Department of General Services Host Sold Out State of the Infrastructure and Innovative Solutions Conference

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, May 22, 2018

The County’s Department of General Services (DGS), featuring Architectural Engineering Institute and Construction Institute, hosted a 2018 Regional Government Conference on Monday, May 21 at the Silver Spring Civic Building. The symposium theme was State of the Infrastructure and Innovative Solutions. 

This sold-out event brought professionals from government, private sector, and academic settings to collaborate on best practices in building and improving infrastructure. The sessions emphasized the importance of collaboration and management of projects with focus on cost-effectiveness, quality control, risk management and sustainability.

The event included opening remarks by DGS Director David Dise. Dr. Joseph Martens served as the keynote speaker. Martens has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge, owns several U.S. and international patents, has led successful business ventures and uses his expertise to motivate organizations to move their innovation efforts from good to great.

“Every local government in America faces serious infrastructure challenges that require strategic and innovative approaches,” said Dise. “Limited funding resources mean you can’t just throw money at problems. Public and private sector industry professionals across the National Capital Region must communicate effectively and work together to address these challenges. This symposium builds on four years of coalition-building among these professionals that will help us focus on efficient, effective and economical solutions.”

Following the keynote speaker, industry professionals led group panel discussions and encouraged discussions and idea sharing. Sessions included: Infrastructure and Funding Challenges, Project Collaboration, Integrated Building Practices, and Technology.

“The goals of the Coalition are to minimize risk in cost and time overruns by serving as a conduit for establishing regional benchmarks and sharing cost data, and best practice information between regional public officials. We have established a strategic alliance with private and public institutions to leverage resources. In addition to AEI and CI, DGS is partnering with Project Management Institute, Montgomery County Chapter (PMI MC) and UMUC,” said Kassa Seyoum, Section Chief Building Design, and Construction DGS and conference organizer.

In addition to Montgomery County, six regional counties sponsored the event including Arlington, Fairfax, Frederick, Howard, Loudoun and Prince George’s counties. St. Mary’s County, Maryland just joined the coalition increasing membership to eight counties. Registered sponsors for the event included MBP, O’Connell & Lawrence, Inc., Pype, Arcadis U.S. Inc. The Robert B Balter Company, Noresco, The Catholic University of America, Facility Dynamics and Keller Brothers, Inc.

The County has hosted similar PMI, Montgomery County conferences since 2013. The conference originated when the County formed the Building Construction Coalition Forum in 2012 to provide a platform for the sharing of information on cost-effectiveness and best practices.

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Release ID: 18-565
Media Contact: Lucille Baur 240-777-6507