Your website on shortlist day

Public engineering work in Colorado is bought on qualifications. The state's version of the federal Brooks Act, C.R.S. 24-30-1401 through 1404, was enacted in 1988 (Colorado Construction & Design). It applies when state agencies and state colleges and universities hire architects, engineers, landscape architects, land surveyors or industrial hygienists.

For fees estimated at $25,000 or more, the agency reviews the qualifications statements firms file each year with the Office of the State Architect, holds discussions with at least three firms and ranks at least three (C.R.S. 24-30-1403). It then negotiates a fee with the top-ranked firm. Only if they can't agree on a fair and reasonable fee does it move to the second firm, and then the third (C.R.S. 24-30-1404).

Federal work follows the same order. The Brooks Act has agencies select firms "on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualification" and negotiate price afterward. On federal-aid highway work, which includes projects CDOT and local agencies run with federal money, "price shall not be used as a factor in the evaluation, ranking, and selection phase" (23 CFR 172.7). CDOT's guidance for local agencies says "cost shall not be considered a factor in the evaluation of professional consultant services" (CDOT).

One limit: the state statute covers state agencies and higher education. We found no Colorado law that extends it to cities, counties or special districts, so where they use qualifications-based selection, it appears to be a matter of policy.

Most work comes from past clients

On average, about 73 percent of an engineering firm's work comes from past clients, according to Zweig Group in 2019. Zweig had earlier reported a steady 80/20 split between repeat and new work from 1997 to 2014 (Zweig Group).

So by the time someone opens your website, they usually know your name already, from past work or from the submission in front of them. The site's job is to confirm what they've heard.

What buyers say about websites

Hinge Research Institute surveyed 1,028 buyers of professional services in 2014, about a fifth of whom bought architecture, engineering or construction services. Of the whole group, 80.8 percent said they look at a firm's website before hiring it (Hinge, Beyond Referrals).

Hinge's referral research, presented in 2016, found that 51.9 percent of potential clients had ruled out a referred firm before speaking to it. The most common reason, given by 43.6 percent, was that they couldn't tell how the firm could help them. An unimpressive website put off 29.6 percent (Hinge). Hinge's 2020 study of the A/E/C market found that websites "validate referrals" (Hinge).

The 2014 and 2016 figures come from studies of professional services as a whole and are now dated. We use them to show which way buyers lean.

We found no public research on how often public selection committees visit consultants' websites, and the evaluation CDOT describes scores the statement of qualifications and the interview, with no line for the website. In an informal 2015 poll of SMPS members, about 40 percent of A/E/C firms said their site had never generated a lead (ENR). The site rarely brings in work on its own, though a weak one can cost you a referral before a pursuit starts.

In Zweig's 2016 survey, covering 2015, the average firm submitted 332 proposals, made the shortlist on 22 percent of them and won 41 percent of its shortlists (Zweig Group). By our arithmetic, that is about one win in every eleven pursuits, and about two in five once a firm is shortlisted. At that stage the agency is choosing among firms it already ranks as qualified, and CDOT's process adds interview scores before the final ranking.

The first minute

Federal rules list what agencies evaluate: professional qualifications, specialized experience and technical competence, capacity, past performance, and location and knowledge of the locality (FAR 36.602-1). Colorado's statute names similar factors, among them the ability of professional personnel, past performance, workload and location. Someone who opens your site after reading your submission is probably checking the same things. We'd make sure they can find these within a minute:

• Every person named in your submission, on a people page that shows their license (PE, PLS or SE) and a few of the projects on their resume.
• A project like theirs, two clicks from the homepage. A water district wants to see water projects and a city wants to see work for cities, so let visitors filter projects by market and client type.
• Evidence that you're local, such as your Colorado offices and the Colorado agencies you've worked for. When qualifications are equal, the state statute gives preference to Colorado firms.
• A recent date on a project or news post, so a visitor can see the firm is active.
• The awards your submission mentions, shown on the project pages they belong to.
• Numbers that match. If your proposal boilerplate gives one staff count and your About page gives another, fix the older one.

Most of this content already exists in your marketing department. The federal SF330 asks for key-personnel resumes with up to five relevant projects each and up to ten example projects, and GSA estimates the form takes 29 hours to complete (GSA). If the site holds the current version of every project description and bio, your team can pull from it when the next submission is due.