Business developmentforJacksonville AEC firms.
BD-AEC embeds a business development department for Jacksonville architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Senior leadership, market intelligence, creative capacity, and consistent execution give your principals a team behind their next stage of growth.
Outsourced growth infrastructure
A department behind your growth
Leadership, intelligence, creative capacity, and follow-through, working together as part of your firm.
01
Strategy
Choose the work worth pursuing. Market intelligence and Creative Mapping connect your strengths with the right buyers, partners, and opportunities.
02
Creativity
Give buyers a reason to remember you. Positioning, story, and proposals turn technical expertise into a clear case for choosing your firm.
03
Execution
Keep the work moving. Outreach, relationships, pursuit coordination, and regular reviews turn decisions into a repeatable business development practice. Kinetic Rebalance adjusts the effort as evidence changes, including doing less.
Strategy + Creativity + Execution = Growth
The strategy + creativity principle comes from our partners at BLDG Brands. BD-AEC adds execution.
Scott leads the relationship as CEO and Strategic Partner. The department brings the capacity around him. Your principals stay involved in technical decisions and key relationships; we establish the rhythm and carry the work forward together.
Explore the embedded departmentThe Jacksonville market
Who buys design and construction here
Jacksonville is a sprawling market built on the Navy, the river, and a downtown that's finally building at full tilt. About 660 design and construction firms compete here, including 349 engineering firms, chasing a pipeline where the same owners and selection committees recur job after job.
Jacksonville buys design and construction across a wide, layered market. Defense anchors the federal side: Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport, the third-largest naval surface fleet concentration in the country, generate a steady MILCON pipeline, with the USACE Jacksonville District running much of it. The river drives the rest, from JAXPORT and SSA Atlantic at Blount Island to CSX and Jacksonville-based Crowley on the logistics side. Healthcare buyers build without pause: Mayo Clinic has poured more than $1 billion into its campus since 2016 and is adding a 210-acre North Campus, while Baptist Health, UF Health, and Ascension St. Vincent's keep tower and campus work in motion. Add fintech owners FIS, Fidelity National Financial, and Dun & Bradstreet, plus a roughly $6.5 billion downtown pipeline headlined by the $1.4 billion Jaguars Stadium of the Future and Gateway Jax's $500 million Pearl Square, and this is a market with more capital in play than its size suggests.
It's a deep AEC town, not an open one. Homegrown primes headquarter here and hold the relationships nationals fly in to chase: Haskell, a fully integrated design-build firm doing roughly $2 billion a year, and RS&H, one of Florida's largest architecture and engineering firms, both call Jacksonville home, alongside a well-known general-contractor tier that includes Auld & White. The same owners, program managers, and selection committees recur on job after job, so the field is crowded and competitive. Being new to Jacksonville is not enough; you have to be known to the people who decide.
Jacksonville brings together base facilities teams, health systems, port owners, and downtown development. Choosing where to focus matters as much as keeping up with the opportunity list. BD-AEC brings strategy, creativity, and execution together in an embedded department, connecting market intelligence with relationships, positioning, and pursuit support. Your principals contribute the technical judgment; our team helps carry the work forward.
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (NAICS 5413, 2022)
Federal & defense
Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport, the third-largest surface fleet concentration in the country, plus the USACE Jacksonville District running the MILCON pipeline.
Ports & maritime
JAXPORT and SSA Atlantic at Blount Island, CSX, and Jacksonville-based Crowley, the anchors of the region's logistics economy.
Healthcare systems
Mayo Clinic's billion-dollar campus buildout and 210-acre North Campus, Baptist Health's McGehee Family Tower, UF Health Jacksonville, and Ascension St. Vincent's.
Downtown & private development
The $1.4B Jaguars Stadium of the Future, Gateway Jax's $500M Pearl Square, and the Downtown Investment Authority driving a roughly $6.5B pipeline.
Corporate HQs & homegrown primes
Fintech owners FIS, Fidelity National Financial, and Dun & Bradstreet, plus locally headquartered primes like Haskell and RS&H who hold the relationships nationals chase.
RFPs and bids
Where Jacksonville architecture and engineering work gets advertised
These are the agencies and institutions that put architecture and engineering work out to bid in Jacksonville, and the portals where they post it. Bookmark them. Winning the work is a different job from finding it, and finding it is the part you can do yourself.
City of Jacksonville
Consolidated city and Duval County government whose Public Works Engineering and Construction Management Division buys roadway, drainage, park and public-building design plus field survey and mapping, solicited by the Office of Administrative Services Procurement Division through the city's 1Cloud (Oracle Fusion) e-procurement system.
JEA
City-owned electric, water and wastewater utility (541,076 electric and 407,161 water customers) currently soliciting design services for Buckman Water Reclamation Facility upgrades, progressive design-build for a transmission line, and wetland mitigation bank engineering and permitting.
Florida Department of Transportation District Two
Northeast Florida district covering 18 counties including Duval, with a Jacksonville Urban Office at 2198 Edison Avenue, buying roadway and structures design, surveying and mapping, planning, right of way and CEI services from prequalified consultants.
Jacksonville Transportation Authority
Regional transit and roadway authority buying planning, design and construction engineering services through its OpenGov procurement portal, with DBE, SBE and Local SBE participation applied to professional services contracts over $100,000.
Jacksonville Aviation Authority
Operator of Jacksonville International Airport and Cecil Airport, currently advertising RFQ No. 26-25-42001 Architectural/Engineering Consultant Services alongside airfield work such as the Cecil Airport Taxiway A rehabilitation, with responses submitted through DemandStar.
Jacksonville Port Authority
Marine terminal owner whose active Requests for Qualifications include design for reconstruction of BIMT Berths 30 to 32, aggregate terminal design, port-wide rail expansion design, and term civil, structural and marine engineering consulting.
Duval County Public Schools
County-wide school district procuring architectural and engineering services for school construction, renovation and facilities work through its Purchasing department.
Where solicitations are posted
- City of Jacksonville Procurement Division (links to COJ Solicitations in 1Cloud)
- City of Jacksonville Public Works Prospective Bid Opportunities (Professional Services Forecast, Construction Bid Forecast, Continuing Contract Forecast)
- JEA Formal Procurement Opportunities
- FDOT Procurement Advertisements (Professional Services)
- JAXPORT Active Solicitations
How selection works here
Every public buyer here sits under Florida's Consultants' Competitive Negotiation Act (s. 287.055, F.S.), which covers the state, municipalities, political subdivisions and school districts alike, so architecture and engineering work is pure QBS: the agency publicly announces the need, shortlists no fewer than three firms on qualifications alone, and may request and consider compensation only during negotiation with the top-ranked firm, triggered whenever estimated construction exceeds CATEGORY FIVE ($325,000) or a planning or study activity exceeds CATEGORY TWO ($35,000) under s. 287.017. FDOT District Two is a closed door until you are prequalified under Rule 14-75, F.A.C. (Qualification, Selection and Performance Evaluation Requirements for Professional Consultants to Perform Work for DOT), which means approved work-type codes plus a current overhead audit; locally the recurring money is in continuing contracts, capped by CCNA at $7.5 million of estimated construction per project or $500,000 in study fees and CPI-indexed since July 1, 2025, and City of Jacksonville Public Works publishes a rolling four-quarter Professional Services Forecast and a separate Continuing Contract Forecast so you can see what is coming before it advertises. Participation rules decide team composition: the City and JEA both run the Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business (JSEB) program, certified through the City's Equal Business Opportunity office for Duval County firms and carrying a stated 20 percent annual department goal, while JTA layers on a Local Small Business Enterprise program open only to firms headquartered in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau or St. Johns counties, with contract-specific goals on non-federally funded professional services contracts over $100,000 and a low-bid discount capped at $50,000.
The Jacksonville bid watchlist
Finding the work is a job in itself. Once a quarter we send this page's market to your inbox: new federal awards in the Jacksonville metro, buyer moves, and portal changes. No pitch, just the market.
Email scott@bd-aec.com with the subject "Jacksonville bid watchlist" and we'll add you.
Federal market
Federal AEC spending in Jacksonville
Federal agencies obligated $403M for architecture, engineering, and construction work in the Jacksonville metro over the last twelve months. That is a large enough channel to build a practice around, and the firms below are already positioned in it.
Obligated, 12 months
$403M
Across the 5-county Jacksonville, FL area.
Largest buyer
Department of Defense
$349M of the total.
Firms winning it
- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc · $45M
- Sauer Construction, LLC · $39M
- The Haskell Company · $36M
- EMR, Inc · $33M
Federal prime contract awards, USASpending.gov, twelve months to August 2026. Federal work is one slice of this market and excludes state, municipal, institutional, and private owners.
By discipline
BD-AEC in Jacksonville, by discipline
We embed a coordinated BD department for Jacksonville AEC firms. We represent one firm per discipline, project type, and market. Open your discipline’s Jacksonville page on the main site for the local picture.
Civil Engineering
Jacksonville business development for civil engineering firms.
Structural Engineering
Jacksonville business development for structural engineering firms.
Architecture
Jacksonville business development for architecture firms.
Land Surveying & Geospatial
Jacksonville business development for land surveying & geospatial firms.
Landscape Architecture
Jacksonville business development for landscape architecture firms.
Construction Management
Jacksonville business development for construction management firms.
Transportation & Traffic Engineering
Jacksonville business development for transportation & traffic engineering firms.
Testing & Special Inspection
Jacksonville business development for testing & special inspection firms.
Why us, here
An embedded BD department for Jacksonville
BD-AEC runs business development in Jacksonville, and Scott knows the owners, primes, and agencies who decide here by name. In a market where the same base facilities officers, port owners, health-system planners, and homegrown primes recur on job after job, that knowledge is the difference between a cold proposal and a warm introduction. We work these relationships directly, not from a distance.
By policy, BD-AEC represents one firm per discipline, project type, and market, an ethical line that protects every client's pipeline. For a Jacksonville firm, that means an exclusive BD partner who will never walk your relationships across the street to a competitor chasing the same Navy, JAXPORT, or stadium work.
Questions
Straight answers
Does BD-AEC know the Jacksonville market?
Yes. BD-AEC runs business development in Jacksonville, and Scott knows the owners, primes, and public agencies here by name, from the base facilities officers at Mayport and NAS Jacksonville to the JAXPORT and Downtown Investment Authority owners and the FDOT District 2 team. He works them directly, not from a distance.
What kind of AEC firms do you represent in Jacksonville?
Principal-led architecture, engineering, construction, and specialty firms, typically $500K to $20M in annual revenue, that need a more consistent growth function. We bring leadership, intelligence, creative capacity, and execution around the principals. By policy, we represent one firm per discipline, project type, and market, so we don't represent competing interests.
How is an embedded BD department different from hiring a BD director?
A strong internal hire can be the right choice when you have the budget, support, and work to sustain the role. BD-AEC brings a coordinated function: senior leadership, market intelligence, positioning, proposals and SOQs, relationships, and execution. If you're looking for fractional business development, this is a department model with capacity around the leader. We still need onboarding, access to your expertise, and your principals' participation in key decisions.
Jacksonville is dominated by big homegrown primes like Haskell and RS&H. Can a smaller firm still compete?
Yes, but not by underbidding the incumbents. The owners here hire on reputation and relationships, and there's steady teaming, subconsultant, and niche work that the big primes don't chase or can't self-perform. We position your firm as the known specialist the owners and primes reach for, so you're on the team when the work comes up, not the stranger on the outside.
How do we start?
Tell us about your firm and your market using the form below. Scott will respond within one business day to set up a discovery call and tell you honestly whether your discipline and market are open.
Your next move
Build your next chapter in Jacksonville.
Tell us where you want your firm to go and what's getting in the way. We'll look at your market, your current capacity, and whether an embedded BD department is the right fit.
Scott Mann
CEO | Strategic Partner
Scott will respond within one business day. Your first conversation covers your goals, availability in your discipline and market, and a practical next step.
Let's talk about your firm
A few details help Scott prepare for a useful conversation.
This requests a conversation. Scott will follow up to arrange a time. How we use your information.