Business developmentforMobile AEC firms.
BD-AEC is an embedded, fractional business development director for Mobile architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Your engineers bill $300 an hour, so they shouldn't be running your pipeline. We run it, one market at a time, with the relationships that win work before the RFQ ever drops.
The Mobile market
Who buys design and construction here
Mobile is a small, concentrated AEC market where a handful of outsized industrial and public owners set the table. About 159 design and construction firms compete here, including 103 engineering firms, and the harbor drives more of that demand than anything else.
Mobile buys design and construction on the back of its waterfront. The Alabama Port Authority runs the Port of Mobile, and its APM Terminals container terminal is adding a 1,300-foot berth in a $131 million project breaking ground in 2026, on top of more than $200 million already underway in container yard, rail, and on-dock rail flyover work. Austal USA is the other waterfront engine, spending more than $750 million as it moves from aluminum into steel hulls for the Navy and Coast Guard, including a new final assembly building and a $400 million-plus facility that will turn out Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarine modules. Add Airbus at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, where a second A320 final assembly line opened in October 2025 alongside the A220 line, ALDOT's I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project with a roughly $3.2 billion first phase, and the $362 million terminal moving commercial flights to Mobile International Airport, and you've got a market carrying far more capital than its size suggests.
It's a small AEC town with unusually deep homegrown talent, and that combination makes it tightly held. Volkert has been headquartered in Mobile since the years after World War II and turned 100 in 2025, Thompson Engineering runs its corporate headquarters here, and Hargrove Engineers + Constructors grew out of Mobile into a 2,700-person EPC firm that ENR ranks at the top of the chemicals sector, with more than 500 people still in the home office. Builders like White-Spunner Construction hold the same standing on the construction side. With only about 159 design and construction firms in the whole metro, the field isn't crowded so much as it's spoken for: the same firms, the same port and plant engineers, and the same facilities directors recur, and selection runs on who those owners already trust, not the low number from a name they don't know.
That concentration is exactly why a fractional BD director earns its keep here. Port and terminal work, shipyard and submarine-module facilities, aerospace expansion, health-system and university programs, and ALDOT's bridge corridor all run on relationships that take years to build, and a principal who's billable can't build them on the side. Mobile is also thin on dedicated BD talent, so a director who's genuinely working the owners, the primes, and the agencies week after week stands out quickly in a market where everyone already knows everyone.
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (NAICS 5413, 2022)
Ports & maritime logistics
The Alabama Port Authority and the Port of Mobile, APM Terminals Mobile and its $131M container berth, the 33-acre container yard and on-dock rail flyover program, and the transloading and warehousing build that follows the harbor.
Shipbuilding & defense
Austal USA's Mobile shipyard, its move from aluminum into steel hulls for the Navy and Coast Guard, the new Final Assembly 2 building, and the $400M-plus Module Manufacturing Facility 3 producing Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarine modules.
Aerospace & aviation
Airbus at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, with its A220 line and two A320 final assembly lines across roughly 2.5 million square feet, and the Mobile Airport Authority's $362M terminal moving commercial service to Mobile International Airport.
Healthcare & higher education
Infirmary Health, the state's largest non-governmental nonprofit system, anchored by the 681-bed Mobile Infirmary; USA Health, including USA Health Providence Hospital and Children's & Women's; and the University of South Alabama's $200M Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine building.
Public infrastructure & municipal
ALDOT's Southwest Region and the I-10 Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project with its roughly $3.2B first phase, the City of Mobile's capital plan and the new Regions Arena downtown, Mobile County, and the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System's treatment plant and lift station programs.
RFPs and bids
Where Mobile architecture and engineering work gets advertised
These are the agencies and institutions that put architecture and engineering work out to bid in Mobile, 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 Mobile
Procurement Department (Chief Procurement Officer Don Rose, 205 Government St, Room 408S) buys for City Engineering's street, drainage and corridor work such as the downtown two-way street conversions and Dauphin Street corridor near I-65, plus parks and facility renovations; note that its public bid board and awarded-bid list are dominated by goods and construction, with design selections not visibly advertised there.
Mobile County Commission
Purchasing Department (MCPurchasing@mobilecountyal.gov) posts alongside a separate County Engineering Department contact (251-574-8595) for road work such as the John Paul Road and Natchez Trace Road phases and City of Bayou La Batre street projects, plus county facility roofs and building systems.
Alabama Department of Transportation, Southwest Region
Region covering Mobile, Baldwin, Conecuh and Escambia counties (Regional Engineer Matthew J. Ericksen, P.E., 251-470-8201) procures roadway, bridge and program-management consultants, including a live Notice of Need for the Owner's Verification Role on the I-10 Bayway project in Baldwin and Mobile counties.
Alabama Port Authority
Headquartered at 1400 Alabama State Docks Boulevard in Mobile (renamed from Alabama State Port Authority), it procures terminal, dock, rail and site engineering for work such as Pinto Island yard elevation raising, McDuffie Terminal dock refurbishment and roof replacements, and uses on-call and IDIQ service agreements.
Mobile Airport Authority
Operates Mobile Regional Airport, Mobile International Airport, Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley and St. Elmo Airport, and runs the Brookley passenger terminal capital program; it posts its own solicitations, including RFQ 2026-005 Request for Qualifications for Professional Services, on a dedicated planroom at maabids.com.
Mobile Area Water & Sewer System
Buys water and sewer capital design and construction through its Purchasing Department, with sealed bids required whenever the value of material, supplies, services or equipment exceeds $30,000; project bid announcements are posted separately from purchasing invitations to bid.
Mobile County Public Schools
The metro's largest school building program; because Appendix D of the Alabama DCM Manual of Procedures reaches local school boards, its design professional selections are advertised as RFQs on the state DCM page rather than on the district's own bid board, while its Finance department runs invitations to bid and construction bid tabulations.
Where solicitations are posted
How selection works here
For any Mobile project under the Alabama Division of Construction Management, selection is genuinely qualifications-based and the process is written down: Appendix D of the March 2026 DCM Manual of Procedures has the owner advertise an RFQ on DCM's site for at least two weeks, take letters of interest with GSA Standard Form 330, shortlist at least three firms for in-depth interview, rank on qualifications per Alabama Administrative Code chapter 100-X-5-.11, and only then negotiate, with the Basic Fee capped by the Chapter 4 Supplement schedule and a rule that a low bid more than 10 percent over budget means redesigning at no cost. Two of Appendix D's own scoring items are pure business development leverage in a market this size, proximity to the site and the owner's current and past workload with the firm, the latter written in to spread work among qualified firms, and DCM administers the protest process. ALDOT work is a separate track entirely: prequalify in ALDOT's Consultant Management system before you can respond to a Southwest Region Notice of Need, and budget for a Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 31 overhead audit that is required of any firm selected before it performs work, while City and County buys of $30,000 or more fall under the Alabama Competitive Bid Law at Ala. Code 41-16-50 (public works run under Title 39), DBE certification is statewide through the Alabama Unified Certification Program, and the City of Mobile adds its own Socially Responsible and Economically Disadvantaged Business Ordinance (Section 14-10) requiring primes to route subcontracting opportunities through the Office of Supplier Diversity.
The Mobile 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 Mobile metro, buyer moves, and portal changes. No pitch, just the market.
Email scott@bd-aec.com with the subject "Mobile bid watchlist" and we'll add you.
Federal market
Federal AEC spending in Mobile
Federal agencies obligated $105M for architecture, engineering, and construction work in the Mobile 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
$105M
Across the 1-county Mobile, AL area.
Largest buyer
Department of Defense
$94M of the total.
Firms winning it
- Aecom Technical Services, Inc · $28M
- Jacobs Government Services Company · $19M
- Woolpert, Inc · $18M
- Jacobs Engineering Group Inc · $6M
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 Mobile, by discipline
We run business development for Mobile AEC firms one discipline at a time, one client per discipline. Open your discipline’s Mobile page on the main site for the local picture.
Civil Engineering
Mobile business development for civil engineering firms.
Structural Engineering
Mobile business development for structural engineering firms.
Architecture
Mobile business development for architecture firms.
Land Surveying & Geospatial
Mobile business development for land surveying & geospatial firms.
Landscape Architecture
Mobile business development for landscape architecture firms.
Construction Management
Mobile business development for construction management firms.
Transportation & Traffic Engineering
Mobile business development for transportation & traffic engineering firms.
Testing & Special Inspection
Mobile business development for testing & special inspection firms.
Why us, here
Why a fractional BD director in Mobile
Mobile is one of the select major markets BD-AEC takes on beyond its core corridor, and it's a market built for this model. It's also a Gulf Coast market well outside our home geography, and we won't pretend otherwise. In a metro this small and this concentrated, work flows to the firms the port authority, the shipyard, the health systems, and the ALDOT and city owners already trust, and those relationships take years to build. A dedicated fractional director who's out working those owners and primes, week after week, is the way into a market where a billable principal simply can't do the same on the side.
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 Mobile, that matters even more: it means an exclusive BD partner who'll never walk your relationships across the street to a competitor chasing the same port, shipyard, or hospital work.
Questions
Straight answers
Does BD-AEC work the Mobile market?
Yes, as one of the select major markets we take on beyond our core corridor. We won't pretend to have a Mobile office or to know every owner on the waterfront from down the street, that wouldn't be honest. What we bring is a dedicated fractional director who works the port, the shipyard and aerospace supply chain, the health systems, and the public owners for you directly, and who builds the relationships that decide work in a market where everyone knows everyone.
What kind of AEC firms do you represent in Mobile?
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.
Mobile is a small market where a few homegrown firms own the relationships. Can we still break in?
Yes, but not by underbidding the incumbents. Firms like Volkert, Thompson Engineering, and Hargrove have held the port, industrial, and DOT relationships here for generations, so the way in is to be known and trusted for the specific work you do best, not to be the cheapest stranger in the room. We position your firm with the owners and program managers who actually decide, and we look hard for the teaming lane where a smaller specialist is the right answer rather than the risky one.
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 Mobile market open?
Tell us your firm and your discipline. Scott will respond within one business day and tell you honestly whether your Mobile market is open and what a fractional BD director would do first.
Request a discovery call
Mobile AEC firms only. We'll never share your details.
More markets at bd-aec.com