Natural Resources Consulting Engineers

What Natural Resources Consulting Engineers does

Natural Resources Consulting Engineers (NRCE) is a private civil, environmental, and water resources consulting firm founded in 1989 and headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado. The firm operates from three offices: a Colorado headquarters in Fort Collins, a California office in Oakland, and an East Africa office in Asmara, Eritrea. NRCE delivers professional engineering services to federal, state, tribal, and international government clients, with disclosed project experience spanning over two dozen countries, predominantly in Africa. The company maintains a 11-50 employee headcount and is led by Dr. Woldezion Mesghinna as President and Principal Engineer.

NRCE's service portfolio spans surface water hydrology, groundwater investigations and modeling, water rights adjudication, agricultural and irrigation engineering, water collection and treatment systems, environmental and watershed studies, CAD/GIS/GPS services, and hydropower generation consulting. The firm's most differentiated technical asset is mCanal, a proprietary macOS software application based on a mathematical model for one-dimensional, incompressible, unsteady-flow hydraulic simulation of open-channel water systems, used to evaluate hydraulic performance under varying infrastructure, operational, and training scenarios. mCanal supports simple open channels and branching networks with flow-control structures including gates, weirs, flumes, and pumps. The remainder of the technology stack is built around conventional engineering tooling (CAD, GIS, GPS, satellite imagery) integrated into project delivery.

NRCE generates revenue exclusively through professional services fees on project-based contracts, including feasibility studies, federal licensing support, design engineering, project management, and construction oversight. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and appears to follow standard government contractor and engineering consulting rate structures. The firm is a registered USAID small business prime contractor and serves as prime on multi-year international development vehicles such as the $22 million, five-year Senegal ACCES Task Order under USAID. Named clients include the U.S. Department of Interior, the Pechanga Tribe, the Ute Indian Tribe, the Seneca Nation of Indians, the Government of Eritrea, and USAID, with work spanning FERC hydropower licensing, tribal water rights negotiation, pumped storage feasibility, municipal water supply design, and international agricultural development. Go-to-market is sales-led via direct government contracting, conference participation, and business development outreach.

Name

Natural Resources Consulting Engineers

Legal name

Natural Resources Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Website

https://nrce.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Natural Resources Consulting Engineers is a civil, environmental, and water resources consulting firm serving federal, tribal, and international government clients with irrigation, hydrology, hydropower, and water rights engineering services from offices in Colorado, California, and Eritrea.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Water Resources Engineering Consulting

NAICS

Engineering Services (541330), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Environmental Consulting Services (54162)

akta.pro primary industry

Water, Wastewater & Hydraulics Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Construction Management & Delivery (EPCM/CMAR/Design-Build Oversight) (EUANALAE)

Keywords

• Water resources consulting
• Civil engineering services
• Hydropower engineering
• Irrigation engineering
• Groundwater modeling

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Collins

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consulting Services: Professional consulting services including feasibility studies, federal licensing support, design, project management, and construction services for water resources, hydropower, and environmental engineering projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

NRCE provides professional engineering consulting services spanning civil, environmental, water resources, agricultural, and irrigation disciplines, delivering feasibility studies, detailed design reports, investigations, expert witness testimony, project management, and construction oversight for government, tribal, and international clients. The firm also develops proprietary hydraulic engineering software (mCanal) for open-channel unsteady-flow simulation and offers integrated CAD, GIS, GPS, and satellite imagery services in support of its engineering practice.

Product overview

Natural Resources Consulting Engineers (NRCE) is a civil, environmental, and water resources consulting firm offering professional services primarily through named service offerings rather than a unified software platform. The core product is mCanal, a macOS software application for hydraulic modeling of open channels. The service portfolio includes Surface Water Hydrology, Groundwater Investigations & Modeling, Water Rights, Agricultural & Irrigation Engineering, Water Collection & Treatment Systems, Environmental & Watershed Studies, CAD/GIS/GPS Services, and Hydropower Generation. Services are customized from appraisal-level feasibility studies to detailed engineering design reports, investigations, expert witness testimony, and project management oversight.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• mCanal: A macOS software application based on a mathematical model for simulating one-dimensional, incompressible, unsteady-flow hydraulics of water in open channels. Developed at NRCE for analyzing hydraulic performance of system designs and redesigns.

Products and services

• Surface Water Hydrology Water resources development, management, and conservation planning consulting services for government and institutional clients.
• Groundwater Investigations & Modeling Groundwater supply assessment and modeling consulting services provided as a critical adjunct to surface water supplies.
• Water Rights Technical assistance for government, tribal, and private clients on water rights issues, including adjudication, negotiation, and settlement support.
• Agricultural & Irrigation Engineering Engineering consulting to deliver feasible, cost-effective water resource solutions for agricultural clients, including irrigation system design.
• Water Collection & Treatment Systems Design and engineering services for clean water source maintenance and water treatment systems for municipal and agricultural applications.
• Environmental & Watershed Studies Environmental and watershed assessment and study services to support environmental balance preservation for public and institutional clients.
• CAD, GIS & GPS Services Computer-Aided Design, Geographic Information Systems, Global Positioning System, and satellite imagery services supporting engineering design and analysis.
• Hydropower Generation Engineering consulting for conventional, pumped storage, and small hydropower projects, including feasibility studies, federal licensing support, design, and construction services.
• mCanal A macOS software application based on a mathematical model for simulating one-dimensional, incompressible, unsteady-flow hydraulics of water in open channels, developed by NRCE to analyze hydraulic performance of system designs, redesigns, infrastructure changes, and operational variations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Established first automated stream gauge network in Eritrea
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• USAIDcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016NRCE serves USAID as a small business prime contractor, providing water sector technical support related to water in assisting sponsoring units in Bureaus and Missions worldwide.
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner under USAID Senegal ACCES Task Order, providing WASH services in Senegal. CRS brings expertise in community-led sanitation and market-based approaches to sanitation.
• Population Services International (PSI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner under USAID Senegal ACCES Task Order, working on sanitation market development and hygiene behavior change in Senegal.
• IMPAQ InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner under USAID Senegal ACCES Task Order, providing monitoring and evaluation expertise.
• StantecminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner under USAID Senegal ACCES Task Order for water and sanitation infrastructure consulting.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Tetra Tech: Engineering and consulting firm with leading Water, Environment, and International Development practices that compete for the same FERC hydropower, surface water, and USAID donor-funded work that NRCE pursues.
• Black & Veatch: Large engineering, procurement, and construction firm with a Water business serving utilities and federal agencies — competes for the same municipal water, hydropower, and federal infrastructure mandates as NRCE.
• AECOM: Global infrastructure consulting firm with a Water and Environment practice that competes for the same federal, tribal, and international water-resources mandates and has the scale to bid on mega-projects NRCE cannot pursue solo.
• HDR Inc. Engineering firm with a sizable Water Resources practice covering hydrology, hydraulics, hydropower, and water treatment — closely aligned with NRCE's service portfolio and target public-sector clients.
• MWH Global (now Stantec): Pre-acquisition specialist in water and hydropower engineering consulting; its capabilities map directly to NRCE's hydrology, hydropower, and water-resources services and is now part of Stantec, the principal competitor.
• Stantec: Global engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting firm with a large Water practice that directly competes for the same USAID, federal, and municipal water-resources work as NRCE. Stantec is already named as a partner on NRCE's Senegal ACCES task order, underscoring direct overlap.
• Kleinfelder: Engineering, scientific, and consulting firm with water resources, environmental, and geotechnical practices — overlaps with NRCE on watershed studies, environmental assessment, and infrastructure consulting for public clients.
• Apex Systems / WSP Global Water Practice: Global consulting firm with a Water practice delivering hydrology, hydraulics, and water-resources engineering for federal, state, and international clients — competes for the same donor-funded and tribal water mandates as NRCE.

Direct peers

• Carollo Engineers: Specialist water and wastewater engineering consulting firm focused on municipal water treatment and hydraulic design — directly comparable to NRCE's water collection, treatment, and hydraulics engineering services.
• Brown and Caldwell: Water-focused environmental engineering and consulting firm serving utilities and government clients — comparable in service mix (hydrology, treatment, environmental) and target buyer profile to NRCE.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Natural Resources Consulting Engineers