Parsons Corporation
Encyclopedia
Parsons Corporation is an engineering
, construction
, and technical and management services firm headquartered in Pasadena, California
. Founded in 1944 by engineer Ralph M. Parsons, Parsons Corporation is currently one of the largest such companies in the United States
, with revenues exceeding $3.4 billion in 2008. It is 100% owned by an Employee Stock Ownership Trust. Participation in the trust is limited to current and former employees. In 2002, Parsons spun off its energy subsidiary (Parsons E&C), which was later acquired by Australia-based WorleyParsons
Group.
in New Jersey
, program development and management support services for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s
facilities, providing drinking water in Southern Nevada, supplying construction supervision to the Dubai Metro
, labor relations services for the Los Angeles Unified School District's massive school building program, and serving as managing general contractor for the Miami International Airport
South Terminal construction project. The company wins the contract from the government of Saudi Arabia
for design and supervision of building the nation's largest housing program, building 500,000 housing unit.
. Another significant project was the new industrial city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, situated on the Red Sea.
In 1977, Parsons acquired transportation engineering firm De Leuw, Cather & Company, which had designed several major projects such as the Santa Clara County Expressway System.
Parsons and USACE disputed the degree to which the final 20 centers were completed. A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction cited problems, 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".
magazine's April 20, 2009, issue ranks the 2009 Top 500 Design Firms . Parsons was ranked #1 in Telecommunication for the tenth year in a row. Parsons was ranked #12 overall for Design. Parsons’ Hazardous Waste rank was #9. In Manufacturing, Parsons was ranked #16, and was ranked #9 in Transportation. Parsons’ International Markets rank is #22. In Industrial Process/Petro, Parsons ranked #19, and in Sewer/Wastewater Parsons ranked #20.
episode "Marge vs. the Monorail
" bears an uncanny resemblance to Parsons' Pasadena headquarters as one would approach the complex on North DeLacey Avenue in Old Town Pasadena.
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.
Parsons is also notable to readers of John Perkins
' book Confessions of an Economic Hitman, as the company that acquired Chas. T. Main
Inc. a New England–based international engineering firm, which according to the book, acted as a consulting firm trapping many Third World
countries into international debts they could not repay.
Parsons was named as a “Most Admired Employer” in the fall 2009 Diversity Careers issues of Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology (HE&IT), US Black Engineer & Information Technology (USBE&IT), and Women of Color (WOC), published by Career Communications Group, Inc. (CCG) .
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, and technical and management services firm headquartered in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. Founded in 1944 by engineer Ralph M. Parsons, Parsons Corporation is currently one of the largest such companies in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, with revenues exceeding $3.4 billion in 2008. It is 100% owned by an Employee Stock Ownership Trust. Participation in the trust is limited to current and former employees. In 2002, Parsons spun off its energy subsidiary (Parsons E&C), which was later acquired by Australia-based WorleyParsons
WorleyParsons
WorleyParsons Limited is a large Australian provider of professional services to the energy, resource, and complex process industries.The company has a market capitalisation greater than A$6 billion, and makes up about 0.55% of the S&P/ASX 200 index....
Group.
Markets
Parsons designs, builds, and manages projects around the world, in diverse markets ranging from bridges to wastewater treatment facilities to homeland security. Such projects include the process design of a large-scale mammalian biologics plant in Singapore, vehicle inspectionVehicle inspection
Vehicle inspection is a procedure mandated by national or subnational governments in many countries, in which a vehicle is inspected to ensure that it conforms to regulations governing safety, emissions, or both. Inspection can be required at various times, e.g., periodically or on transfer of...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, program development and management support services for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
facilities, providing drinking water in Southern Nevada, supplying construction supervision to the Dubai Metro
Dubai Metro
The Dubai Metro is a driverless, fully automated metro network in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai. The Red Line and Green Line are operational, with three further lines are planned. These first two lines run underground in the city centre and on elevated viaducts elsewhere...
, labor relations services for the Los Angeles Unified School District's massive school building program, and serving as managing general contractor for the Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area...
South Terminal construction project. The company wins the contract from the government of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
for design and supervision of building the nation's largest housing program, building 500,000 housing unit.
Landmark projects
Parsons delivers landmark projects across the globe. One of Parsons' many legacy projects was on the Alaska North SlopeAlaska North Slope
The Alaska North Slope is the region of the U.S. state of Alaska located on the northern slope of the Brooks Range along the coast of two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea being on the western side of Point Barrow, and the Beaufort Sea on the eastern.The region contains the...
. Another significant project was the new industrial city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, situated on the Red Sea.
In 1977, Parsons acquired transportation engineering firm De Leuw, Cather & Company, which had designed several major projects such as the Santa Clara County Expressway System.
Controversial projects
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.Parsons and USACE disputed the degree to which the final 20 centers were completed. A report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction cited problems, 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".
ENR rankings
Engineering News-RecordEngineering News-Record
Engineering News-Record is a weekly magazine that provides news, analysis, data and opinion for the construction industry worldwide...
magazine's April 20, 2009, issue ranks the 2009 Top 500 Design Firms . Parsons was ranked #1 in Telecommunication for the tenth year in a row. Parsons was ranked #12 overall for Design. Parsons’ Hazardous Waste rank was #9. In Manufacturing, Parsons was ranked #16, and was ranked #9 in Transportation. Parsons’ International Markets rank is #22. In Industrial Process/Petro, Parsons ranked #19, and in Sewer/Wastewater Parsons ranked #20.
Founder's legacy
Ralph M. Parsons, along with leaving behind one of America's largest engineering corporations in the form of the then Ralph M. Parsons Company, contributed to other endeavors which live on to this day. In 1961 he founded the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation as the charitable giving arm of the 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 it, sharing only the name of their founder.In media and popular culture
The "Lanely Institute" depicted in The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Marge vs. the Monorail
Marge vs. the Monorail
"Marge vs. the Monorail" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsonss fourth season and originally aired on January 14, 1993. The plot focuses around Springfield's purchase of a monorail from a conman, and Marge's dislike of the purchase. It was written by Conan O'Brien and directed by Rich Moore...
" bears an uncanny resemblance to Parsons' Pasadena headquarters as one would approach the complex on North DeLacey Avenue in Old Town Pasadena.
Parsons is mentioned in the documentary No End In Sight
No End in Sight
No End in Sight is a 2007 documentary film about the American occupation of Iraq. The film marks the directorial debut of Academy Award winning documentary film producer Charles H. Ferguson. The film premiered January 22, 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film opened in limited release...
, 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.
Parsons is also notable to readers of John Perkins
John Perkins
John Perkins is an economist and author. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador from 1968–1970 and this experience launched him in the world of economics and writing...
' book Confessions of an Economic Hitman, as the company that acquired Chas. T. Main
Chas. T. Main
-History:It was founded in 1893 by Charles T. Main, an engineer for the textile mills of New England. It was privately owned by its senior engineers, it being felt that this would leave decision making to those that knew the industry best...
Inc. a New England–based international engineering firm, which according to the book, acted as a consulting firm trapping many Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
countries into international debts they could not repay.
Parsons was named as a “Most Admired Employer” in the fall 2009 Diversity Careers issues of Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology (HE&IT), US Black Engineer & Information Technology (USBE&IT), and Women of Color (WOC), published by Career Communications Group, Inc. (CCG) .
Further reading
- In-depth Company History (from Funding Universe)
- Biography of founder Ralph M. Parsons (from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation website)