Business developmentforLexington AEC firms.
BD-AEC embeds a business development department for Lexington architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Senior leadership, market intelligence, creative capacity, and consistent execution give your principals a team behind their next stage of growth.
Outsourced growth infrastructure
A department behind your growth
Leadership, intelligence, creative capacity, and follow-through, working together as part of your firm.
01
Strategy
Choose the work worth pursuing. Market intelligence and Creative Mapping connect your strengths with the right buyers, partners, and opportunities.
02
Creativity
Give buyers a reason to remember you. Positioning, story, and proposals turn technical expertise into a clear case for choosing your firm.
03
Execution
Keep the work moving. Outreach, relationships, pursuit coordination, and regular reviews turn decisions into a repeatable business development practice. Kinetic Rebalance adjusts the effort as evidence changes, including doing less.
Strategy + Creativity + Execution = Growth
The strategy + creativity principle comes from our partners at BLDG Brands. BD-AEC adds execution.
Scott leads the relationship as CEO and Strategic Partner. The department brings the capacity around him. Your principals stay involved in technical decisions and key relationships; we establish the rhythm and carry the work forward together.
Explore the embedded departmentThe Lexington market
Who buys design and construction here
Lexington concentrates Central Kentucky's institutional, healthcare, and equine-economy work into one tight, relationship-driven market. About 222 design and construction firms compete across the Lexington-Fayette metro, and reputation travels fast in a market this size.
Lexington is a smaller, more concentrated AEC market than Cincinnati or Atlanta, and that changes how work is won here. With roughly 136 engineering firms and 222 design and construction firms across the metro, the owners, primes, and facilities directors who buy this work already know the firms who deliver it. Reputation travels fast in the Bluegrass, which cuts both ways: a strong track record opens doors quickly, and breaking in cold without relationships is genuinely hard.
Demand is anchored by a handful of outsized owners. The University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare run an enormous capital pipeline, headlined by the $2.4 billion Albert B. Chandler Hospital expansion and the new Cancer and Advanced Ambulatory Building that will house the Markey Cancer Center, alongside steady campus work. Layer on Toyota's Georgetown plant and its multibillion-dollar paint and EV buildout just up the road, the competing health systems CHI Saint Joseph and Baptist Health, state-government facilities, and the equine and distillery base that gives Lexington its identity. These owners hire on track record and trust, not the low number from a firm they do not know.
Central Kentucky institutional, municipal, and private work depends on relationships with owners, primes, and public agencies. Lexington firms need a consistent way to develop those relationships and act on the right opportunities. BD-AEC brings strategy, creativity, and execution together in an embedded department, connecting market intelligence with relationships, positioning, and pursuit support. Your principals contribute the technical judgment; our team helps carry the work forward.
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (NAICS 5413, 2022)
University & healthcare
The University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare, including the $2.4B Albert B. Chandler Hospital expansion and the new Cancer and Advanced Ambulatory Building that becomes home to the Markey Cancer Center, plus CHI Saint Joseph Health and Baptist Health Lexington.
Advanced manufacturing
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky in Georgetown, with its $922M advanced paint facility and $1.3B battery-electric SUV buildout, plus Lockheed Martin's SOFSA logistics and repair depot at Bluegrass Station.
Public infrastructure
KYTC District 7, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, the New Circle Road and Citation Boulevard programs, Blue Grass Airport, and Lextran transit work.
State government
Kentucky state agency facilities and the Finance and Administration Cabinet's capital program across the central Kentucky seat of state government.
Equine & distillery economy
Keeneland, the Kentucky Horse Park, Alltech and its Town Branch Distillery, and the Bluegrass bourbon producers that anchor the region's agribusiness and tourism base.
RFPs and bids
Where Lexington architecture and engineering work gets advertised
These are the agencies and institutions that put architecture and engineering work out to bid in Lexington, 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.
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG), Division of Procurement
Buys civil and site design through its Department of Environmental Quality & Public Works. Its Division of Engineering runs an active roadway and shared-use-path program (Liberty Road Improvements, North Limestone Road Improvements, Wilson Downing Roundabout, Meadows-Northlands-Arlington neighborhood curbs/sewers), and its Division of Water Quality carries 81 pump stations, 1,400-plus miles of sewer, and the Town Branch and West Hickman wastewater treatment plants, with plant upgrades tied to Lexington's sanitary sewer Consent Decree compliance.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Division of Professional Services
Procures all engineering and engineering-related consultant services for state highway projects in and around Fayette County. Maintains a prequalified-firm directory across 15 service areas (Roadway Design, Structure Design, Geotechnical Services, Traffic Engineering, Transportation Planning, Construction Engineering Services, Environmental and UST Services, Right of Way Services, ITS, Utility Design, Aviation, and others) and advertises work through monthly procurement bulletins.
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Airport Board (LFUCAB)
Owns and governs Blue Grass Airport (LEX) and is currently the largest single architecture and engineering buyer in the metro. RFQ No. 2608, issued August 17, 2026, seeks a prime Concourse & Terminal Architect for the Future LEX program: roughly eight new gates, a new terminal headhouse, apron and landside work, delivered CMAR, with FAA Memphis ADO coordination. SOQs were due September 17, 2026.
University of Kentucky, Planning, Design & Construction (UK Facilities Management)
Hires architects and engineers for UK campus and UK HealthCare capital projects through a Request for Professional Consulting (RFPC) posting, with proposals submitted as PDFs to the Capital Project Management Division at 411 South Limestone. Separately, UK Procurement Services posts construction-package and commodity solicitations.
Fayette County Public Schools
Runs a sustained building program (Frederick Douglass/Dunbar renovation projects, Henry Clay High School, Rise STEM Academy) through its Facility Design & Construction office, with bids and RFPs advertised by the Purchasing Office and submitted electronically through BidNet Direct.
Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet, Division of Engineering and Contract Administration
Advertises and awards capital construction and construction-related consulting work, explicitly including architect/engineer services, for all state agencies except roads and bridges. This is the route to state-owned facilities in and near Lexington, including state parks, KSU/KCTCS campuses, and state office buildings.
Lexington Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
Programs federal transportation dollars for the Lexington urbanized area through the Transportation Improvement Program, and commissions consultant planning studies funded by its Unified Planning Work Program (recent examples: Metropolitan Transportation Plan 2050 and the Campus to Commons Trail Study). Staffed through LFUCG.
Where solicitations are posted
- LFUCG Procurement Portal (Euna Procurement by IonWave)
- KYTC Division of Professional Services, Search Procurement Bulletins
- University of Kentucky Request for Professional Consulting (RFPC)
- Blue Grass Airport Business Opportunities
- Kentucky State Planroom (Division of Engineering and Contract Administration)
How selection works here
Kentucky splits architecture and engineering selection into two regimes, and which one applies decides how you compete in Lexington. State agencies (KYTC, the Finance Cabinet, UK) must use formal selection committees drawing from prequalified pools under KRS 45A.800 to 45A.835, with negotiated contracts filed with the Government Contract Review Committee, and KRS 45A.803 covers engineering services on federal highway projects specifically. Qualifications-based selection is only optional for local bodies like LFUCG: KRS 45A.735 merely authorizes a local public agency to adopt the QBS procedures in KRS 45A.740, 45A.745, and 45A.750, so a Lexington firm should confirm which procedure a local owner actually uses rather than assuming QBS. Practically, that means KYTC prequalification is a hard gate (you must be prequalified in the relevant one of 15 service areas before responding to a monthly Professional Services bulletin), UK runs its own standing RFPC list with an email-alert subscription, and the airport runs true QBS (RFQ 2608 caps SOQs at 40 pages and states firms shall not submit a fee proposal). LFUCG posts everything on IonWave, KYTC keeps consultant work entirely separate from its Bid Express construction lettings, and minority/women/veteran participation at LFUCG runs through third-party certification rather than a published percentage goal.
The Lexington 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 Lexington metro, buyer moves, and portal changes. No pitch, just the market.
Email scott@bd-aec.com with the subject "Lexington bid watchlist" and we'll add you.
Federal market
Federal AEC spending in Lexington
Federal agencies obligated $81M for architecture, engineering, and construction work in the Lexington 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
$81M
Across the 6-county Lexington-Fayette, KY area.
Largest buyer
Department of Veterans Affairs
$54M of the total.
Firms winning it
- Semper TEK CMS JV LLC · $21M
- A Total Solution LLC · $16M
- Semper TEK Inc · $8M
- CCI Prime Contractors LLC · $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 Lexington, by discipline
We embed a coordinated BD department for Lexington AEC firms. We represent one firm per discipline, project type, and market. Open your discipline’s Lexington page on the main site for the local picture.
Civil Engineering
Lexington business development for civil engineering firms.
Structural Engineering
Lexington business development for structural engineering firms.
Architecture
Lexington business development for architecture firms.
Land Surveying & Geospatial
Lexington business development for land surveying & geospatial firms.
Landscape Architecture
Lexington business development for landscape architecture firms.
Construction Management
Lexington business development for construction management firms.
Transportation & Traffic Engineering
Lexington business development for transportation & traffic engineering firms.
Testing & Special Inspection
Lexington business development for testing & special inspection firms.
Why us, here
An embedded BD department for Lexington
BD-AEC runs business development in Lexington. Scott knows the Central Kentucky owners, primes, and agencies by name, from the UK HealthCare and university facilities teams to KYTC District 7 and the manufacturing and equine-economy buyers that drive work across the Bluegrass. That local knowledge is the difference between a cold proposal and a warm introduction. True Power Systems already calls Lexington home, so this is a market we know firsthand.
By policy, BD-AEC represents one firm per discipline, project type, and market, an ethical line that protects every client's pipeline. For a Lexington 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 Lexington market?
Yes. BD-AEC runs business development in Lexington, and Scott knows the Central Kentucky owners, primes, and public agencies directly. True Power Systems, one of the firms in our network, already calls Lexington home, so we work this market firsthand rather than from a distance.
What kind of AEC firms do you represent in Lexington?
Principal-led architecture, engineering, construction, and specialty firms, typically $500K to $20M in annual revenue, that need a more consistent growth function. We bring leadership, intelligence, creative capacity, and execution around the principals. By policy, we represent one firm per discipline, project type, and market, so we don't represent competing interests.
How is an embedded BD department different from hiring a BD director?
A strong internal hire can be the right choice when you have the budget, support, and work to sustain the role. BD-AEC brings a coordinated function: senior leadership, market intelligence, positioning, proposals and SOQs, relationships, and execution. If you're looking for fractional business development, this is a department model with capacity around the leader. We still need onboarding, access to your expertise, and your principals' participation in key decisions.
Can you help us get in front of UK and UK HealthCare?
That is exactly the point. The University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare run one of the largest capital pipelines in the state, from the $2.4 billion Chandler Hospital expansion to the new Markey Cancer Center building, and that work goes to firms the facilities teams already trust. Scott builds those relationships early, so your firm is known before the RFQ drops.
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.
Your next move
Build your next chapter in Lexington.
Tell us where you want your firm to go and what's getting in the way. We'll look at your market, your current capacity, and whether an embedded BD department is the right fit.
Scott Mann
CEO | Strategic Partner
Scott will respond within one business day. Your first conversation covers your goals, availability in your discipline and market, and a practical next step.
Let's talk about your firm
A few details help Scott prepare for a useful conversation.
This requests a conversation. Scott will follow up to arrange a time. How we use your information.