{"id":24081,"date":"2026-08-19T15:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T19:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/?p=24081"},"modified":"2026-08-19T16:21:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T20:21:28","slug":"how-a-leading-aec-firm-gets-3-6-months-ahead-of-government-rfps-with-ontopical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/success-story\/how-a-leading-aec-firm-gets-3-6-months-ahead-of-government-rfps-with-ontopical\/","title":{"rendered":"How a leading AEC Firm gets 3-6 months Ahead of Government RFPs with Ontopical"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"24081\" class=\"elementor elementor-24081\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b317314 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"b317314\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_has_onepagescroll_dot&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a8fdb44 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a8fdb44\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_we_effect_on&quot;:&quot;none&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Most government projects doesn\u2019t start when the RFP is published. They start months earlier, in board meetings, budget approvals, and funding conversations. Our customer found a way to identify those early signals, understand what agencies were planning, and build relationships well before procurement opened.<\/p><h2><strong>Quick Facts<\/strong><\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-631f3d2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-elementskit-table\" data-id=\"631f3d2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_we_effect_on&quot;:&quot;none&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"elementskit-table.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"ekit-wid-con\" >\n<div class=\"ekit_table display  ekit_table_data_type-custom\"\n\tdata-settings=\"{&quot;fixedHeader&quot;:false,&quot;search&quot;:false,&quot;search_placeholder&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;responsive&quot;:true,&quot;pagination&quot;:false,&quot;button&quot;:false,&quot;entries&quot;:false,&quot;info&quot;:false,&quot;info_text&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;entries_text&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;ordering&quot;:true,&quot;item_per_page&quot;:100,&quot;nav_style&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;prev_text&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;next_text&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\">\n\t<table id=\"ekit-table-container-631f3d2\" class=\"display dataTable\" style=\"width:100%\"><thead><tr>\t<th class=\"elementor-repeater-item-2fa3b95\">\n\t\t<div\n\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_item_container  ekit-table-container- \">\n\t\t\tEarlier Opportunity Discovery\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/th>\n\t\t<th class=\"elementor-repeater-item-aedcef7\">\n\t\t<div\n\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_item_container  ekit-table-container-before \">\n\t\t\tRecommendation Accuracy\t\t\t<span class=\"ekit-table-icon ekit-table-icon-before\"> <\/span>\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/th>\n\t\t<th class=\"elementor-repeater-item-331cbdc\">\n\t\t<div\n\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_item_container  ekit-table-container- \">\n\t\t\tQualified Opportunity Flow\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/th>\n\t\t<th class=\"elementor-repeater-item-8b8515c\">\n\t\t<div\n\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_item_container  ekit-table-container- \">\n\t\t\tGeographic Coverage\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/th>\n\t <\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr>\t<td data-order=\"Projects found 3 to 6 months earlier\"\n\t\tclass=\"elementor-repeater-item-428869b ekit_table_data_\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_body_container ekit_table_data_ ekit_body_align_left\">\n\t\t\t\tProjects found 3 to 6 months earlier\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t<td data-order=\"Up to 26% lead acceptance\"\n\t\tclass=\"elementor-repeater-item-fc04a8d ekit_table_data_\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_body_container ekit_table_data_ ekit_body_align_left\">\n\t\t\t\tUp to 26% lead acceptance\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t<td data-order=\"500+ opportunities reviewed by one user\"\n\t\tclass=\"elementor-repeater-item-ba337c5 ekit_table_data_\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_body_container ekit_table_data_ ekit_body_align_left\">\n\t\t\t\t500+ opportunities reviewed by one user\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t\t<td data-order=\"Missouri, Texas, and Georgia from one platform\"\n\t\tclass=\"elementor-repeater-item-9d9729c ekit_table_data_\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"ekit_table_body_container ekit_table_data_ ekit_body_align_left\">\n\t\t\t\tMissouri, Texas, and Georgia from one platform\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/td>\n\t <\/tbody><\/table>    <div class=\"ekit-hidden-icons\" hidden aria-hidden=\"true\">     <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cc080b9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cc080b9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_we_effect_on&quot;:&quot;none&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>The Customer<\/strong><\/h2><p>Our customer is a leading architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firm serving public sector clients across the United States. Its teams work across architecture, MEP engineering, and design-build, with a strong focus on government and institutional markets.<\/p><h2><strong>The Challenge<\/strong><\/h2><p>For most AEC firms, the first visible sign of a government project is the RFP. By then, the agency has often spent months planning budgets, defining priorities, shaping requirements, and evaluating potential approaches. The firm wanted to get into those early conversations. The challenge was doing it consistently across hundreds of public agencies without tying up a full-time research team.<\/p><p>Traditional bid platforms didn\u2019t close the gap. They could tell the team when procurement started. They couldn\u2019t consistently tell them what agencies were planning before procurement started.<\/p><p>The team faced four core challenges:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Projects discovered too late<\/strong> <br \/>By the time an RFQ or RFP was published, agencies had already spent months developing their plans and, in some cases, engaging with potential vendors.<\/li><li><strong>Manual research consuming valuable time<\/strong><br \/>Teams were stuck in repetitive searching instead of building relationships and pursuing qualified projects.<\/li><li><strong>High noise, low relevance<\/strong><br \/>Without intelligent filtering, staff spent valuable time on reviewing projects outside their territory, budget range, or service capabilities.<\/li><li><strong>Limited collaboration across teams<\/strong><br \/>Architecture, engineering, marketing, and business development teams often tracked opportunities independently, making it hard to share intelligence and coordinate pursuit strategies.<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7d84e96 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7d84e96\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;,&quot;ekit_has_onepagescroll_dot&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c60d870 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c60d870\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_we_effect_on&quot;:&quot;none&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>Shifting Business Development Upstream<\/strong><\/h2><p>Leadership team recognized that winning more government work meant moving from reactive bid chasing to proactive opportunity discovery.<\/p><p>They wanted a platform that could:<\/p><ul><li>Surface early project signals before RFPs and RFQs<\/li><li>Deliver highly relevant opportunities based on each user\u2019s markets and services<\/li><li>Reduce time spent on manual research<\/li><li>Improve visibility and collaboration across multiple business units<\/li><li>Turn public sector planning data into actionable, repeatable business intelligence<\/li><\/ul><p>Ontopical emerged as the solution for making <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/suppliers\/solutions\/ontopical\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">early procurement intelligence<\/a> a repeatable part of the firm\u2019s business development workflow.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2b05809 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"2b05809\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_has_onepagescroll_dot&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8c1b2ed elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"8c1b2ed\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;ekit_we_effect_on&quot;:&quot;none&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>The Solution \u2013 Earlier Intelligence without changing the workflow<\/strong><\/h2><ul><li><strong>Early Opportunity Intelligence<br \/><\/strong>Ontopical continuously reads public planning records, agendas, minutes, capital improvement plans, and budgets, and flags projects three to six months before a solicitation is released.<\/li><li><strong>Focus on the Right Opportunities<\/strong><br \/>Each user gets a weekly set of leads matched to their geography, project type, and service line, so review time goes to work that actually fits.<\/li><li><strong>AI-powered Document Analysis<\/strong><br \/>Ontopical\u2019s AI copilot, Oliver reads dense government documents (up to 725 pages) in 5-10 seconds and pulls out the budgets, timelines, and requirements that matter, so people spend their time deciding instead of skimming.<\/li><li><strong>One Shared Opportunity Pipeline<br \/><\/strong>Instead of multiple teams maintaining separate lists, teams share one view of opportunities and moves qualified prospects straight into their CRM.<\/li><\/ul><h2><strong>The Impact:<\/strong><\/h2><ul><li><strong>Better Lead Quality<br \/><\/strong>Across all users, the firm accepts about <span style=\"color: #cf0c49;\"><strong>20%<\/strong><\/span> of the leads Ontopical surfaces, with top performing users reaching <span style=\"color: #cf0c49;\"><strong>26%<\/strong><\/span> lead acceptance.<\/li><li><strong>A Real Qualified Pipeline<br \/><\/strong>One user reviewed <span style=\"color: #cf0c49;\"><strong>502<\/strong><\/span> leads on a normal monthly routine and moved <strong><span style=\"color: #cf0c49;\">49<\/span><\/strong> into active pursuit, each cleared for geography, budget, and service fit. That means roughly one in ten signals turned into an opportunity worth chasing.<\/li><li><strong>Wider Market Coverage<br \/><\/strong>As confidence grew, users doubled their weekly leads from <strong><span style=\"color: #cf0c49;\">10 to 20<\/span><\/strong> with no drop in relevance. This allowed the team to monitor multiple markets from one platform rather than manually chasing numerous government websites.<\/li><li><strong>Less Time Lost to Research<br \/><\/strong>The weekly review replaced hours of manual digging across agency websites, allowing the team to spend more time on relationships building, qualification, and pursuits strategy.<\/li><\/ul><h2><strong>What\u2019s next<\/strong><\/h2><p>After changing how the team identifies opportunities before procurement begins, the firm is now extending that visibility across the full government contracting lifecycle.<\/p><p>With Ontopical\u2019s Solicitations module added alongside early signals, the team tracks opportunities from the first planning discussion through active RFPs, in one workflow for identifying, qualifying, and pursuing government work.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most government projects doesn\u2019t start when the RFP is published. They start months earlier, in board meetings, budget approvals, and funding conversations. Our customer found a way to identify those early signals, understand what agencies were planning, and build relationships well before procurement opened. Quick Facts Earlier Opportunity Discovery Recommendation Accuracy Qualified Opportunity Flow Geographic Coverage Projects found 3 to 6 months earlier Up to 26% lead acceptance 500+ opportunities reviewed by one user Missouri, Texas, and Georgia from one platform The Customer Our customer is a leading architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firm serving public sector clients across the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"positioning":[61],"class_list":["post-24081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-story","positioning-supplier"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24081"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24142,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24081\/revisions\/24142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24081"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=24081"},{"taxonomy":"positioning","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sovra.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/positioning?post=24081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}