Business developmentforSavannah AEC firms.
BD-AEC embeds a business development department for Savannah 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 Savannah market
Who buys design and construction here
Savannah is a small, concentrated AEC market where a handful of outsized owners set the table. About 138 design and construction firms compete here, including 75 engineering firms, and the port drives more of that demand than anything else.
Savannah buys design and construction on the back of its port. The Georgia Ports Authority runs Garden City Terminal, the largest single-operator container terminal in North America, and it's mid-way through a $4.5 billion expansion that includes the Ocean Terminal rebuild finishing in 2026 and a whole new Savannah Container Terminal on Hutchinson Island. That port gravity pulled in the region's defining megaproject: Hyundai's $7.6 billion Metaplant America in Bryan County, about 25 miles west of downtown, which opened in 2025 and dragged a wave of 17 suppliers and roughly $2.7 billion more in plant work behind it. Add Gulfstream Aerospace, the area's largest private employer at more than 11,000 workers and mid-expansion on its G400, G500, and G600 lines, the Memorial Health and St. Joseph's/Candler systems, SCAD's deep historic-preservation portfolio, and a tourism build headlined by Plant Riverside and the $276 million Convention Center expansion, and you have a market with far more capital than its size suggests.
It's a small AEC town, and a tightly held one. Homegrown primes like Thomas & Hutton and Hussey Gay Bell have anchored here since the 1940s and 1950s, they know the port, the airport, and the county owners cold, and they show up on job after job. With only about 138 design and construction firms in the whole metro, the field isn't crowded so much as it's owned: the same firms, the same facilities directors, and the same program managers recur, and selection runs on who they already trust, not the low number from a name they don't know.
Port and logistics work, Hyundai supplier campuses, health-system towers, airport projects, and GDOT programs create different pursuit paths in Savannah. Each calls for relevant relationships and a clear story. 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)
Ports & logistics
The Georgia Ports Authority and its $4.5B expansion, Garden City Terminal, the Ocean Terminal rebuild, and the new Savannah Container Terminal on Hutchinson Island, plus the warehousing and distribution boom along I-16 and I-95.
Manufacturing & industrial
Hyundai's $7.6B Metaplant America in Bryan County and the 17-plus supplier plants trailing it, Gulfstream Aerospace's G400, G500, and G600 expansion, and the metro's largest private employer footprint.
Healthcare systems
Memorial Health's $265M patient tower and its new Pooler and Richmond Hill emergency departments, and St. Joseph's/Candler's Pooler campus expansion across the region.
Public infrastructure & aviation
GDOT, the City of Savannah, Chatham County, and Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport's $400M campus program, including the concourse expansion and the I-95 interchange upgrade.
Institutional & hospitality
SCAD and its portfolio of roughly 70 restored historic buildings, the $276M Savannah Convention Center expansion, and a tourism build led by Plant Riverside, the JW Marriott, and the new Ritz-Carlton in the historic district.
RFPs and bids
Where Savannah architecture and engineering work gets advertised
These are the agencies and institutions that put architecture and engineering work out to bid in Savannah, 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 Savannah, Procurement and Contracts Division
Design and engineering for streets, drainage, water and sewer, parks and municipal buildings, solicited through the city's Infor supplier portal using NIGP commodity codes.
Chatham County Purchasing and Contracting Department
Countywide facilities, drainage and public works work; formal sealed solicitations above $25,000 post for at least 10 days and are awarded by the Board of Commissioners.
Savannah-Chatham County Public School System
School construction, additions and facility upgrades driven by the ESPLOST capital program; solicitations are released only to firms actively registered in its Bonfire portal.
Georgia Ports Authority
Marine terminal civil, structural and utility engineering, currently including the Garden City Terminal Civil Improvements Program and Colonel's Island Terminal yard and gate work.
Savannah Airport Commission
Airfield, terminal and landside design at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, advertised through its own procurement portal with a DBE and ACDBE program attached.
Chatham Area Transit Authority
Transit facility and waterfront work, including the Plant Riverside ferry dock and shelter and ferry maintenance facilities, posted directly on its own opportunities page.
Georgia Department of Transportation District 5
Roadway, bridge and traffic design across 26 southeast Georgia counties, with Chatham, Bryan and Liberty run out of the Savannah Area 5 office at 630 West Boundary Street.
Where solicitations are posted
How selection works here
Georgia does run a qualifications-based process, O.C.G.A. Title 50 Chapter 22, but it binds state agencies and authorities such as GDOT and the Georgia Ports Authority rather than the City of Savannah or Chatham County, and it only triggers when a project exceeds $1 million or architecture and engineering fees exceed $75,000; the agency then shortlists no fewer than three and no more than five firms, ranks them, negotiates fee with the top-ranked firm only, and by statute gives preference to a firm with a Georgia office when qualifications appear equal. Two Georgia rules quietly shape who wins: O.C.G.A. 50-6-25 makes any architecture and engineering firm that has taken more than 10 percent of total state architecture and engineering awards over a rolling 36 months ineligible for further state contracts (a separate 30 percent ceiling applies at GDOT), and GDOT work is gated behind Area Class prequalification renewed on a fixed cycle, with Chatham, Bryan and Liberty counties administered from the District 5 Savannah Area office. Locally there is no single feed to watch: Chatham County, the school system and the Savannah Airport Commission each run separate Bonfire portals where notifications are driven by the five-digit NIGP codes you select at registration, the City of Savannah runs its own Infor supplier portal and lets LSBE-certified firms bid SAVANNAH FIRST events first, the Ports Authority posts engineering projects on gaports.com and takes responses through SAP Ariba, and Chatham County's local vendor preference lets a bidder located inside Chatham County match a non-local low bid on everything except construction.
The Savannah 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 Savannah metro, buyer moves, and portal changes. No pitch, just the market.
Email scott@bd-aec.com with the subject "Savannah bid watchlist" and we'll add you.
Federal market
Federal AEC spending in Savannah
Federal agencies obligated $70M for architecture, engineering, and construction work in the Savannah metro over the last twelve months. Enough to matter as one channel among several, and small enough that a handful of firms hold most of it.
Obligated, 12 months
$70M
Across the 3-county Savannah, GA area.
Largest buyer
Department of Defense
$55M of the total.
Firms winning it
- V Line Services L.L.C · $45M
- Brasfield & Gorrie LLC · $13M
- Christie Brothers-SBG JV LLC · $4M
- C & C Contractors LLC · $4M
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 Savannah, by discipline
We embed a coordinated BD department for Savannah AEC firms. We represent one firm per discipline, project type, and market. Open your discipline’s Savannah page on the main site for the local picture.
Civil Engineering
Savannah business development for civil engineering firms.
Structural Engineering
Savannah business development for structural engineering firms.
Architecture
Savannah business development for architecture firms.
Land Surveying & Geospatial
Savannah business development for land surveying & geospatial firms.
Landscape Architecture
Savannah business development for landscape architecture firms.
Construction Management
Savannah business development for construction management firms.
Transportation & Traffic Engineering
Savannah business development for transportation & traffic engineering firms.
Testing & Special Inspection
Savannah business development for testing & special inspection firms.
Why us, here
An embedded BD department for Savannah
Savannah is one of the select major markets BD-AEC takes on beyond its home corridor, and it's a market built for this model. In a metro this small and this concentrated, work flows to the firms the port authority, the health systems, and the county owners already trust, and those relationships take years to build. An embedded BD department that’s out working those owners and primes, week after week, adds capacity around your principals while they stay involved in key relationships.
By policy, BD-AEC represents one firm per discipline, project type, and market, an ethical line that protects every client's pipeline. In a market as small as Savannah, that matters even more: it means an exclusive BD partner who will never walk your relationships across the street to a competitor chasing the same port, Hyundai-supplier, or hospital work.
On the ground in Savannah
Savannah, up close
Questions
Straight answers
Does BD-AEC work the Savannah market?
Yes, as one of the select major markets we take on beyond our home corridor. We won't pretend to have a Savannah office or to know every local owner by name from down the street, that wouldn't be honest. What we bring is an embedded BD department that works the port, the health systems, and the public owners for you directly, and builds the relationships in a small market where everyone knows everyone.
What kind of AEC firms do you represent in Savannah?
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.
Savannah is a small market where a few homegrown primes own the relationships. Can we still break in?
Yes, but not by underbidding the incumbents. Firms like Thomas & Hutton and Hussey Gay Bell have held the port, airport, and county relationships here for decades, so the way in is to be known and trusted for the work you do best, not to be the cheapest stranger. We position your firm with the owners and program managers who decide, so you're the name they think of when your kind of work comes up.
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 Savannah.
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.