CIVIL ENGINEERING

DCA has a wealth of experience in the planning, engineering and design of civil works and infrastructure-related projects on Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. Since 1979, the Firm has developed its Civil Engineering capabilities from traditional civil design, to utilities master planning, to focused assessments for performance, risks and/or hazards analysis for civil systems and infrastructure. The engineering design projects successfully completed by DCA range from site improvements for government, commercial, office, residential and resort facilities to major water, wastewater, highway and drainage systems.

The Division of Engineering is currently managed by Eduardo M. Salanatin, P.E., Chief Civil Engineer and overseen by John P. Dueñas, P.E., Principal Civil Engineer. All civil engineering personnel have strong backgrounds in civil infrastructure and civil sitework design. Members of the engineering staff also have demonstrated experience combining civil and environmental engineering on large-scale and complex engineering projects. Our broad-based capabilities, experience and staff resources make us uniquely qualified to provide superior services on complex and challenging projects.

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

The DCA Structural Engineering Division has extensive experience in designing to meet the challenging conditions found on Guam and in the region, such as supertyphoons, frequent seismic activity, corrosive coastal environments, limited construction methods, and limited material resources. The core of our structural engineering team has been working together for over 20 years providing design and construction related services on projects ranging from single-family residential and multi-story high rise structures, to bridges and utility towers. Members of the structural engineering staff are also trained and proficient in post-disaster structural and all-hazards facility assessments.

The structural division is equipped with state of the art computer software capable of performing three dimensional static and dynamic analysis, modeling and structure design. DCA structural engineering staff is proficient in the use of software systems, including RISA-3D, ETABS Plus, and SAP2000, and are especially adept in the interpretation and incorporation of analytical results into the production of design plans, specifications and supporting documents for our clients.

The division is headed by Mr. Thomas P. Camacho, S.E., Principal Structural Engineer and Stevens Institute of Technology graduate with a Masters in Structural Engineering. Mr. Camacho is also a licensed Civil and Structural Engineer in the CNMI.

SURVEYING

DCA is the only engineering firm on Guam with in-house topographic, cadastral, construction layout/check and hydrographic survey capabilities, both in Guam and the Northern Marianas.  The Survey Division is managed by Mr. Nestorio C. Ignacio, PLS and includes an office support and field staff deployed on Guam and Saipan, CNMI.  Nestorio Ignacio, PLS, is registered to practice land surveying on Guam, and the CNMI. Mr. Ignacio and his staff are highly skilled in the management, deployment and operation of GPS systems.

The Firm’s surveying and mapping experience spans the breadth of Micronesia, from Palau to the Marshall Islands with a client base consisting of local, national and federal government agencies, private developers and all three major branches of the Military.  Surveys are accomplished with modern, state-of-the-art instruments, including Global Positioning System (GPS) base station and field rovers and laser-guided, reflectorless rangefinders.  DCA pioneered the use of GPS technology on Guam and the Marianas for topographic, hydrographic and cadastral surveying and mapping.  Field note reduction and map preparation are computer-driven, yielding results which provide a seamless transition into mapping, engineering, design and production work.

In response to the need for surveys in hazardous waste sites throughout the Western Pacific, the Firm has sponsored nearly all of its field and key office personnel through OSHA-required 40‑hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training.  Our survey crews have surveyed both defined and undefined hazardous waste sites on practically all military installations and properties on Guam.

PLANNING & GEOGRAPHIC SYSTEMS

The Firm has a long and distinguished record of physical and infrastructure-related planning in Guam, the Northern Marianas and the Federated States of Micronesia.  In fact, DCA is the only locally-based consulting Firm in the Western Pacific that has professional planning capability, with unmatched accomplishments in planning work in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The DCA Planning Division is under the direction of John Duenas, Principal, and associates for more complex planning projects from time to time with Daniel D. Swavely, Planning Consultant.  Mr. Swavely brings to the firm over 20 years of unparalleled consulting land use planning and development planning experience on Guam and the Northern Marianas as the Principal Planner for Duenas & Swavely until 1990, then as an independent Planning Consultant since 1990.

Among the more prominent planning projects completed or in progress by DCA are:

Tumon Bay Master Plan, Tumon Bay, Guam

Saipan Lagoon Use Master Plan and Subsequent Update, CNMI

Zoning and Land Use Study for Saipan, Tinian and Rota, CNMI

Guidebook to Development Requirements for Guam

Marianas Public Land Use Inventory and Plan, CNMI

Physical and Environment Components, Tourism Master Plan, CNMI

Guam and Saipan Wastewater Facilities Master Plan

Tumon Bay Water & Wastewater Infrastructure Study/Plan

Guam 2010 Highway Master Plan Update (Guam 2020 Highway Master Plan)

Site & Infrastructure Layout for Tiyan Economic Development Properties, GEDA

Guam Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, GEPA

DUEÑAS CAMACHO & ASSOCIATES has pioneered the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the Pacific Rim since 1987 and is the acknowledged premier consultant in the Western Pacific in this highly specialized and technical field of database/graphics manipulation.

Beginning with Geobase and Ingres as the GIS software of choice in 1987, DCA has graduated to the eminently flexible Autocad-Based GEO/SQL (formerly known as MunMap) and R-Base GIS software engine and ArcView/ArcInfo/ArcGIS as its current GIS systems — the systems chosen by the Government of Guam and the Northern Marianas, respectively, for use in their aspiring GIS endeavors.  Four key members of the GIS technical staff have completed formal GIS (GEO-SQL) training in Colorado. The GIS Section is equipped with four dedicated GIS work stations consisting of high-speed computers, digitizers and plotters.  Bill Concepcion, GIS Manager, anchors the technical capability of the GIS Section.

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

The Environmental Services Division, developed under the management of Dr. Roy Tsuda, former Academic Vice President of the University of Guam and Director of the UOG Marine Lab, is now headed by Claudine M. Camacho, Chief Environmental Scientist, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Guam and leads the Firm’s Environmental Sciences/Services capability and resources. The division provides environmental impact assessments and statements, wetlands delineation for development and capital improvement projects for both private developers and government agencies and environmental monitoring of projects under construction in areas of critical concern, including marine construction projects.

In addition to being proficient in their fields, the staff of the Environmental Services Division are also fully trained to perform work at hazardous waste sites. This is instrumental for projects in which hazardous materials or conditions impact sensitive environmental/ecological resources. The services of experts in marine and terrestrial sciences available on-island are tapped when necessary to complement the Firm’s in-house resources.

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

DCA has been providing Construction Management services to local government and private developers since 1979. In fact, the Firm is known for its exacting standards in the administration and quality control of construction contracts under its management. The Firm has very successfully managed the construction of a wide variety of projects, including: airport improvement projects, government and private subdivision developments, water and wastewater infrastructure projects, telecommunications stations, roadway construction projects, residential refurbishment/repair projects and hotel projects. In addition to more recent CM projects, DCA provided overall project management for the Repair/Renovation projects of the Department of Education and Guam Community College which totaled in excess of $20 million over several years, beginning in 1992.

The Construction Management Division is headed by Thomas P. Camacho, S.E. and Kenneth M. Rekdahl, P.E. and includes full-time construction inspectors. Mr. Camacho is a graduate civil and structural engineer with a strong background in construction contract administration and construction management. Mr. Camacho has been responsible for several airport and telecommunications construction management projects. Mr. Camacho also serves as DCA’s Chief Structural Engineer.

To augment its Construction Management services, DCA also retains the capability and expertise to provide nondestructive testing (NDT) services related to in-situ analysis of reinforced concrete. The firm has utilized electromagnetic and ultrasonic detection technologies to accurately detect the location and size of steel reinforcing in concrete, including the thickness of concrete cover, as well as the presence of voids and honeycombing in placed concrete. We have used this equipment with very accurate results on several Hotel and Condominium projects in Tumon.