Onvia Blog 28% Rise in Bids and RFPs for Protecting Coastlines

The GovWin+Onvia SLED Market Analysis team recently released its 10 Hotspots in Government Contracting for 2018 report, highlighting some of the fastest-growing areas of opportunity in the state, local and education (SLED) government contracting marketplace. By digging deep into the best-in-class public sector market intelligence available on the GovWin+Onvia platform, our team found that one of the biggest growth areas has been for protecting coastlines, with a 28% rise in bids and RFPs year-over-year. Governments Taking Action to Prepare for Global Warming and El Niño Storms In last year’s edition of our 10 Hotspots research, our analysts found that disaster response and storm cleanup bids and RFPs from state and local agencies ranked as one of the fastest-growing areas in government contracting. While that is an example of a reactive approach to the growing problem of global warming, the fact that agencies are spending more on protecting coastlines shows that many are considering proactive solutions, too. Research has shown that there’s good reason for addressing this proactively, as in the last few years there has been a marked increase in the erosion of coastlines. A recent study of 29 West Coast beaches found that there has been 76% more sand erosion than normal since 2015. This is attributed in part to the increasing frequency of El Niño storm events brought on by global warming. First we need to understand the challenges, and those include the rising sea level and the fact that most of the problems occur during these peak El Niño events… Then we need to restore or manage our coasts in ways that will enable us to deal with these events and conserve beach ecosystems. David Hubbard, Marine Ecologist, University of California Santa Barbara With no sign of the global warming trend reversing anytime soon, companies involved in the environmental services, architecture, and engineering fields would do well to keep up with where governments are planning on spending money in the fight against coastal erosion. Florida, California are Key States Spending to Protect Coastlines Our market analysis team examined the taken from the GovWin+Onvia platform to uncover where the most government bids and RFPs for protecting coastlines came from. The greatest number of opportunities come from highly-populated states with lengthy coastlines. Leading those states are Florida and California, combining for a whopping 35% of all contracts for coastal engineering, coastal restoration and coastal zone management. A particularly strong hurricane season in 2017 also fed into this trend, causing strong demand for these types of contracts from the hardest-hit states and most at-risk areas along both coasts. For example, the town of Orchid in Florida released a bid for Ongoing Coastal Management in March of 2018. And the Texas town of South Padre Island is budgeting $270K in its 2017-2021 Capital Improvement Plan for a Coastal Management Program. Nine Other Key Growth Areas in State and Local Government Contracting Companies doing business in areas not directly related to coastal management are in luck, because the full GovWin+Onvia report highlights nine other areas in state and local government contracting that have seen rapid recent growth in government bids and RFPs. To access the “10 Hotspots in Government Contracting for 2018” report, simply click the link below to get your free copy and begin developing a better understanding of the complex, yet immensely rewarding state, local and education government market.  REQUEST REPORT Industries:  Architecture & Engineering Construction Environmental Services Water & Energy