...say they are unsure exactly what is being regulated and where, and some fear that other countries will retaliate against expatriates.

Despite the political noise, designers and clients here and abroad are hearing offshoring’s Siren call louder than ever. "It actually could cost us more jobs if we did not have an overseas center," says Jack Herrmann, spokesman for WGI, which has a low-cost center in Romania. "Price is king. If you’re not in the competitive range, you won’t get the business."

Even smaller firms working in the public sector agree. Despite states’ anti-offshoring moves, more cash-strapped municipal owners wonder if it can save them money. While municipal documents stipulate that work be done in the U.S., "sometimes we’ve seen a prospective client say, and put it in the RFP, that they’ll consider two quotes," says Rex Cowden, chief operating officer of Dayton, Ohio-based Woolpert, a mapping specialist. "If they have an opportunity to save money, I can’t fault them for looking for a lower-cost alternative." Woolpert does not offshore any work.

Even so, engineers in mapping and GIS say the sector is on the offshoring forefront, "probably three or four years in front of the industry," says Mark Meade, vice president of Photo Science, Lexington, Ky. "There is tremendous change in the amount of work going to China, India, Pakistan and Russia. Labor rates are one-fifth what they are here, including overhead and benefits."

Los Angeles-based Psomas offers its public and private clients the offshoring option in its mapping services, says Chairman Tim Psomas. "I see it as a positive," he says. The firm offshores some GIS work to India, while programming activities are done for U.S. clients in Ukraine. "We’re confident with the approach. We’ve done the work ourselves so much that we have good quality control programs and we interact all along," says Psomas. "It’s small elements of projects as opposed to the whole thing."

Globalized, high-speed communication has propelled offshoring, executives say. "It’s hard to tell now if work is done in Oman, Jordan or Pasadena," says Liz Moore, vice president of engineering and technology for Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif. "That wasn’t the case 10 years ago when we were sending tapes with design drawings every Monday and Thursday. Now they’re sent at the speed of light." But she says Parsons no longer uses its Philippines-based low-cost center.

Also influenced by market forces, most large U.K. design firms are offshoring to help plug anticipated staff shortages, says John Prichard, head of membership at the Institution of Civil Engineers, London. "We will have an excess outflow of 300 civil engineers per year for the next 15 years," he claims.

More offshoring is "absolutely inevitable with the availability of professional staff as you project forward," adds Norman Schunter, group managing director at W S Atkins plc, Epsom. "We will keep the front-end work close to our clients, but a lot of projects will be done overseas." Atkins now has about 100 people working globally in its office in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Another 50 to 60 are based in Bangalore, India, focusing on non-U.K. work.

Schunter says that up to one-third of project design now done in the U.K. could be transferred to global centers in five to 10 years. "You have to be proactive; we are planning now," he says. Exporting lower level jobs need not be detrimental, says Prichard. "U.K. employers are still going to make sure teams are competent," he says. But Schunter admits that detaching project managers and design teams requires "a cultural change."

Offshoring also is taking root in continental Europe. "We have placed our production for mapping services in India, which is perfectly suited to it," says Klaus Ostenfeld, CEO of COWI A.S., Copenhagen, one of Scandinavia’s largest designers. "If we didn’t do that, we would not have the jobs left in Denmark–the whole business would be gone." At least 40% of work done by 80 Indian engineers in Delhi employed by Dutch design firm DHV Consultants is for non-Indian projects, says President Renko Campen. "We started with detailing and basic engineering. The idea is to climb the ladder [to] a higher degree of engineering."

Mott MacDonald Group, London, is betting on its India connection to win part of Britain’s planned multibillion-dollar water utility capital program. "All our customers are interested in how we will resource their programs and how we can give better value," says Malcolm White, director for worldwide water activities.

NO BORDERS Fluor Corp. has low-cost engineering center in the Phillipines (left), while Mott McDonald offshores work to a unit in Mumbai, India. (Photo top left courtesy of Flour Corp.; Photo top right courtesy of Mott MacDonald Group)

Mott secured its India base in 2001 by acquiring a local firm in Mumbai that now has 850 employees across the country. Peter Lee, managing director of renamed...