A couple of weeks ago, I attended my second in-person conference since the start of the pandemic—the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Small Business Conference. In addition to providing an excellent opportunity to network face-to-face with 3,000 attendees, the conference had many informative sessions on federal opportunities, business leadership, contracting requirements, and marketing techniques.
Although I attended several of these sessions, the highlight for me was participating in a panel discussion with four of my colleagues from other architecture-engineering (AE) companies. It was about the impact the pandemic had on the AE industry, and what changes our industry needs to make in the post-pandemic world. Our panel focused on four burning questions that people engaged in federal business development are asking.
How did the pandemic affect AE business planning?
The pandemic made it much more difficult to gather information on opportunities. Pre-pandemic, you could visit in-person with key members of federal agency offices to get information on upcoming opportunities. As in-person meetings nearly disappeared, even when working on agency contracts/task orders, we had to schedule calls and video meetings with key agency people to get information. This is doable for agencies where you hold a contract. It’s much more difficult to do for agencies where your firm is unknown.
What does it take to implement a post-pandemic federal business strategy?
Although there is a huge demand for face-to-face meetings as we move forward, we learned a lot about working virtually during the pandemic; both people and agencies enjoy the convenience and focus of virtual engagement. Virtual versus in-person preference varies by location, agency, office and person. Post pandemic, AE firms will need to be adept to in-person, virtual, and hybrid (virtual and in-person at same time) engagement. Firms must also use virtual communication platforms that agencies can access. For example, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Districts generally cannot access Microsoft Teams used by non-government organizations.
During the pandemic, virtual meetings, virtual reality, and enhanced reality technology—as well as the cost savings driven by virtual meetings/conferences—have become the new standard. Firms need to embrace these and integrate them into their federal business development efforts.
Why do I need a new federal marketing strategy post-pandemic?
Many federal clients like the convenience of virtual engagement. Plus, climate change adaptation and resiliency requirements; diversity, equity and inclusion (DBIE) requirements; and increased federal regulatory requirements (cyber security, task order competition, vaccine mandates) have increased the cost of competing in the federal market. This makes the cost savings most firms saw during the pandemic an important factor to consider when deciding whether to return to the old ways of doing business development. Finally, government contractor mandates are challenging an already stressed AE federal market labor pool: firms need a strategy to deal with it.
What is something I should do now to address post-pandemic federal client needs?
Two things: 1) become adept at in-person, virtual, and hybrid engagement and project delivery, and 2) understand and be prepared to meet federal regulatory requirements.
Our panel also discussed the importance of strategic partnering to compete for, win, and execute federal projects. The competition is fierce as we compete with other firms and strive to mitigate the perceived and/or actual lack of human connection at federal agencies. This led to employee depression, disengagement, and “the great resignation.” Post-pandemic, many firms are moving toward more flexibility in work locations and schedules. Although this offers many advantages, it can diminish the teamwork and connection employees may get in the office. Finding the right balance and maintaining that human connection will be important.
The federal AE market has had to adapt significantly over the past two years. We had to learn quickly how to overcome numerous challenges, and we learned much that will be useful along the way. I am confident we will continue to adapt and apply lessons learned as we move toward a new normal.
