SMEC, originally Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation, is one of the leading engineering and development consultancies in the world. Over the last several years SMEC has been consistently ranked in the annual survey listings of the US technical publication Engineering News-Record and in 2006 was ranked 71 in their listing 'The Top 200 International Design Firms'.

Providing multidisciplinary consulting services in engineering, project management, environmental science and development activities, SMEC has been engaged in assignments throughout the world for 30 years.

To date SMEC has successfully completed many thousands of separate projects in Australia and in more than 79 other countries for international funding and aid agencies, as well as for government organisations and private sector clients. Major international agencies with which SMEC is registered as a consultant include the United Nations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the Islamic Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development, and the Australian Agency for International Development. SMEC is also registered with a number of government ministries in various countries and with Local, State and Federal Government authorities in Australia.

SMEC's initial expertise was developed from the work of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority (SMHEA) in the investigation, design and construction of the vast Snowy Mountains Scheme in south-eastern Australia; a multipurpose development recognised as an international engineering landmark. From the early 1960s those engineering and management skills were also utilised by the Australian Government for major development works overseas and in Australia. By the time SMEC was established as a separate organisation in 1970 its parent organisation (SMHEA) had already acquired a solid reputation in the international consulting field and was operating effectively in several countries in South-East Asia and throughout Australia.

Today SMEC's personnel and other resources are being utilised on over 150 projects throughout Australia, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific, undertaking studies, investigations, design, project implementation and management, and training as well as a variety of assignments in various individual specialist disciplines.

SMEC is committed to implementing quality assurance on all corporate activities and on projects undertaken on behalf of clients, and to this end operates under a quality assurance and environmental management system which satisfies the requirements of ISO 9001:1994 and ISO 14001:1996. SMEC is certified as a "Quality Endorsed Company" with Licence No. 0655.