Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 2, 2026

CDM Smith

CDM Smith Inc. is an American engineering and construction company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. CDM Smith offers services in water, environment, transportation, energy and facilities projects for public and private clients. Major services include design, consulting and program management with a focus on emerging areas such as polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), complete corridors, lead in drinking water, digital solutions, and water reuse and desalination. The employee-owned company is currently ranked 22nd on Engineering News-Record's 2025 Top 500 Design Firms list and 25th on their 2025 Top 200 Environmental Firms list.

Last revised
Jun 2, 2026
Read time
≈ 7 min
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Source
Wikipedia ↗
CDM Smith Inc.
Company type
Private
IndustryGlobal Engineering Services; Architectural Services; Engineering Consulting; Full service Design Build Construction and Engineering Firm1
Founded1947 (1947)
Headquarters75 State Street,
Boston, Massachusetts
,
US
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Timothy B. Wall (Chairman and CEO)
  • Anthony B. Bouchard (President and COO)
Number of employees
7,000
Websitecdmsmith.com

CDM Smith Inc. is an American engineering and construction company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. CDM Smith offers services in water, environment, transportation, energy and facilities projects for public and private clients.2 Major services include design, consulting and program management with a focus on emerging areas such as polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), complete corridors, lead in drinking water, digital solutions, and water reuse and desalination.3 The employee-owned company is currently ranked 22nd on Engineering News-Record's 2025 Top 500 Design Firms list4 and 25th on their 2025 Top 200 Environmental Firms list.56

History

Camp Dresser & McKee (CDM) was founded in 1947 by Thomas Ringgold Camp with partners Herman Dresser and Jack McKee.7 Due to Camp’s background in sanitary engineering, the company initially focused on drinking water infrastructure programs in New England. In the 1960s when the firm started accepting contracts internationally in Colombia and Bangladesh,8 the firm grew to become a global engineering and construction firm. Through numerous acquisitions in the 1970s, as well as partnering with the U.S. EPA in 1973 and other federal agencies in 1985, CDM Smith expanded to offer services in clean water, hazardous waste and the environment, transportation, energy, and facilities sectors on a national and international scale. Today, the company has nearly 5,000 employees in 131 offices, with 85 offices being in the United States.9 

In 2011, CDM acquired Wilbur Smith, a 1,000-employee transportation engineering firm, to form CDM Smith.10 CDM Smith later acquired the Ohio-based Louis Perry Group in late 2014 as an independent subsidiary to expand its industrial expertise in the rubber and plastic industry.11 In 2015, CDM Smith moved its headquarters from a 180,000 square foot space at 50 Hampshire St, Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a 120,000 sq ft office space at 75 State Street in Boston.12 In 2021, CDM Smith acquired Milestone Solutions, a North America–based firm specializing in road usage charging and pricing.13

In January 2022, CDM Smith formed a new subsidiary, Trinnex, to offer digital services and software to U.S. municipal clients.14 Trinnex offers software as service products, including pipeCAST, leadCAST, epiCAST and precipiCAST for water, lead pipes, epidemics and weather tracking and insights. Their digital services include risk, performance, and capital planning; digital strategy and transformation; decision analytics and optimization; and digital twin design and development.15 Trinnex is headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire, with nearly 50 employees distributed across the Unit.

On June 21, 2017, the US Justice Department declined to prosecute CDM Smith for corruption, despite finding that the company had paid $1.18 million to officials in India.16 In July 2017, CDM Smith agreed to pay around $4 million to the US Treasury,17 after which investigations by the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice into bribery were closed. CDM Smith has been sanctioned by the World Bank for "failing to disclose a subcontract on a project in Vietnam", and was conditionally non-de-barred for one and half years.17 On July 15, 2017, it was announced that the Goa government had asked state chief secretary Dharmendra Sharma to investigate bribes from CDM Smith in India.18 Based on Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Central Vigilance Commission (India's anti-corruption watchdog),1920212223 India's Central Bureau of Investigation (parallel to US's FBI) filed first FIR in this case on February 2, 2018.24

In 2025, CDM Smith was the recipient of the Mentoring Excellence Award at the Absorbies Awards, Absorb Software’s annual awards program, for its mentorship program Career Compass, launched in 2014.25 In 2026, CDM Smith was recognized with the 2026 Platinum Award for Excellence in Client Experience by Client Savvy, a customer experience management platform.26

Principal subsidiaries

CDM Smith's principal subsidiaries are:1

  • CDM Constructors Inc.
  • CDM Federal Programs Corporation
  • CDM International Inc.
  • CDM Smith SE (Germany)
  • CDM Smith Danismanlik ve Mühendislik Ltd. (Turkey)
  • CDM Smith Sp.z.o.o. (Poland)
  • The Louis Perry Group
  • Trinnex27

Significant projects

  • Houston Northeast Water Purification Plant expansion; a $1.8B progressive design-build project considered the largest of its kind 28
  • Newark Lead Service Line Replacement Program; considered the "national model" for lead pipe replacement in the US29
  • Wadi Al Arab System II Water Conveyance Project; a $129.5M project to provide drinking water to the Kingdom of Jordan30
  • COVID-19 Alternate Care Facility in Kalispell, MT; an emergency design and construction project to provide hospital capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic31
  • MassDOT All-Electronic Tolling System; replacing all toll booths on the Massachusetts Turnpike with transponders32
  • Brunswick County Northwest WTP Expansion: removing PFAS to undetectable levels with reverse osmosis for a North Carolina community3334
  • Water Purification Technology Program and R&D Testing Project in Jacksonville, Florida; exploring an alternative water supply for the eighth-largest community-owned utility in the US35
  • TxDOT US 67 Corridor Master Plan; with outreach that included bilingual communications, mixed reality activities, online maps and tools, and extensive public meetings36
  • Metolong Dam and Water Supply Program in Lesotho; providing potable water for more than 500,000 people in the region37
  • All-Electric Bus Rapid Transit System, Indianapolis; considered the "next evolution" of bus rapid transit systems38
  • DC Water Waste-to-Energy Project; a $470M project producing a net 10 MW of electricity from the wastewater treatment process39
References

References

  1. Gale.
  2. Bloomberg.
  3. "About Us". Archived from the original on 2018-03-17.
  4. "ENR 2025 Top 500 Design Firms".
  5. "ENR 2025 Top 200 Environmental Firms".
  6. ENR Top Lists.
  7. CDM Smith.
  8. Horsefield, David R. (1968). "Master Wastewater Collection and Treatment Plan for Bogotá, Colombia". Journal (Water Pollution Control Federation). 40 (8). Wiley: 1443–1458. JSTOR 25036077.
  9. "CDM Smith – Delivering Solutions". Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  10. Toll Road News.
  11. Medina Gazette.
  12. Boston Business Journal.
  13. "Weekly Merger and Acquisition Update; June 11 2021". 11 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-07-16.
  14. "Small Business - Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch". Small Business - Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  15. "Consulting - Specifying Engineer | Pardon the disruption". Consulting - Specifying Engineer. 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  16. Rubenfeld, Samuel (June 30, 2017). "U.S. Declines to Prosecute Engineering Company for Bribery". The Wall Street Journal. United States. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  17. "US Firm Accused Of Paying $1.18 Million To Indian Officials For Highway Contracts". NDTV. July 11, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  18. "Goa chief secretary to conduct inquiry in CDM Smith bribery case". The Indian Express. July 15, 2017. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
  19. Singh, Dalip (2018-02-10). "ET Investigation Part I: How an American firm bribed its way to lucrative contracts in India". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  20. Singh, Dalip (2018-02-10). "ET Investigation Part II: How US contractor CDM Smith used 'service tax reimbursements' to pay bribes". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  21. Singh, Dalip (2018-02-10). "ET Impact: CBI books US-based firm executives, NHAI officials in bribery case". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  22. [1]
  23. Srivas, Anuj (18 April 2018). "Widespread Bribery at NHAI Penalised by US Authorities, But Remains Uninvestigated at Home". The Wire. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
  24. [2]
  25. "Absorbies Awards 2025". Absorb LMS Software. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
  26. "CDM Smith Wins 2026 Client Experience Excellence Award - clientexperienceaward.com". www.clientexperienceaward.com. Retrieved 2026-06-02.
  27. "CDM Smith announces launch of subsidiary Trinnex". Water Finance & Management. 2022-01-12. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  28. Godwin, Angela (November 18, 2019). "A Model of Waterworks Engineering". waterworld.com. WaterWorld. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  29. Peeples, Lynne (July 15, 2021). "The US city that proves replacing lead water lines needn't be a pipe dream". The Guardian. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  30. "Wadi Al Arab System II water conveyance project begins operation". The Jordan Times. November 12, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  31. Reece, Myers (May 22, 2020). "Construction Wrapping Up at Facility to be Used in Case of COVID-19 Spike". flatheadbeacon.com. Flathead Beacon. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  32. Warfield, Edwin (May 31, 2018). "ACEC/MA Announces CDM Smith as a 2018 winner of Gold Engineering Excellence Award". boston.citybizlist.com. citybizlist. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  33. "Northwest Water Treatment Plant Expansion & Reverse Osmosis Treatment Upgrades". brunswickcountync.gov. Brunswick County. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  34. LeBlanc, Alan (August 4, 2023). "Removing PFAS From Drinking Water". waterworld.com. WaterWorld. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  35. "JEA Water Purification R&D Project". wwdmag.com. Water & Wastes Digest. January 11, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  36. "TxDoT's US 67 Corridor Master Plan honored with Transportation Achievement Award". El Paso Herald-Post. October 1, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  37. "Landmark Lesotho Dam and Water Supply Program honored with CMAA awards". waterworld.com. Waterworld. October 20, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  38. Sorenson, Tim (December 12, 2016). "Is Autonomous Bus Rapid Transit the Next Evolution of BRT?". masstransitmag.com. Mass Transit. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  39. "DC Water unveils $470M waste-to-energy project using first-of-its-kind technology". waterworld.com. WaterWorld. October 8, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
Bibliography

Bibliography