HOUSTON, Texas, USA: Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, was honored by the City of Houston as the Professional Services Prime Contractor Legacy Award recipient during the 9th Annual Champions of Diversity Awards Ceremony. Since 2016, Atkins has committed $3.8 million to certified Minority, Women, Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (MWSDBE) firms, representing a 51.6 percent participation rate in Atkin’s City of Houston contracts.
“We are honored to receive the City of Houston Professional Services Prime Contractor Legacy Award,” said Steve Morriss, President, Engineering Services, U.S., Atkins. “Our inclusive and diverse workforce is central to our sustainable business strategy and is the at the heart of our culture. Partnering with historically underrepresented businesses, mentoring them, helping their businesses grow, is how together we can build a better future for all communities.”
The prestigious awards gala, “Celebrating a Legacy of Advancing Sustainable Economic Inclusion”, was hosted by Mayor Sylvester Turner, the Houston Office of Business Opportunity (OBO) and its Advisory Board made up of Houstonians from diverse background and businesses. The Champions of Diversity Awards honors City of Houston certified MWSDBE prime contractors and non-certified prime contractors for their outstanding performances on City of Houston contracts. The awards also recognize the City of Houston department and community partners that have been true champions in exemplifying commitment, excellence, and support to OBO’s mission and the City’s Supplier Diversity Program.
“Diversity and inclusion are major drivers of our success at Atkins,” said Brett Sachtleben, P.E., Atkins Texas Community and Intermodal Infrastructure Business Division Manager, who was on hand to receive the award. “We’ve developed strong relationships with local partner firms allowing us to broaden our capabilities, increase our depth of resources and ultimately better serve our clients and the community.”
Atkins solves some of the world’s most complex engineering problems, weaving Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) into the day-to-day work culture. Globally, Atkins team members speak over 70 languages, representing 130 nationalities across six continents. Combining the workforce’s different views, experiences and opinions truly makes a difference and enhances Atkins’ ability to deliver world-leading sustainable solutions.
Atkins is a charter member of the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) Diverse Relationships for Informative Value Exchange (DRIVE) mentor-mentee program. DRIVE is designed to encourage and support DBE firms in the procurement of professional services contracts. Houston-based Omega Engineers, Inc. and Atkins have been paired through the program creating stronger relationships and expanding both firms’ industry and technical knowledge. Atkins also participates in the North Texas Tollway Authority’s (NTTA) Relationships and Opportunities Advancing Diversity (ROAD) Program. The mentor/protégé ROAD program helps disadvantaged firms increase their capabilities and increase diversity participation in NTTA contracts.
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About Atkins
Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies, employing over 18,300 people across the UK, North America, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe. We build long-term trusted partnerships to create a world where lives are enriched through the implementation of our ideas. You can view Atkins’ recent projects here.
About SNC-Lavalin
Founded in 1911, SNC-Lavalin is a fully integrated professional services and project management company with offices around the world dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, technology and data to design, deliver and operate the most complex projects. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital – and delivered to clients in key strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear, Operations & Maintenance and Capital. News and information are available at snclavalin.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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