, LLC) will present the third. The seminars will be preceded by a luncheon program to discuss the importance of the two chapters in Florida and Texas and how PDCA members can support chapter efforts, get involved in their growth and long-term sustainability and provide suggestions for future events and activities. PDCA invites all PDCA members, specifically those from the Florida and Texas areas to join us for these programs.
PDCA, NCCCO and Sun Piledriving Equipment will be hosting a Practical Examiner Accreditation Program (PEAP) at Sun Piledriving Equipment's property in Frankford, Del., on August 20. The program is designed to qualify examiners for the Dedicated Pile Driver practical exam portion of this certification program. Any company utilizing a dedicated pile driving rig should be aware of the requirements to have your operators certified by November 2018, according to the latest by OSHA. By certifying the individuals who attended the PEAP, PDCA now has a pool of individuals qualified to help you certify your operators. If you need more information on how to certify your operators, contact PDCA or NCCCO to identify qualified examiners who can arrange to provide the certification written exam and practical test.
PDCA will also conduct the final Deep Foundation Dynamic Testing and Analysis course for 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. The program will present a one-day seminar on Deep Foundation Integrity Testing and Wave Equation Analysis on October 3 and a two-day workshop on High Strain Dynamic Foundation Testing on October 45. Individuals can register for one or both courses. PDCA will also offer the Dynamic Measurement and Analysis Proficiency Test, a 90-minute, multiple-choice exam that will cover the theory of wave mechanics, case method (PDA) equations, data quality assessment, data interpretation and basic CAPWAP analysis. The Proficiency test will be given on Friday, October 5. Registration for this program is now open on the PDCA website, www.piledrivers.org.
Two additional developments at PDCA that will have a significant impact are the opening of a new position, titled director, PDCA/Chapter Liaison and Membership Development. The role and responsibility of this position will be to establish and maintain a positive and dynamic relationship with all PDCA chapters, while providing support in multiple areas. The director will also be responsible for acting as the staff liaison to the PDCA Membership Committee. In this capacity, the director will develop and implement strategies, policies and procedures for advancing PDCA's membership acquisition.
PDCA is also in the process of interviewing individuals to become the new PDCA executive director. As the current executive director for the PDCA, I am reaching that "golden age" and planning my retirement. Obviously, this requires an extensive search by the PDCA Executive Committee to find the right person to lead PDCA into the future. PDCA has hired a search firm to coordinate the search, receive applications and resumes, narrow the list down to an acceptable number of qualified applicants and present this list to the Executive Committee. Those candidates will be interviewed to create a short list of three. The Executive Committee will conduct face-to-face interviews in Baltimore, Md., prior to the DICEP conference, make their recommendations to the Board of Directors and move forward with an offer for employment.
I would be remiss if I did not mention one of the PDCA's most accomplished conferences, which is coming up on September 1920, in Baltimore, Md. PDCA's 19th Annual Design and Installation of Cost-Efficient Piles will be held at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor. This traditional PDCA program is designed primarily for engineers, but certainly is relevant to anyone in the deep foundation or earth retention industry. This year, the PDCA Education Committee has assembled a fantastic line-up of presenters, including keynotes from Casey Dinges, senior managing director, ASCE and Silas Nichols, P.E., principal, geotechnical bridge engineer, FHWA. Additionally, there will be 10 general session presentations on a variety of interesting topics. For engineers requiring PDHs, up to 12 will be available for attending the entire day-and-a-half program. You can find out more about this conference by visiting the event website, www.pdca-dicep.com. 
