We requested from the Escambia County Clerk of Courts/Comptroller the disbursements made for engineering and architect firms for the fiscal years from 2004 through 2008. Six of the top ten firms are not headquartered here- the number would be seven if you don’t count Hatch Mott as (which was once Carlan Consulting) as local.
Hatch Mott MacDonald Florida, Inc.: $4,151,477.78, Pensacola (sort of)
HDR Engineering, Inc.: $2,130,551.79, Omaha, Nebraska
Baskerville-Donovan Inc.: $1,941,305.11, Pensacola
Jones Edmunds & Associates, Inc.: $1,456,726.71, Gainesville, FL
PBS & J: $1,256,165.58, Miami
Olsen Associates, Inc.: $1,174,297.51, Jacksonville
Fabre Engineering, Inc.: $507,375.78, Pensacola
Geo Syntec Consultants: $446,990.25, Boca Raton
URS Corporation: $409,021.20, San Francisco
Jehle-Halstead Inc.: $342,139.55, Pensacola
Percentage of fees paid to out-of-town firms: 50 % – $6,873,753.04
Capital projects help the local economy more when the dollars are spent with local firms.
For the entire period, Escambia County paid $30,679,470.77 to its top 35 engineering and architect vendors. Out of area firms got $15,099,570.13 — 49.22%