The Story of HDR in Missoula, Montana – Engineering Excellence

Below is a summary of facts about HDRs Missoula office http://www.hdrinc.com/offices/united-states/montana/794-missoula for those that are interested in our local government and public works:

We are a 100% employee owned company, which means all of our employees own our company; no outside or foreign investors. From our administrative staff to our professional people, all of us are vested in our company. We are fortunate that it’s not limited to just a few select people. Our profits stay right here in Missoula and are shared with everyone on our staff.

We have had an office here for more than 20 years, founded by native Montanans. Most of our staff have been born and raised here. We have been president of the United Way multiple times, participate annually in the Day of Caring, adopt local highways, participate annually in the Clark Fork cleanup and care deeply about the community we live in.

We feed the local Missoula economy by bringing in revenue and tax base in the form of engineering services from other places both in the US and around the world. We bring clean, high-tech, high paying jobs that are just the kind of jobs MEP, the mayor and others are trying to attract.

We provide 55 jobs here and just moved to a new office space on Higgins to provide ample more bike-ped friendly space for additional staff. Roughly half of our revenue comes from within Montana, half comes from elsewhere. That outside revenue allows our staff to purchase goods, services and homes in Missoula.

We do limited work for the City of Missoula directly. Our main Montana clients here include the City of Billings, the City of Great Falls, the City of Bozeman, Butte Silver Bow Utilities, the City of Kalispell, Missoula County, the City of Helena, City of Hamilton, City of Stevensville, Montana Rail Link, Missoula Electric Coop and the Montana Department of Transportation.

Roughly half our staff does water engineering (supporting clean drinking water, wastewater and stormwater), half does transportation engineering (largely bridges, but railroad and other forms of transportation as well).

Recently, we have assisted the City of Missoula by providing expert witness testimony in its Mountain Water condemnation case, completed the Front-Main conversion study, and provided engineering services for the installation of a new more energy-efficient screw press for biosolids dewatering at the City’s WWTP. We also designed the Rattlesnake Pedestrian Bridge from small diameter sustainable timber.

Our business model is very different from the other firms here in town who do excellent quality work almost exclusively here in the Missoula area. We are proud partners with many fellow Missoula firms on local projects including the Russell Street Bridge project (we did the bridge design), the Mullan Road sewer project, Wyoming Street, Cregg Lane, and others. Our model is to bring a depth of expertise in key areas that other firms in Montana and around the Northwest don’t provide and team with firms who provide broader services.

Having an alternative business model that includes bringing revenue from elsewhere doesn’t mean that our business is any less local than anyone else’s. I would argue that we are more local given that be bring jobs and revenue to the local economy and that money stays right here.

We are a regional engineering design center for railroad and highway bridges, power design and a few other areas. Our award-winning design teams are called on regularly to serve or large national projects.

One of our key areas of expertise is biosolids management and composting. City of Missoula staff reviewed proposals and recommended award of a recent contract to a firm who has made zero investment in this City, and will require the City to pay for its travel expenses. Our firm, with its substantial investment in Missoula, is by their admission is equally qualified. I asked the question to the PW Committee why being local to the project didn’t enter into the selection process. That seems like a reasonable question to ask and I am grateful that the committee was willing to listen.

HDR is not well known or understood in Missoula. Typically we aren’t politically active because we don’t feel it is our place as a technical service provider. As its leader, perhaps I am responsible for our lack of visibility. I’d hate to for our amazing staff to be penalized for my lack of political savvy.

Amanda McInnis

Amanda McInnis, PE

Montana Area Manager

HDR

700 South West Higgins Avenue

Missoula, MT

D 406.532.2210 M 406.546.4806

[email protected]