To all our new members, “Welcome to your National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS),” and to our previous members, “Welcome to your new NSPS!” And, borrowing a
phrase from a past NSPS
President and Chairman of the NSPS Joint
Government Affairs Committee, “It’s
a great day to be a Professional Surveyor!”
I wish to also express my sincere appreciation to
all the previous NSPS Presidents,
Officers, Directors, Governors and staff. They built the strong
foundation for us to grow our new NSPS!
We have finally become what our founders envisioned back in 1981 when NSPS was created.
Who and what is the new NSPS? We are now 16,000+ members from the United
States, Canada, and many other countries. The majority of NSPS members
are from the 47 Joint Membership Affiliate States. And, we are your national voice and advocate; here are some examples.
Congress: We are
strongly represented in the Congress by our lobbyist, Mr. J.B. Byrd, of John M.
Palatiello & Associates, opening doors and getting us heard, while our NSPS Government Affairs Committee continuously reviews legislation, provides guidance to our lobbyist,
and makes recommendations to the Board of Directors for decisions. We are
your vigilant national eyes, ears, and voice. You may have noticed that we
recently reported that LightSquared is again in the news. We are watching!
ABET: NSPS
recruits and supports a team of Program Evaluators (PEV) who are our advocates
in support of our responsibilities to ABET as Lead Society for the review and evaluation
for accreditation of multiple 4-yr and 2-yr degree surveying programs.
This obligation is among the most important roles for NSPS in protecting the
integrity of the surveying profession. Surveyors, not others, must fill that role.
MINIMUM STANDARD DETAIL REQUIREMENTS FOR ALTA/NSPS
LAND TITLE SURVEYS: Gary Kent and the NSPS/ALTA Committee continue to answer questions from members
on an ongoing basis, and utilize those interactions to develop an issues
database from which to negotiate with representatives from ALTA in developing
updated standards every five (5) years. The new 2016 ALTA/NSPS standards are
scheduled to become effective February 23, 2016, and will be the subject of a
workshop during the NSPS/MAPPS 2016 Surveying and Mapping Conference
to be held in the Washington D.C.
area.
COFPAES (Council on Federal
Procurement for Architectural and Engineering Services): the organization,
currently comprised of NSPS,
MAPPS, and ASCE, has traditionally been responsible for the continuous defense
of the Brooks Act, which dictates that the Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) process be utilized for the
procurement of professional services (such as architecture, engineering,
surveying, and mapping) for projects on which federal funding is
utilized. COFPAES also acts at the request of state societies on issues
related to the use of the “mini-Brooks” Act in that state for state-funded
projects. COFPAES acts regularly your behalf, making immediate direct contact
with offending agencies, reminding them of their responsibility to utilize the
QBS.
CFedS (Certified Federal Surveyor) Program: NSPS administers a contract between BLM and its third party
contractor for the development and delivery of CFedS program/training
materials. NSPS manages the financial aspect of the program for the
facilitation of payment to the contractor. This is a good example of a benefit
for our members by assisting in the management of an excellent federal agency
program that many appreciate.
CST (Certified Survey Technician) Program: NSPS created this program more
than 30 years ago as a mechanism for survey technicians to be able to
demonstrate their competence during the multiple components of serving as a
surveying intern, and as an evaluation tool for employers and educators to
evaluate the progress of their respective employees and students. Also,
NSPS recently entered into an agreement with the U. S. Air Force to provide CST
examinations to Airmen, and has begun dialog intended to include members of all
branches of the military in CST. This is a good example of how NSPS facilitates a national
program across the nation, thereby helping the states by removing the need for
each to develop different and possibly incompatible or inconsistent tests.
NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying): NSPS is a member of the NCEES
Participating Organizations Liaison Council (POLC), and is an active
participant in the NCEES Surveyors Forum. Recently, NSPS Executive
Director Curt Sumner was appointed to serve as an advisor to the NCEES Future of Surveying Task Force. NCEES also works with NSPS to promote the surveying
profession to potential future surveyors.
NGS, BLM, FEMA, USGS (Survey/Geospatial related federal agencies): Curt Sumner, NSPS Executive Director, and members of the NSPS Executive Committee
routinely meet with staff at those agencies to provide our support, feedback,
council, and exposure for their initiatives. NSPS has representative on FEMA’s
Technical Mapping Advisory Committee (TMAC). A past president of NSPS sits on the
National Geospatial Advisory Council (NGAC) of the Federal Geographic Data
Committee (FGDC).
NSPS Foundation, Inc.: Serves as the Steward for over $25,000 in scholarships,
funded by a variety of individuals, companies, and organizations, to encourage
and support college education in surveying and the geospatial sciences. The
Foundation also maintains a Disaster Relief Fund for surveyors, and their
businesses and employees who are impacted by disastrous events.
NSPS Trig-Star: Is a long
standing nationwide high school student math competition. The 2015 competition
included students from across the country in the local and state competition,
with 39 state winners participating in the national competition. The top three
(3) national finishers were from Alaska, Wyoming, and Alabama, respectfully.
While not specifically developed to recruit students into the surveying
profession, Trig-Star helps them to understand what surveyors do. In recent
years, NSPS created the
Trig-Star Scholarship, a $5000 award for which any high school senior who has
participated in Trig-Star during their high school career can apply when they
can confirm acceptance into a four-year or two-year surveying-related college curriculum.
What else is NSPS
doing for our membership? NSPS is working to be involved in
the development of the Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform (FLAIR) Act: This bill will call upon the professional surveyor community to assist
the Department of the Interior in creating a single, federal multipurpose
cadastre in accordance with standards recommended by the National Academy of
Sciences, while also encouraging the integration of state and local government
real property data and holdings. Such an inventory will assist in improved
federal land management, resource conservation, environmental protection and
utilization of real property, as well as identify property the federal
government no longer needs to own."
With COGO (Coalition of Geospatial Organizations): NSPS is a founding member of the group, which is collectively
engaged in issues affecting the entire geospatial community which includes more
than 170,000 individual producers and users of geospatial data and
technology. Recently, COGO published a Report Card on the status of the
Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) efforts on the National Spatial Data
Infrastructure (NSDI), pointing out areas in which improvements are needed. The
group is also working together to find common ground to advocate for the Geospatial Data Act (NSDI Framework
Data).
Closely
with other organizations on business issues affecting private-practice
surveying and mapping firms through the Business
Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC).
Your society reaches members, the industry and the public through our Media Outlets:
NSPS Radio Hour – Curt
Sumner, our Executive Director, hosts this
one-hour broadcast each Monday at 11am Eastern, which typically has more than
100,000 downloads per year, in addition to those who listen live.
NSPS News & Views – Trish Milburn, our Executive Administrator, works with Curt, our
Government Affairs team, and various other media sources to assemble this weekly
e-mail/ newsletter.
Social Media: Trish and Curt also collaborate to maintain our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages and our YouTube channel and Dual Frequency Blog.
On the international stage, NSPS supports travel for its delegates
to FIG (International Federation of
Surveyors) conferences as your representatives to FIG, as well as its member commissions. NSPS members can develop a
presence and partnership with other international firms; as members of NSPS,
they are members of FIG. An example of
the benefits of this international networking is that you or your organization
may be able to bring advanced technology or thinking in surveying to other
countries of the world that are looking to utilize them, but need your
assistance to apply it. FIG meets
annually for a “Working Week” (Christchurch, New Zealand June 2016; Helsinki,
Finland June 2017; Hanoi, Vietnam June 2019), and every four years for a
Congress (Istanbul Turkey 2018). NSPS is considering submitting a proposal to
host the FIG Congress in April 2022!
NSPS hosts an
annual Student Competition, providing
students with an opportunity to hone their skills in organizing a project and
presenting it using various media (Paper, Map, and Oral Presentation) utilized
in surveying professional and/or scientific work. The competition also provides
the opportunity for students to directly interact with practicing
professionals.
The NSPS Young Surveyors, connected with the FIG Young Surveyors, is a program through which
Surveyors who are 35 years old or younger can develop a greater connection with
each other and with NSPS to
share their perspectives, influence, and expertise with their peers and to
contribute to the dynamism of NSPS.
During April 13-16, 2015 NSPS
partnered with MAPPS a U.S.
association of firms in the surveying, spatial data and geographic information
systems field for the first in a
series of joint conferences. Some highlights of
the conference were:
·
Geospatial symposium presented by NGS;
·
A very successful joint “Capitol Hill Day”,
(meetings with over 80 senators and over 100 representatives);
·
3DEP (3D Elevation Program), a very well attended
Stakeholders Meeting including participation by federal agencies (USGS, NGS,
FEMA) and members of COGO (NSPS, MAPPS, ASPRS, NSGIC, NGAC);
· NSPS committee
meetings; and
·
The NSPS
Board of Directors meeting.
How does the fact that NSPS
now has over 16,000 members, enhance our influence with Congress and federal
agencies?
This five-fold increase from only a few years
ago, not only provides more clout to open doors in Congress, it also provides a
much larger unified group of Professional Surveyors who have personal and/or
professional relationships with their respective Senators and Representatives,
and who can visit with those legislators in their home states/districts.
In the best-case scenario, where do you see NSPS a year from today?
We would be very pleased with having an agreement
in place with all 50 states and Puerto Rico, bringing our membership numbers
close to 20,000 and rising as the economy improves.
We also want to re-establish our National
Surveying and Mapping Conference. We need to lead the way to our
Geospatial future!
What are my primary goals for NSPS for 2015-2016?
·
Strengthen our National Voice for advocacy with
Congress and federal agencies related to such
issues as the FLAIR Act, National Geospatial Data Act, QBS, etc.
·
Develop Promotional Materials to Market our
Profession for all states
·
Promote, support, and grow the NSPS Young
Surveyors Program at each state level and FIG to have an active role in the
mentoring and preparation of our future NSPS and profession leaders
·
Promote, support, and grow the NSPS CST Program—3500
members, and growing with military program addition
·
Connectivity, Networking, and Strength in Numbers
through activities like the NSPS Spring and Fall meetings: sharing, listening,
and gaining ideas and creating a Survey Summit Forum for all state Society
Presidents
·
Continue, and strengthen, our roles and
responsibilities with ABET, COFPAES, COGO, FIG, NCEES, and many other
organizations and agencies that are a part of the geospatial, surveying, and
mapping community.
Sincerely,
President
National Society of
Professional Surveyors
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