Business developmentforDetroit AEC firms.
BD-AEC is an embedded, fractional business development director for Detroit architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Your engineers bill $300 an hour, so they should not be running your pipeline. We run it, market by market, with the relationships that win OEM, healthcare, and public work before the RFQ ever drops.
The Detroit market
Who buys design and construction here
Detroit is the densest AEC market on the northern end of the corridor, with roughly 1,461 design and construction firms competing for OEM, institutional, and public work. The buyer base is unusually concentrated, and that concentration shapes how work gets won here.
Detroit's demand base is concentrated in a way no other metro on this route can match. The auto OEMs drive a private capital build all their own: Ford's Michigan Central campus in Corktown, GM downtown, and Stellantis in Auburn Hills. Alongside it runs a healthcare construction boom led by Henry Ford Health's $2.2 billion Destination: Grand expansion and Wayne State's new $200 million health-sciences research building. These owners hire on reputation and a track record they already trust, not the low number from a firm they don't know.
Public work is split across the three core counties, Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb, each with its own road agency, plus MDOT's Metro Region, the Great Lakes Water Authority, and the Wayne County Airport Authority. A firm has to keep relationships warm across a fragmented set of owners just to keep a pipeline full, and large primes like Barton Malow and Ghafari are rooted here and competing for the same teaming seats.
That's the opening for a fractional BD director. The competition for OEM, institutional, and municipal work is intense, but it runs on relationships that take years to build across a wide owner map. A dedicated director who already knows the Detroit owners, primes, and agencies shortens that runway dramatically.
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (NAICS 5413, 2022)
Auto OEM & private capital
Ford's Michigan Central campus in Corktown, GM's downtown headquarters at Hudson's Detroit, and Stellantis in Auburn Hills, plus the supplier and plant network that builds around the Big Three.
Healthcare systems
Henry Ford Health's $2.2B Destination: Grand expansion, Corewell Health, the Detroit Medical Center, and Wayne State's $200M health-sciences research building in Midtown.
Public infrastructure
MDOT's Metro Region and the Restore I-94 corridor, the Great Lakes Water Authority, Detroit's water and sewer CIP, and the Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb county road agencies.
Institutional & federal
The University of Michigan, Wayne State, Michigan State, the Detroit Metropolitan Airport via the Wayne County Airport Authority, and Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County.
Downtown development
The District Detroit by Olympia Development and Related Companies, plus the municipal and civic capital work that follows it across the core city.
RFPs and bids
Where Detroit architecture and engineering work gets advertised
These are the agencies and institutions that put architecture and engineering work out to bid in Detroit, 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 Detroit Office of Contracting and Procurement
Central buying office for all City of Detroit departments; every solicitation posts to the city's Bonfire/Euna portal, and CRIO business certifications apply equalization credits at award.
Michigan Department of Transportation, Metro Region
State DOT region covering Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties (office in Southfield, with a Detroit TSC); buys roadway and bridge design and construction engineering, previewed on a quarterly anticipated-RFP lookahead.
Great Lakes Water Authority
Regional water and sewer authority buying architectural, engineering and design services; publishes a monthly Procurement Pipeline previewing solicitations up to nine months out.
Wayne County Airport Authority
Owns Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) and Willow Run (YIP); solicits professional engineering and related services plus terminal, apron and taxiway design, with SBE commitment forms attached.
Detroit Public Schools Community District
Posts all RFPs, RFQs and ITBs on DemandStar, including architectural and engineering services for school facilities; board policy selects highest value, not lowest cost.
County of Wayne
County government publishing open, closed and awarded solicitations through the MITN Purchasing Group on BidNet Direct.
Wayne State University
Public research university in Midtown Detroit, roughly $120 million in annual purchasing; advertises RFPs and RFQs by category, including a standing Architecture/Design category.
Where solicitations are posted
- City of Detroit Procurement Portal (Bonfire / Euna Procurement)
- MITN Purchasing Group on BidNet Direct (Wayne County, Wayne County Airport Authority and ~200 Michigan local governments)
- Great Lakes Water Authority Euna Procurement Portal
- MDOT Vendor and Consultant Services (prequalification, RFPs via MILogin e-Proposal, selection guidelines, quarterly lookahead)
- Wayne County Airport Authority Open Solicitations
How selection works here
Michigan splits sharply between state and local practice, and MDOT is the strictest QBS buyer in the metro: its Selection Guidelines for Service Contracts (Version 22, April 2026) require QBS for every Brooks Act architectural or engineering service at any dollar value, cost cannot be scored, and the priced proposal is submitted only after selection, while non-Brooks-Act services must include price. Two Michigan-specific gates decide who is even eligible: MDOT service prequalification in the exact classifications named in the RFP must be approved on or before the proposal due date, with the prime self-performing at least 40 percent by dollar value, and Article 20 of the Michigan Occupational Code (PA 299 of 1980) requires at least two thirds of a firm's principals to be licensed in Michigan; submittals run on MDOT's own 5100-series forms (5100D, 5100G, 5100J), not the federal SF330, and DBE credit counts only for firms in the Michigan Uniform Certification Program directory. The City of Detroit works the opposite way, scoring price with a local thumb on the scale: Detroit City Code Sec. 17-5-12 grants equalization credits of 5 percent to a Detroit Headquartered Business and 2 percent to a Detroit Based Business, capped at 12 percent above the lowest responsible bid or $100,000 (whichever is less), and the Purchasing Director may restrict a solicitation entirely to Detroit-based firms whenever three certified firms are eligible. On-call and term work is routine here, and it is published in advance: MDOT runs Multi-Vendor As-Needed selections through a two-tier process and lists upcoming as-needed contracts by county and TSC on its quarterly anticipated report, while GLWA's monthly Procurement Pipeline previews solicitations nine months out and requires a Business Inclusion and Diversity plan on anything budgeted at $1 million or more.
The Detroit 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 Detroit metro, buyer moves, and portal changes. No pitch, just the market.
Email scott@bd-aec.com with the subject "Detroit bid watchlist" and we'll add you.
Federal market
Federal AEC spending in Detroit
Federal agencies obligated $136M for architecture, engineering, and construction work in the Detroit 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
$136M
Across the 6-county Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area.
Largest buyer
Department of Defense
$109M of the total.
Firms winning it
- Commercial Contracting Corp · $24M
- BAE Systems Land and Armaments L.P · $24M
- General Dynamics Land Systems Inc · $20M
- Asrc Federal Advanced Research, LLC · $13M
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 Detroit, by discipline
We run business development for Detroit AEC firms one discipline at a time, one client per discipline. Open your discipline’s Detroit page on the main site for the local picture.
Civil Engineering
Detroit business development for civil engineering firms.
Structural Engineering
Detroit business development for structural engineering firms.
Architecture
Detroit business development for architecture firms.
Land Surveying & Geospatial
Detroit business development for land surveying & geospatial firms.
Landscape Architecture
Detroit business development for landscape architecture firms.
Construction Management
Detroit business development for construction management firms.
Transportation & Traffic Engineering
Detroit business development for transportation & traffic engineering firms.
Testing & Special Inspection
Detroit business development for testing & special inspection firms.
Why us, here
Why a fractional BD director in Detroit
BD-AEC runs business development in Detroit. Scott knows the Detroit owners, primes, and agencies by name, from the OEM facilities groups and Henry Ford's capital team to MDOT's Metro Region and the Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb road agencies. That local knowledge is the difference between a cold proposal and a warm introduction in a market this fragmented.
By policy, BD-AEC represents one firm per discipline, project type, and market, an ethical line that protects every client's pipeline. For a Detroit firm, that means an exclusive BD partner who will never walk your relationships across the street to a competitor.
Questions
Straight answers
Does BD-AEC actually work the Detroit market?
Yes. BD-AEC runs business development in Detroit, and Scott works the owners, primes, and public agencies here directly, not from a distance. He knows the OEM facilities groups, the hospital capital teams, and the road agencies across Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb by name.
What kind of AEC firms do you represent in Detroit?
Principal-led architecture, engineering, and construction firms, roughly $1M to $20M in revenue, whose senior people are too valuable to spend their week on business development. By policy we take only one firm per discipline, project type, and market, so we never represent two competitors.
How is a fractional BD director different from hiring a salesperson?
A salesperson cold-calls. A fractional BD director is an embedded, senior partner who owns your pipeline: the strategy, the relationships, the teaming, and the pursuit. You get the expertise of a six-figure BD hire without the full-time salary line.
The owner map here is spread across counties and agencies. Can you cover that?
Yes. Detroit's owner base is fragmented by design, split across Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties plus MDOT, the Great Lakes Water Authority, and the airport authority. We keep relationships warm across that whole map so your pipeline doesn't dry up when one owner goes quiet.
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.
Talk to Scott
Is your Detroit market open?
Tell us your firm and your discipline. Scott will respond within one business day and tell you honestly whether your Detroit market is open and what a fractional BD director would do first.
Request a discovery call
Detroit AEC firms only. We'll never share your details.
More markets at bd-aec.com