Thanks for information, regarding beam and plate clarification, they have used this on previous projects not sure of the justification for the steel plates on previous projects,not sure of all of the details for this site yet.
Re:fattdat - some states break out the distinction for certain items such as retaining walls,shoring,etc. For example in Illinois a retaining wall over 4-feet high requires Structural Engineer Stamp, my geotech engineer here in Illinois indicated that shoring in IL must also be desinged by a structural engineer.