5 min readProposal Operations
How to Comment on a FAR Proposed Rule: A Guide for A/E Firms
Two FAR proposed rules that reach A/E firms close for comment October 19. How to file on regulations.gov, what to write, and what to keep out of it.
Blog
Practical guides on proposal operations, resume management, and winning more work for engineering and construction firms.
5 min readProposal Operations
Use the CR's Ten Weeks to Fix Your Qualifications Library
FY2027 opened under a CR that bars new starts until December 11. That's ten quiet weeks on the federal desk. Here's the library work that fits in them.
6 min readProposal Operations
The FAR 6% A/E Fee Cap: What the Proposed Rule Changes
A September 18 proposed rule would limit the FAR's 6 percent A/E fee cap to cost-type contracts. What changes, what doesn't, and what to do by October 19.
5 min readResume Management
Key Personnel Substitution After Award: The 128-Day Problem
Your proposal named key personnel, and the contract holds you to them. What substitution requires when one leaves, and the part of 128 days you control.
9 min readProposal Operations
FAR Part 36 Proposed Rule: What Changes for A/E Proposal Teams
The September 18 FAR Part 36 proposed rule keeps the SF330, drops the A/E selection criteria, and makes debriefs optional. What to change before October 19.
5 min readProposal Operations
Is Your Proposal PDF Searchable? The Flattened-Page Test
A project sheet or resume saved as an image has no text an evaluator can search, copy, or hear read aloud. A five-minute test, the usual causes, and the fix.
5 min readProposal Operations
Nobody at Your Firm Chose Your Proposal Template
Most AEC proposal templates are inherited go-by files full of decisions nobody wrote down. Why that is a knowledge problem, and why a new tool won't fix it.
9 min readResume Management
How to Tailor a Resume for a Proposal Without Starting Over
How to tailor a key personnel resume for a proposal: what evaluators score, what you can change and what you can't, and why tailoring starts from a full record.
5 min readWinning Work
FHWA August Redistribution: What It Means for A/E Firms
FHWA's August Redistribution moved just over $7.5 billion to state DOTs for FY2026, due by September 25. Why it rewards ready projects, and what A/E firms should read.
5 min readWinning Work
What a No-Bid Costs You With a Client You Already Have
Declining a pursuit is free on the P&L and expensive on the account. What a no-bid actually costs with a client you already have, and who pays the bill.
8 min readProposal Operations
Federal A/E Debriefings: What You Get and What You Don't
On a federal A/E selection the debriefing is automatic and needs no request. But FAR 36.607 withholds the ranking, the scores, and the award rationale.
5 min readResume Management
The Engineering Talent Shortage Changed What Resumes Are For
Specialists are among the scarcest resources in design, and clients pick partners on depth. Why that turns key personnel resumes from paperwork into the pitch.
6 min readWinning Work
How to Choose Which Projects Go in Your SOQ
Most firms default to their biggest or newest work. A four-dimension ranking method for choosing SOQ project examples, and what to do about near-misses.
7 min readProposal Operations
Can You Claim a Project From Another Firm on an SF330?
An engineer joined from a firm that did the exact project this RFP wants. What SF330 Section E allows, what Section F does not, and where it shows.
8 min readProposal Operations
Is the SF330 Changing in 2026? What the FAR Council Said
The FAR Council said SF330 changes would need rulemaking. That rule published September 18, and it leaves the form alone. What it settles, with the citation.
5 min readWinning Work
Proposal Activity Is Up Because Backlogs Thinned First
AEC proposal activity hit +23.4 in July while backlog growth halved. The two numbers are months apart, and the order explains what happens to your team next.
6 min readProposal Operations
How to Build a Compliance Matrix for an SOQ or SF330
A compliance matrix maps every solicitation requirement to where you answered it. How to build one, and the three failure modes it exists to catch.
5 min readWinning Work
Your Pursuit Pipeline Is a Hiring Tool, Not a Scoreboard
Your backlog says you are covered. It cannot tell you who to hire. That is the job of a twelve-month pursuit pipeline view. Worth checking you have one.
7 min readWinning Work
What A/E Firms Should Do Before FY2027 Starts
Federal FY2027 starts October 1 under an enacted CR running to December 11. What the new-starts bar blocks, and how A/E firms position before it opens.
5 min readWinning Work
The Extension Passed. Your Transit and Rail Pipeline Didn't.
The Senate stopgap extends highway programs to December 11 but lets IIJA transit and rail advance appropriations expire September 30. What that splits.
5 min readWinning Work
Record Margins Came From the Pursuits Firms Didn't Chase
A/E firms just posted record profit margins. Two of the five drivers PSMJ named are pursuit decisions, not delivery decisions. What that means for go/no-go.
9 min readWinning Work
What an IIJA Extension Means for Your 2027 Pipeline
Congress extended the IIJA to December 11 instead of passing a new surface transportation bill. What that does to A/E pursuit planning for 2027.
12 min readProposal Operations
ADA Title II and Your AEC Proposal Documents: What Changed
A federal rule is pushing document accessibility into public RFPs. What changed in April 2026, what it actually requires, and what breaks in your template.
6 min readProposal Operations
Why Firms Stop Building Their Own Proposal Tools
Most AEC firms try building a resume database or pursuit tracker in-house. Here is why those tools stall, and how to decide whether to build or buy.
11 min readWinning Work
What WRDA 2026 Means for Water and Wastewater Pursuits
Two different WRDA 2026 bills cleared committee in July and neither has passed. What that means for firms chasing municipal water and wastewater work.
7 min readProposal Operations
How Many Proposals Can Your Firm Actually Support?
Your pursuit ceiling is set by senior engineer hours, not proposal staff. Here's the arithmetic to calculate what your firm can realistically chase.
9 min readWinning Work
Prime or Sub? Deciding Your Role as AEC Firms Consolidate
AEC M&A hit 361 deals in 2025 and private equity now drives 38% of them. Here's how consolidation changes the prime-versus-sub decision on your next pursuit.
6 min readWinning Work
How On-Call, IDIQ, and MATOC Contracts Work for A/E Firms
On-call, IDIQ, and MATOC contracts award the vehicle first, then issue work as task orders. Here's how they work and how A/E firms win them.
10 min readResume Management
Build a Reusable Qualifications Library for Every Pursuit
Most firms rebuild the same SOQ content every pursuit. Here's how to build a reusable qualifications library you assemble from instead of rewriting.
7 min readWinning Work
Engineering Firms Are Healthy and Bracing. The Pursuit Play.
The ACEC Q3 2026 survey shows firms hiring hard into a negative 12-month outlook. What a healthy but bracing engineering market means for your pursuit strategy.
6 min readWinning Work
Architecture Billings Keep Weakening. What to Do Before 2027
The AIA/Deltek ABI read 47.2 in August, extending the longest slump in the index's history. What a weak leading indicator means for A/E pursuits into 2027.
8 min readProposal Operations
How to Write a Winning SOQ: What Evaluators Actually Score
How to write an SOQ that scores: what A/E evaluators look for, how to structure each section, and the five mistakes that quietly lose shortlist points.
6 min readWinning Work
Your Firm's RFP Miss Rate Is Probably 10 to 19 Percent
AEC firms never respond to 10 to 19 percent of the RFPs that come in. What an untracked miss rate costs, why it happens, and how to start shrinking it.
5 min readProposal Operations
Your Proposal Bottleneck Is Waiting on Engineers, Not Writing
The most-cited AEC proposal bottleneck isn't drafting. It's waiting on a billable engineer for a fee, a name, an old project fact. Here's how to shrink it.
9 min readWinning Work
State DOT Prequalification: The Step Before the SOQ
Most state DOTs require firms to prequalify by work category before they can pursue A/E work. Here's how prequalification works and how to stay eligible.
7 min readWinning Work
What Qualifications-Based Selection Means for Your Proposals
Federal and most state A/E work is awarded on qualifications, not price. Here's how QBS works and what it changes about how you write proposals.
5 min readWinning Work
Design Revenue Hit a Record. Your Firm May Not Feel It.
ENR's 2026 Top 500 shows design revenue at a record high, driven by data centers and the largest firms. Here's where the reachable work is for everyone else.
6 min readWinning Work
How to Turn DOT BUILD Grant Awards Into Your Next Pursuits
DOT awarded $1.74B in BUILD grants across 127 projects on July 7. Each award starts an A/E pursuit pipeline. Here's how to find the work before the RFQs get crowded.
10 min readProposal Operations
What Goes in SF330 Part II and How to Keep It Current
SF330 Part II is your firm's general qualifications form. Here's what goes in each block, why it goes stale, and how to keep it current for every pursuit.
5 min readWinning Work
Evaluators Can Tell When AI Wrote Your Proposal
Evaluators are noticing that AI-written project descriptions all sound alike. Sameness doesn't get you disqualified. It gets you forgotten.
7 min readProposal Operations
What AI Actually Works for in SF330 Proposals
AI helps with some SF330 tasks and quietly hurts on others. Here's the line between what to hand to AI and what still needs a human's judgment.
5 min readProposal Operations
Amplify A/E/C 2026: What Proposal Teams Are Talking About
Amplify A/E/C 2026 runs July 27–29 in Las Vegas. Here's what the SMPS program signals AEC proposal teams are focused on this year, and where to go deeper.
6 min readProposal Operations
The SF330 May Be Changing: What to Know Before July 21
Federal agencies opened a public comment period on the SF330 through July 21, 2026. Not a form change yet, but the formal door to one. What firms should know.
5 min readWinning Work
Five Things That Win a Proposal When You're Not the Incumbent
Most proposal advice describes what every firm already does. Here are five things that actually win the work when your firm isn't the incumbent.
6 min readProposal Operations
Color Team Reviews: Pink, Red, and Gold for A/E Proposals
Pink, red, and gold team reviews catch proposal problems before the deadline. Here's what each color review does and how A/E firms should run them.
10 min readProposal Operations
How to Build a Proposal Performance Dashboard for A/E Firms
Proposal teams lose the budget argument without metrics. Here are the five numbers that prove your team's value and how to track them on one page.
5 min readProposal Operations
Your E&O Insurance May Not Cover AI-Drafted SF330 Content
Carriers can now exclude generative-AI losses from design-pro E&O policies. An AI overstatement in an SF330 may be an uninsured exposure. What to do about it.
5 min readWinning Work
The Federal A/E Market Is Coming Back: How to Reposition
Federal consulting spending recovered to within 0.5% of last year. Here's how A/E firms that paused federal pursuits get back in position before FY27.
9 min readResume Management
Staff Qualifications for Proposals: What to Include
What staff qualifications belong in a proposal, what evaluators actually score, and how to organize them so you stop rebuilding resumes every pursuit.
6 min readProposal Operations
How to Catch AI Hallucinations in an SF330 Before Submitting
AI doesn't write random nonsense in an SF330. It confidently overstates real people and projects. Here's a pre-submission pass to catch it.
8 min readWinning Work
BUILD America 250: What A/E Firms Need to Know
The House just approved a $580B replacement for IIJA. Here's what BUILD America 250 changes for A/E firms positioning for FY27 work.
8 min readProposal Operations
How to Respond to an RFQ Faster Without Adding Staff
Responding to an RFQ faster usually isn't a headcount problem. It's a rebuild problem. Here's how AEC firms cut RFQ turnaround without hiring.
5 min readWinning Work
Your Go/No-Go Matrix Has a Post-IIJA Blind Spot
A disciplined go/no-go process scores pursuits one at a time. In a post-IIJA funding market, that misses the real risk: correlated funding concentration.
8 min readProposal Operations
What an AEC Proposal Coordinator Does (And When to Hire One)
Most AEC firms back into the proposal coordinator role rather than designing it. Here's what the role actually does, how it differs, and when to hire.
9 min readWinning Work
How to Find What Actually Makes Your AEC Firm Different
Every AEC firm claims to be responsive, collaborative, and quality-focused. Here's how to find the real differentiators evaluators can actually score on.
5 min readWinning Work
The Job Was Decided Before You Read the RFP
Most AEC firms treat the RFP as the start of a pursuit. Capture research shows 40-80% of clients have a preferred firm before proposals are even submitted.
7 min readResume Management
The Real Proposal Bottleneck Is Finding Content, Not Writing It
Most proposal time goes to finding old content, not writing new content. Here's why AEC firms can't fix proposal speed until they fix the retrieval layer.
11 min readWinning Work
The IIJA Markup Slipped: An A/E Firm Action Plan
The May 13 House T&I markup didn't happen. Three scenarios, durable scopes, and an action plan for A/E teams, now that the IIJA runs to December 11.
7 min readProposal Operations
ENR FutureTech 2026: What It Means for Proposal Teams
ENR FutureTech 2026's most-repeated takeaway: AI as a multiplier, not a replacement. What that diagnosis means for AEC proposal teams.
7 min readProposal Operations
EO 14398: What Happens to Your Active A/E Federal Contracts
Federal agencies modify every active A/E contract — IDIQs, MATOCs, GSA Schedules, options — to add FAR 52.222-90 by July 24. What proposal teams should do.
10 min readProposal Operations
What Happens to Your Proposal Library When Three Firms Merge
AEC mergers break the proposal library first. Resumes, project sheets, past-performance matrices, certifications. The 90-day triage playbook for combined firms.
12 min readWinning Work
Telecom Revenue Is Up 87%. Where AEC Pursuits Should Aim Next.
ENR's 2026 Top 500 shows telecom revenue up 87% since 2023, driven by data centers. Where AEC firms should aim pursuits, and why it is now regional.
9 min readProposal Operations
When AI Writes Your SF330, Whose Standard of Care Is It?
Under FAR 52.222-90, an unverified AI draft in your SF330 is a certification problem. The kind of AI you use and how you verify it are the answer.
6 min readProposal Operations
SAM.gov Just Changed: What AEC Proposal Managers Need to Know
eSRS and FPDS were absorbed into SAM.gov in February 2026. What changed for AEC proposal teams who use those systems for SF330 research and reporting.
10 min readProposal Operations
53% of A/E Firms Use AI for Proposals. Win Rates Didn't Move.
AI adoption in A/E firms jumped from 38% to 53% in one year. Industry win rates didn't move. The coordination gap most firms aren't solving yet.
11 min readProposal Operations
EO 14398 and Federal AEC Proposals: What to Do by April 25
EO 14398 adds a mandatory clause to every federal contract April 25. What AEC proposal teams need to update — certs, Section H, subconsultant flow-down.
7 min readProposal Operations
Why Hiring Didn't Fix Your AEC Proposal Team's Capacity
AEC firms increased headcount last year. Net workforce growth was zero for 46% of them. Here's why proposal teams felt it first — and why the fix isn't a bigger team.
10 min readWinning Work
FEMA BRIC 2026: What A/E Firms Need to Know Before July 23
FEMA reopened BRIC with $1B and a July 23 deadline. A practical guide for A/E firms pursuing hazard mitigation work — eligible projects, procurement timeline, positioning.
5 min readWinning Work
Highway and Bridge Work Down 25%: Where Proposals Move
ENR 1Q 2026 data shows highway/bridge starts -25% and non-building +46%. Here's why that's a positioning problem for civil engineering proposal teams.
9 min readProposal Operations
Proposal Checklist for Civil Engineering Submittals
A phase-by-phase checklist for AEC proposal submittals — from go/no-go through final submission. Covers SOQs, SF330s, and RFP responses.
9 min readWinning Work
Your Federal Proposal Library Was Built for a Changing Market
Federal agencies evaluate 'relevant experience' differently. A DoD qualifications package rarely wins VA or GSA work. Here's how to audit and realign your proposal library.
10 min readProposal Operations
Why Your Proposal Team Is Burning Out Despite AI
53% of AEC proposal teams now use AI. Win rates went up 35%. Burnout didn't go down. Here's the task-level trap that explains why — and what fixes it.
12 min readWinning Work
Go/No-Go Decision Framework for Engineering Pursuits
A practical go/no-go framework for AEC firms to evaluate which RFPs and SOQs to pursue. Includes a scoring matrix, criteria checklist, and common decision traps.
10 min readWinning Work
Which Federal Agencies Are Buying A/E Services in 2026?
DoD is declining, VA and GSA are surging, and DOGE is terminating contracts. Here's where federal A/E procurement is moving in 2026 and what it means for your proposal pipeline.
11 min readProposal Operations
7 SF330 Mistakes That Cost Firms Shortlist Points
The most common SF330 errors that knock AEC firms off shortlists — and how to fix each one before your next submittal deadline.
9 min readWinning Work
RFPM.ai vs Flowcase for SF330 Proposals
Flowcase is built for large multi-office firms. RFPM.ai is built for mid-size AEC teams running SF330s and SOQs. Here's where each one wins.
10 min readResume Management
Project Experience Sheets: What They Are and How to Create Them
A project experience sheet summarizes a completed project for proposal submittals. Learn what to include, how to write one, and how to tailor sheets per pursuit.
18 min readProposal Operations
Federal Proposal Rules Changed: What A/E Firms Must Do
The FAR Council's September 18 proposed rule rewrites Part 36 and leaves the standard A/E evaluation criteria out. What SF330 teams do before October 19.
8 min readWinning Work
What IIJA Expiration Means for Your Firm's Proposal Pipeline
The IIJA's September 30, 2026 deadline passed under a short-term extension to December 11. How AEC firms should audit federal pursuit exposure now.
8 min readResume Management
How to Manage Multiple Resume Versions for Proposal Submittals
Engineering firms waste hours reformatting resumes for every pursuit. Here are five approaches to managing resume versions — from shared drives to automated generation.
10 min readProposal Operations
AI Didn't Double Your Proposal Capacity — Here's Why
Leadership thinks AI means your team can chase twice as many RFPs. The data says otherwise. Here's what AI realistically automates in AEC proposal work and where the real time savings are.
9 min readWinning Work
5 Things AEC Proposal Teams Talk About at SMPS 2026
SMPS regional conferences are happening right now. Here are the five themes dominating sessions and hallway conversations — and what they mean for your proposal process.
15 min readWinning Work
Best Proposal Software for AEC Firms That Do SF330s and SOQs
A practical comparison of eight proposal tools for AEC firms. What each one does, what it doesn't, and how to tell which bottleneck you are buying for.
15 min readProposal Operations
SF330 Form Instructions: Every Section, Block by Block
Section-by-section instructions for the current 07/2021 SF330: what each block asks for, the discipline and experience codes, page limits, and common errors.
9 min readProposal Operations
What Is an SOQ? And How It Differs From an SF330 or RFP
An SOQ is the qualifications package an owner requests to shortlist firms. How it differs from an SF330, RFP, RFQ, or RFI, and when each applies.
8 min readProposal Operations
What Is Proposal Management? A Guide for AEC Firms
The difference between firms that win 20% and 40% of pursuits usually isn't writing quality — it's how they manage the process. Here's what that looks like.