Capitalizing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

We are often asked by service providers and construction firms if we know of clients with the need for laser scanning. The signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides a positive answer to this question – and it leads right to the federal and state governments.

To date 6,144 highway construction projects have been approved under the act, for a total of $17.3 billion awarded out of $23.36 billion allocated to the state Departments of Transportation.

There is an additional $9 billion allocated to the Department of Energy and $1.4 billion to the General Services Administration (with an additional $5.5 billion allocated to convert federal buildings into high-performance green buildings and for building new energy-efficient federal buildings, courthouses and ports of entry).

This presents an enormous opportunity to gain new clients with the need for laser scanning, if you know how to win these contracts. Here are some tips:

1- Find proposals by visiting www.recovery.gov, or using the Search Recovery Actions option on www.FedBizOpps.gov.
2- Understand the qualifications required to participate.
3- Bid on local projects close to home.
4- Price your proposal with the understanding that many bids have come in from between 5% to 30% lower than anticipated.
5- Highlight your firm’s specialized equipment and unique skill sets. For example, a firm with a FARO 3D Laser Scanner has a tremendous competitive advantage over firms using total stations or hand measurement equipment. This is especially important in the case of GSA projects that now require laser scanning integrated into Building Information Models.
6- Partner! Large construction firms should consider using specialized subcontractors. Service Providers should seek to partner with contractors that have received awards for projects that are out of their normal scope of capabilities.
7- Once awarded, complete jobs on time and under budget to be considered frontrunners for additional projects. This provides yet another opportunity to utilize laser scanner technology that is designed to shorten the time to complete projects.