Summary | Team | Federal Role | Current Environment | New Corps Approach | Process | Case Histories | P3

Securing Funds Through Congress and Administrative Grants

Carmen Group specializes in federal lobbying for Water Resources & Environment clients. With over 20 years of proven success, we have helped our clients work with their congressional delegations to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in federal authorizations and appropriations for the local agencies we represent. 

In addition to helping our clients navigate the federal funding process in the halls of Congress, we also have an established track record for assisting them with securing significant funds through grant applications at both the federal and state levels. There is a wide range of funding sources within the agencies for building, expanding and maintaining public infrastructure projects, and the breadth of our knowledge helps ensure no stone is left unturned in maximizing your projects’ capabilities.

American Water Resources Association National Conference Presentation

Government Consulting

We believe that Carmen Group's dramatic success ratio is attributable not only to our outstanding appropriations and authorizations capabilities, but also to our deep knowledge and expertise with the federal agencies and the positive relationships we maintain at the highest levels of government.

Over the course of 20-plus years, we are confident in our understanding of how agencies work, as well as many of the issues our clients face on the ground back in their community. As a result, we regularly apply our experience and insight to work with our clients and the agencies to ensure their projects are best positioned to move through the federal process at key deadlines and at every turn in between. In addition to efforts to secure direct funding for client projects, we engage in deep administrative work with the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies to shape such projects, move them through what often can be a highly bureaucratic process, and secure final approvals. We break down procedural barriers, negotiate project cooperation agreements, and seek and secure administrative waivers where appropriate. Through full service consulting, we ensure that we help navigate our clients’ projects through the bureaucracy as efficiently as possible with local costs limited and projects features in place.

Public-Private Partnerships (P3s)

With Federal, state and local government resources increasingly constrained and community needs ever-growing, the utilization of public-private partnerships (P3’s) will be an important ingredient in pursuing the next generation of major public works projects in the United States. The professionals in our water resources and environment practice have years of experience helping build relationships with key local stakeholders and private entities to help leverage funding wherever possible and maximize strategic advantage when dealing with lawmakers and agency officials. We can assist you in developing these relationships that at times require out-of-the box and entrepreneurial thinking to move your projects forward in this new environment.

Our twenty-plus years of experience in helping structure viable P3 arrangements can assist communities in providing the project benefits their constituents deserve under current and future financial limitations. We will work with clients to address their needs, develop a strategic plan with achievable milestones and navigate the complex world of federal and state regulations that apply to the range of public-private partnerships. We are proud that the P3 projects we have helped guide to completion have transformed local and national actions. Our breadth of knowledge can help responsible municipal decision-makers leverage their taxpayers investments while minimizing the exposure of local governments and the citizens that they are pledged to serve.

Economic Stimulus

Due to declining tax bases and a shrinking credit market as a result of the current economic downturn, states and municipalities are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their current priorities while addressing current and future community needs.  With these factors in mind, Congress enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public-Law 111-05) which provides significant federal investments for the construction of public works projects that are able to enter into and complete construction activities within two years of passage of the act.  Funding is available for multiple infrastructure projects to include: flood protection construction, upgrades of water supply and delivery systems, wastewater treatment plant construction, water recycling and reclamation projects and environmental restoration projects to name a few of the funding opportunities provided by the Act. Carmen Group first identified the unprecedented funding opportunities that would be available under this effort in 2008 when the 110th Congress was still in session and discussions on a Stimulus bill began to surface.  Seeing this opportunity, and realizing the coming change in the political landscape, our team immediately went to work to position our clients’ projects for maximum success under the Stimulus bill.  In the water resources arena, doing so required intimate knowledge of the  processes of the Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Reclamation and the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, as the bill passed by Congress was purposely devoid of earmarks leaving federal agencies responsible for many funding allocations.

Given our decades of experience with these Federal agencies, Carmen Group has been extremely successful for our clients in the economic stimulus effort and has helped secure millions of dollars for our clients’ local projects. Our professionals, and their industry-leading federal agency expertise, stand ready to assist you in moving forward your priorities as federal agencies continue to implement the Act.  

Success Across a Broad Array of Projects

The types of projects we have been most successful in lobbying for funding and approvals include: flood management, environmental restoration, water quality, water supply, water reclamation and recycling, navigation and recreation projects.

Record of Success

• Flood Management Districts
• Metropolitan and Rural Sewerage and Recycling Authorities
• Water Supply Districts
• State Environmental Departments
• Cities
• Counties
• Port Authorities
• Municipal Utility Providers
• Special District Governments

Special Expertise

• Appropriations Process
• Corps of Engineers Authorization Bills
• Shaping Approvable Projects
• Clean Water Act Amendments
• Natural Resources and Environmental Legislation
• Stimulus Positioning

Works with Federal Resources Agencies to Develop

• Multiple-Purpose Projects
• Expedited Project Approval
• Local/Federal Funding Agreements
• Budget Priority
• Innovative Federal Funding Sources
• Locally-Driven Solutions

Proven Record of Working Effectively With

Executive Branch

• The White House
• Council on Environmental Quality
• Office of Management and Budget
• Army Corps of Engineers
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Fish and Wildlife Service
• Department of the Interior
• Bureau of Reclamation
• National Park Service
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• California Department of Water Resources & Other State Water Agencies

Legislative Branch

• House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
• House Natural Resources Committee
• Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
• Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
• House/Senate Appropriations Committees

Works to Shape Community Visions

• Frame, Develop and Help Implement Community-Partnered Projects with the Federal Government
• Public Outreach
• Develop Coalitions
• Help to Reduce Local Financial Contributions
• Shape Approvable Multi-Purpose Projects