CHA has acquired Civil Engineering Consulting Services, Inc., a leading transportation engineering firm based in Columbia, South Carolina, with 85 employees. The firm’s core services include project management, construction inspection engineering, highway design, hydraulic and structural design, traffic engineering and operations, environmental studies, and subsurface utilities engineering (SUE) and utility coordination. CECS will immediately rebrand and go-to-market as CHA. This is CHA’s second acquisition of 2024.
“The acquisition of CECS is a complementary addition to CHA’s rapidly expanding southeast transportation services. With continued investments being made at the federal and state levels to address aging infrastructure, CHA’s innovative and integrated solutions are positioned to deliver on these growing needs. We welcome the talented CECS team to CHA and look forward to working together to expand our combined services and address our clients’ needs,” said Jim Stephenson, CEO of CHA Holdings, Inc.
CECS President Cathy Raad said, “We are thrilled to be joining CHA, a like-minded firm that invests in its employees and is committed to the highest quality client outcomes. By joining forces with CHA, we see many synergies that will strengthen our presence across South Carolina and expand the breadth of services we offer our clients.”
The CECS staff will be a great addition to our growing transportation team, strengthening our ability to provide innovative solutions to state, county, and local municipalities as we jointly address our clients’ challenges,” said John Hensley, CHA Infrastructure Sector President. “Our combined team will represent one of the deepest benches of infrastructure talent along the eastern seaboard, and we’ll be even better positioned to deliver exceptional value to our transportation clients.”
The addition of CECS brings CHA’s staff count to over 2,000 in 45+ offices from Canada to Florida to the Midwest.
About CHA
CHA is an innovative, full-service engineering, design, consulting, and program/construction management firm providing a wide range of technology-enhanced services to public, private, and institutional clients. We are focused on delivering sustainable, integrated solutions to the world’s most challenging infrastructure projects across utilities, transportation, water, and other critical commercial and industrial end-markets. CHA was ranked the 65th largest engineering firm in the U.S. in 2024 by ENR, with over 2,000 employees and 45+ offices throughout the U.S. and Canada. CHA is a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global alternative investment firm with $66 billion of capital under management. Please visit www.chasolutions.com.
About Civil Engineering Consulting Services, Inc.
Civil Engineering Consulting Services, Inc. (CECS) is a locally owned civil engineering consulting firm focused on the transportation sector for the South Carolina Department of Transportation, counties, and municipalities. CECS provides project management, construction inspection, highway design, hydraulic and structural design, traffic analysis, environmental studies, and subsurface utilities engineering (SUE) and utility coordination. CECS was founded in 1993 in Columbia, South Carolina. For more information, visit www.cecsinc.com.
