Parsons Corporation

Infobox Company
company_name=Parsons Corporation
company_logo=
company_type=Private
foundation= California, United States (1944 as Ralph M. Parsons Company)
location_city= flagicon|USA 100 West Walnut Street, Pasadena, California
key_people=Ralph M. Parsons, Founder
Charles L. Harrington, CEO
John A. Scott, President and COO
George L. Ball, CFO
Andrew Bonds, Government Relations
Erin M. Khulman, Corporate Relations

industry=Engineering and Construction

revenue=Exceeding US$3.6 billion
homepage = [http://www.parsons.com/ Parsons.com]

Founded in 1944 by engineer Ralph M. Parsons, Parsons Corporation is one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the United States, with revenues exceeding $3.6 billion in 2007. It is headquartered in Pasadena, California and is 100% owned by a Employee Stock Ownership Trust. Participants in the trust include both current and former employees.

Markets

Parsons specializes in many diversified markets such as nuclear and specialty systems, water, transportation, construction, education and public buildings, infrastructure, planning, commercial, industrial manufacturing, communications, environmental, healthcare, life sciences, critical facilities, and homeland security.

Landmark projects

Parsons delivers landmark projects across the globe. One of Parsons' many legacy projects was on the Alaska North Slope. Another significant project was the new industrial city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, situated on the Red Sea.

Controversial projects

Parsons was awarded a U.S. contract to rebuild a maternity hospital in Najef Iraq during the Iraq War, but the 8 million dollar project was plagued by failure to meet any of its objectives.Fact|date=August 2008

Parsons was awarded a contract for a $243 million project to build 150 health care centers in Iraq in March 2004. By March 2006, $186 million had been spent, with six centers complete and accepted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), 135 centers only partly complete, and one reassigned to another contractor. USACE progressively terminated the contract from September 2005 to March 2006, eventually requiring Parsons to complete a total of 20 centers with the others to be completed by other contractors. The estimated cost for the completion of the other 121 centers was $36 million. [cite|url=http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070215111017-80058.pdf|author=Stuart W. Bowen, Jr.|publisher=House Government Reform Committee|title=STATEMENT OF STUART W. BOWEN, JR. SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION BEFORE THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE U.S. CONTRACTING IN IRAQ|date=February 15 2007]

Parsons and USACE disputed the degree to which the final 20 centers were completed.http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0506/050106m1.htm] A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction cited problems both with Parsons and their Iraqi subcontractors and the government administering the contracts, including "high turnover among government personnel... directions... given without agreement from the contractor... program managers' responsiveness to contractor communications, cost and time reporting, administration and quality assurance".

Another 75 million U.S. taxpayer dollars was paid Parsons for their role in construction of an Iraqi police academy. Upon completion of Parsons' work The Washington Post problems in the facility including feces and urine leaking from the ceilings in the student barracks, water and sewage pouring down halls and stairwells, and floors bulging more than two inches off the ground. The project was summed up by U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart W. Bowen Jr. as "a disaster." [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/27/AR2006092702134.html]

ENR rankings

"Engineering News-Record" magazine's April 21, 2008, issue ranks the 2008 Top 500 Design Firms. Parsons was ranked #1 in Telecommunication for the eighth year in a row. Parsons was ranked #9 overall for Design. Parsons’ Hazardous Waste rank was #4. In Manufacturing, Parsons was ranked #11, and was ranked #9 in Transportation. Parsons’ General Building rank is #9, and Parsons’ International Markets rank is #17. In Industrial Process/Petro, Parsons once again ranked #19.

Founder's legacy

Ralph M. Parsons, along with leaving behind one of America's largest engeneering corporations in the form of the then Ralph M. Parsons Company, also contributed to other projects which live on to this day. In 1961 he founded the [http://www.rmpf.org/ Ralph M. Parsons Foundation] as the charitable giving arm of the then Parsons Company, when he died he left the foundation 600,000 shares of the company and $4 Million in cash. The foundation soon became entirely independent from the company and to this day has no financial interest in them, sharing only the name of their founder.

In media and popular culture

Parsons is mentioned in the documentary "No End In Sight," about the US war upon and occupation of Iraq. In the documentary, two US Marines comment that they had begun construction of border forts a year after Parsons had begun construction of their border forts nearby. The Marine, Seth Moulton said "...we had our forts designed, built and dedicated in a period of about five months. I think when we left, the Parsons forts, which had been started maybe a year before we arrived were still not finished." The documentary goes on to say that while the forts built behind schedule by Parsons cost 1.2 million dollars, the Marines' forts built in conjunction with providing employment for Iraqis cost just $200,000" of US taxpayers money.

References

Further reading

* [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/The-Parsons-Corporation-Company-History.html In-depth Company History] (from Funding Universe)
* [http://www.rmpf.org/biography.asp Biography of founder Ralph M. Parsons] (from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation website)

External links

* [http://www.parsons.com/ Parsons Corporation Website]
* [http://www.rmpf.org/ Ralph M. Parsons Foundation]