Transcript for "What's Next for SLED Government Contracting": Alright. Welcome, everyone. We are glad to have you with us today for our presentation, what's next for SLED government contracting. My name is Bryn Bruder, and I am a senior research analyst with Deltek, and I'll be the moderator for this webinar. Before we start, I would like to share some important information with you. To enjoy the best webinar experience, please use Google Chrome or Firefox as your browser. You can ask questions at any time during the presentation by typing them into the q and a box. We will try to answer as many of your questions as possible during the webinar. If you are a current Govwin subscriber, you can also submit inquiries to our research team of analysts through govwin.com. This is a great option if we don't have time to address your specific question on this webinar. You can download the presentation slides and other resources from the resources panel on your screen. You will also receive an email with the on demand recording of today's webinar within twenty four hours after the webinar ends. If you aren't familiar with what Govwin IQ does, we help US and Canadian contractors manage and grow their government business. Our platform is uniquely updated by market analysts and industry experts who gather and analyze firsthand information from government decision makers. We help our customers gain early access to opportunities, network with teaming partners and buyers, and leverage powerful market intelligence along with support from our team of experts to help you beat the competition and win more government contracts. Much of the content discussed here today was sourced directly from Govwin IQ. Now let me introduce our speaker for today's presentation. We have with us senior research analyst Brent Mitel with Deltek's SLED market analysis team. Welcome, Brent. Alright. So on today's agenda, we're going to start out with an economic backdrop. We'll then do move into an overall sled bid volume forecast. Next, Brent will discuss cooperative purchasing trends, then he will do a deep dive into 12 different industries. This will conclude with a summary and some strategic takeaways before we get into our q and a session. Now before we begin, we do have a polling question for our audience just to help us get a better understanding of what are the biz the types of industries that our audience is involved in and the experience you're having so far in 2026, in your markets. So the question is, how confident do you feel about navigating the evolving state, local, and education market and achieving your goals in 2026? So there are three options. First is very confident. You have the strategy tools and team in place to surpass your 2026 SLED revenue goals. Somewhat confident is the second option. You know that you want to grow your SLED presence in 2026, but you are not sure if you have the strategy tools or team in place to get there. Or finally, the last option is not very confident. Your approach to selling to the sled market isn't scaled out, and you're not sure where or how to start. So I'll just give you a moment to mull over those options. I'll give you about a minute to select your answer. Alright. It looks like we have some answers rolling in already. So far, it seems like most people are somewhat confident, which I think makes sense in the current environment. Just give you a few more minutes or a few more seconds. But, yeah, I think the overwhelming answer here is somewhat confident, which, as I said, really tracks with the current sled environment and a lot of opportunity in it, but also a lot of uncertainty. So with that, I will turn it over to Brent. Thanks, Brynn. Alright. Welcome, So before we dive into the the deeper details, let me give you first the headline findings of the report. First, the economy is slowing. No surprise. The consensus forecast for GDP growth sits at about 1.58 1.85% through 2027, which is below historical norms. Risk factors include tariff uncertainty, consumer spending pressure and job market softness from doze related cuts. Second, bids in the sled market declined by 1.9% in 2025, but that is an improvement over the 4.5 drop we saw in bids in 2024. Is the worst behind us? We don't know. Third, we expect modest but positive growth of about 0.6% across 2026 and through 2027 in the market. It's not a boom, but it's a signal of potential stabilization. Fourth, 11 out of the 12 industries are expected to return to flat or positive growth by 2027, which is a meaningful recovery signal, and we'll be spending most of the report talking about these industries. And then fifth and perhaps most importantly is the market is undergoing a reset. The era of ARPA fueled stimulus spending is over. There's a lot of changes to federal funding, which trickles down to state and local. So SLED governments are adapting and as a result, so must vendors. Next slide. Okay. So bit of a deeper dive here on the economic backdrop setting the economic stage. The chart here shows real GDP growth actual and projected from 2021 through 2027. You can see where it starts in 2021 was a result of the post pandemic surge at nearly 6%, then a normalization through 2023 and '24. And what we're watching now is a meaningful slowdown heading into 2025 and beyond. Our consensus forecast, which is derived from seven respected economic institutions, including the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Budget Office, and Morgan Stanley, projects GDP growth of 1.7% in 2025, 1.6% in 2026, and about 1.85% in 2027. The range does matter here. The most pessimistic forecast sees only 1% growth in 2026, while the most optimistic still stays under 2%. This tight band tells us that economists don't see a boom coming, but not necessarily also forecasting a recession as the base case. I will say that may be changing, so keep that in mind, at least at the 2025 when this data was collected. The key risk factors, tariff driven uncertainty resulting in inflation, a cooling job market, high cost of living, squeezing consumers, and the continued ripple effects of federal workforce reductions. And now you can introduce a war to the situation. These macro pressures directly constrain state tax revenues and in turn procurement budgets. Next slide. Okay. So we're going to look at the overall sled market forecast in terms of bid and RFP volume, which is our primary measurement of market activity. After strong growth in 2021 and 2022, driven by a lot of stimulus, peaking at 480,000 bids in 2023, the market began contracting. In 2024, we saw a 4.5% decline driven largely by the conclusion of ARPA stimulus funding. And in 2025, that decline did moderate to 1.9%. The critical message here is that it appears that the bottom possibly has been reached. Our baseline forecast shows stabilization beginning in 2026 with just 0.3% growth building to 0.6% growth in 2027. Bid volumes bottom out around 450,000 in 2025 and recover to about 453,000 by 2027. This is not explosive growth. It's more reminiscent of a market that's finding its footing after an extraordinary stimulus period. Those stimulus packages injected massive temporary procurement activity into the market and its conclusion was always going to create somewhat of a hangover effect. But the good news for contractors is the market is much more predictable now. The volatility of those stimulus driven swings is giving way to more stable, sustainable baseline. So for sales planning and pipeline forecasting, it could actually lead to a healthier environment in that regard. Next slide. Alright. So this cooperative purchasing is getting a lot more eyes on it than ever before and it's because it's a genuine area of consistent growth in recent years. While traditional bid volumes have softened, the national co op market has been on a relentless upward trajectory. Our analysis of the top 16 national co op organizations puts the 2025 market at 85,000,000,000 and we project it to reach nearly 110,000,000,000 by 2028 which is quite remarkable. Why is co op purchasing accelerating? Well there's two reasons. First, procurement staffing at state and local agencies has remained flat despite growing workloads so co ops offer more efficiency. Second, more categories of goods and services are now available through co ops that previously weren't making them a mainstream option rather than a niche one. So for vendors, this is a strategic imperative. If you're not on a national coop vehicle, you're missing an increasingly large share of the market. The competitive hurdle to get on these vehicles is real, but the payoff longer term revenue stability and lower marketing cost per unit is significant. Next slide. All right. So here's your at a glance summary of the 12 industries before we dive into each one. Take a moment to absorb this table. It's a powerful picture of the market. In 2025, only three industries showed positive growth. It was environmental services with nearly 7%, financial services with 3.6%, and public safety with 1.4%. Every other sector contracted. By 2026, we're forecasting the story to change. 10 out of the 12 industries are projected to return to positive growth with only operations and maintenance and transportation remaining in slight decline. And by 2027, essentially, the entire market is in a growth phase, although it's a modest level of growth. The standout performers to watch in general in 2025 and the years ahead are environmental services, public safety, health care, and water and energy. And the sectors that are most exposed to continued pressure in the years to come are transportation and operations and maintenance and we'll elaborate on that in the following slides. So now we'll go to next slide and get ready to walk through the sectors in more details. And oh, we have one more poll question before we jumped into the industry. So let me hand it back to Bryn for the poll question. Bryn? Alright. Our second polling question for our audience today is which of these approaches are currently part of your state, local, and education business development strategy? And please select all that apply. So, again, I'll give you all about a minute, and then we will discuss the results. And the options are responding to new bids and RFPs as they come up, pursuing planned future projects listed in available spending plans, targeting expiring fixed term contracts to unseat the existing supplier, leveraging cooperative purchasing, or none of the above. Alright. We're about at the halfway mark. And so far, it seems like we're getting quite a few votes for the first option, which is just responding to new bids and RFPs as they come up. But I'll give you all a few more moments to consider your answers. Alright. So it seems like responding to new bids and RFPs as they come up is the top answer About just over 40% of everyone, has selected that. The second, most popular answer is pursuing planned future projects listed in available spending plans. And then we have about an equal amount of people who are targeting those expired fixed term contracts and leveraging cooperative purchasing. Just just a couple of votes for none of the above as well. Very interesting. And, again, if you have any questions about your strategy when it comes to building your pipeline, please enter your questions or reach out to us on govwind.com. I'll turn it back to Brent now. All right. Thank you, Brynn. So now we're going to jump into the industries one by one. Next slide please. All right and we're going to start here with architecture and engineering. So the AIA architecture billings index tells a bit of a cautionary tale here at 43.3 in September 2025, which signals a contractionary territory for architecture and engineering. Project backlogs have also eroded to 6.1, but our forecast does see A and E turning positive with 1.3% growth in 2026, accelerating up to 2% in 2027. The, strategic message here is is that the bottom is near, if not already in, on this market I mean, on this industry. Firms that have maintained relationships and capacity through the downturn are well positioned for the modest recovery through 2027 that we're forecasting. Next slide. All right construction is the single biggest sector in the sled market nearly 182,000 bids in 2025 and after a painful 4.8% drop in bids in 2024 and a 3.4% decline in 2025 We're forecasting a near flat recovery in 2026, building to 0.2% in 2027. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or the IIJA continues to provide a floor for the sector. While ARPA's flexible stimulus has dried up, IIJA's five year allocation cycle is keeping federal infrastructure dollars flowing at least through 2026. And that has helped to maintain spending levels even as bid counts have fell for this industry. Next slide. Educational products and services took a meaningful hit from the ARPA expiration, bringing it down 4.3 in 2025, but stabilizes in 2026 with just 0.1% growth recovering to 1.3 in 2027. The big driver going forward is AI. Districts are exploring AI integration with student information systems, adaptive learning platforms, and early warning analytics. Simultaneously, some universities are pulling back from tech for traditional exams due to academic integrity concerns. The cell phone ban movement is also creating new technological opportunities in this industry. Next slide. Environmental services is our standout performer and its story is a fascinating one that illustrates the broader market dynamic at play. In 2025, environmental services grew by nearly 7%, which is the best performance of any industry. Why? Well, federal environmental funding was frozen and states stepped up to fill the gap themselves rather than let important programs lose ground, sled governments absorb the cost. Nearly 800 EPA grants were tied up in legal proceedings. Federal priorities shifted toward fossil fuel production which actually increases the need for environmental monitoring and compliance testing. So even the policy headwinds created tailwinds for state level procurement. Looking ahead, growth moderates to 1.9% in 2026 and three point one percent in 2027, and it's still among the stronger performers in the forecast. One important nuance to mention here is that much of environmental services is baseline civil engineering work, environmental impact statements, GIS mapping for zoning, watershed assessments. Those type of projects were never really federally funded in the first place, so that work has always continued regardless of the federal government's change in priorities for environmental type of services. For environmental consulting and testing firms it's a favorable environment. The federal pullback is creating structural demand at the state and local level that should persist. Next slide. Financial services and insurance is a mid sized but strategically important industry. It's about 12,500 bids in 2025 covering everything from banking and insurance procurement to payroll systems, auditing services, and retirement fund management. The story here is one of quiet resilience after three largely flat years following the pandemic recovery this industry actually posed posted a 3.6% increase in 2025 which might seem counterintuitive given the tighter budgets. Well, reason is uncertainty itself drives financial procurement. When federal funding relationships shift when grant structures change and when recession concerns mount, governments need more help managing their finances. The passage of the one big beautiful bill introduced significant changes to federal state fiscal relationships, including reduced discretionary grants and increased cost sharing requirements. That complexity creates demand for financial advisory auditing and compliance services. One notable data point over 40 states reported tax collections below long term norms in the fiscal year ending June 2025. That signals a budget stress that translates directly into demand for financial planning tools shared services platforms and efficiency focused procurement. AI is also making real inroads here particularly in fraud detection, audit automation, and budget forecasting. These aren't hypothetical use cases anymore. Agencies are actively procuring them. Looking ahead, growth moderates significantly to just point 6% in 2026 with a slight pullback at point 2% in 2027 as urgency the the urgency seen in 2025, normalizes. The industry won't be a high growth story going forward but it is expected to be stable consistent and vendors who offer scalable compliance focused AI enhanced solutions will find a receptive market. Next slide. All right. Healthcare had a near flat 2025, down just 0.4%, and our forecast shows steady recovery 1.7% growth in 2026 up to 2.4% in 2027. This industry is past the emergency response phase well past the emergency response phase of the pandemic and has been focused on systemic modernization. The three themes that are dominating health care procurement right now, the first one is behavioral health expansion which includes crisis centers, mobile units, recovering housing. Second is the modern the IT modernization of health systems, which includes Medicaid system integration, EHR connectivity, telehealth infrastructure. And third is workforce solutions, scheduling platforms, credentialing systems, and training programs. All three of these come together to create, consistent contracting opportunities for the health care industry. Next slide. Operations and maintenance is the second largest sector by bid volume at nearly 95,000 bids. It's declining modestly and won't fully recover through 2027, but it's essential and it's stable. The key strategic point is that O and M is rapidly migrating to cooperative purchasing vehicles. So vendors will need a dual channel approach, pursue both co op vehicles and traditional bid opportunities if you're looking to sell in the operations and maintenance space. Next slide. Professional business services bounced hard from the pandemic it peaked in 2023 and has been correcting since. After 3.9% decline in 2025 we expect modest point 4% growth in 2026 and one point one percent in 2027. The opportunity here is that state governors are emphasizing reform, efficiency, and accountability, and that's a green light for management consultants and operational improvement firms to work with state and local government. Next slide. Public safety is, another one of the bright spots in the forecast. It had 1.4% growth in 2025 accelerating to 2.5% in 2026 and it's going to be about 1.7% in 2027. The Council on Criminal Justice, notes that violent crime rates have returned to pre pandemic levels but that doesn't reduce demand for safety technology it actually shifts it. School safety also remains exceptionally active. Products and services such as access control, advanced camera analytics, and ballistic resistant retrofits are all in procurement. There's also drug related enforcement, particularly fentanyl response is driving a lot of toxicology and laboratory capability investments and procurements in the market. Next slide. Alright. Tech and telecom. This is a critical sector. It does over 30,000 bids annually. And while the overall growth numbers look modest, the compositional shift happening inside the market is transformative. The headline is flat. It had 0% growth in 2026 or it's forecast to have 0% growth through 2026 with 0.3% in 2027. But that flat that flat aggregate masks enormous movement within this within the industry. Legacy hardware and telecom spend is declining while AI, cybersecurity, data analytics, and cloud services are surging. NACIO's 2025 priorities tell the story the story clearly. Cybersecurity is still the number one concern amongst state CIOs, but AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation shot up to second place. That's a mark market signals vendors should not ignore. We're seeing statewide AI governance frameworks being stood up, AI powered permitting platforms, integration of AI into Medicaid systems, public safety dispatch, and financial fraud detection. Some were mentioned before. The federal presidential AI challenge focused on k through 12 education is also creating demand at the school district level. So for tech vendors, the message is this, if if your solution isn't touching cybersecurity, AI governance, or broadband public safety modernization, you're you're competing in a shrinking pool. So align your go to market strategy accordingly. Next slide. All right transportation was the hardest hit sector back in 2024 with a 11% decline which was driven by the end of ARPA and ARPA stimulus and also just the reduced transit ridership since COVID in 2020. The market stabilized last year in 2025 down just 2.1% and we project near flat performance through 2027. The bright spots in transportation are fleet services. Governments are extending vehicle lifespans rather than buying new. So they're doing a lot more maintenance and repairs and electric vehicle infrastructure is making a comeback. So earlier last year, a lot of the NEVI funding, which is the electric vehicle infrastructure funding from the federal government, was frozen or put on hold. Some of that, it looks like 3,000,000,000 of it, is gonna be reallocated after that freeze, and they're going to relax the standards on some of the specifics around it. But this does create and open up opportunities for EV infrastructure contractors that maybe weren't fans of the news about it all being frozen at the beginning of last year. So that's something to keep an eye on as well. Next slide. Alright. Water and energy. It's a it's genuinely an exciting industry right now. The the headline story here is that AI is creating massive electricity electricity demand And data centers need power, a lot of power. That's driving investment in new power plants, grid upgrades, and energy efficiency retrofits at the sled level. Power related categories grew by 6% year over year in 2025 with some niche areas like power generation services and renewable energy exceeding 10% growth. On the water side of things, major state initiatives are underway. Texas has a $20,000,000,000 water plan. New Mexico has a new fifty year water action plan in place. Pipes, pumps, treatment upgrades and smart utility management systems are all active procurement areas for water. Water and energy products as a whole had one are forecasting 11.8% growth in 2026 and two point three percent in 2027. Next slide. All right so what are the strategic takeaways from this report and this analysis for contractors? So let me put together the most actionable ones and and read them out to you here. So number one, target the growth sectors. Environmental services, public safety, health care, water, and energy are where the growth momentum is right now. If you're spreading resources thin across all 12 secondtors, you may be underinvesting in your best opportunities. Second, get on cooperative purchasing vehicles. The 85,000,000,000 co op market is growing to a 110,000,000,000 by 2028, and it's too large to ignore. If you sell products or services in the o and m, IT, or professional services categories and aren't on a national coop, it should be a near term strategic priority. Third, lead with AI and cybersecurity credentials. Every industry from health care to transportation to education is navigating some form of AI adoption. Vendors can credibly address AI integration and the and the cybersecurity implications will win disproportionate shares of procurements. Fourth, plan for modest incremental growth, set realistic pipeline expectations. We're not in a stimulus era fueled boom right now. We're more of in a sustainable steady recovery reactionary market. So forecast accordingly and don't overextend yourselves. Five, monitor the federal funding landscape closely. As federal grants have been restructured, frozen or redirected, redirected. SLED governments are picking up the tab for more programs themselves and that creates new local procurement opportunities. But you need to be tracking those shifts in real time. And now I think I'm gonna hand it to Bryn for, I think we have another poll question before we get to the q and a. So take it away, Bryn. So our last polling question is just us getting a sense of whether you're interested in Govwin IQ. So if you'd like to learn a little bit more about Govwin IQ, where we got all the data for today's presentation, just go ahead and click yes. I want to learn more, and someone will reach out to you shortly. So I'll give you all just a few moments to select your answer. And if you change your mind later, you can always go to our website govwin.com or deltek dot com, and you can request a demo through our website as well. Alright. Well, why don't we move on to the q and a? So we received a lot of questions in advance of the webinar. So we'll we'll just start by going through. We have a good amount of time left, so we'll just start by going through those questions that we've already received. If you do have any questions right now, please enter those into the q and a box, and we'll see if we'll be able to get to those as well. Another quick note is that, on the screen here, we have some additional resources about the SLED market, that you can access for free. So if you have any questions about those as well, please let us know. Alright, Brent. I will start out with our first I'm just gonna go in the order that we received our questions. Sure. The first question, as federal stimulus programs wind down, which infrastructure sectors such as water, wastewater, stormwater, transportation, and resiliency are most likely to receive increased SLED funding through 2027. Sure. So honest answer is water, transportation, and resiliency are going to be where the money flows. Water and wastewater is probably the most urgent. These systems are old, they're failing, and they've been underfunded for decades. So states are stepping up with their own money to fill the gap as federal programs wind down. And that investment isn't going to slow down anytime soon. Transportation has always been a steady lane and that's not changing. States are committing billions of their own regardless of what happens federally. Roads, bridges, transit, the pipeline still looks pretty full. And in terms of resiliency, if that's being asked in in terms of, like, preparing for disasters and or or whatnot. I mean, I I can at least touch on that that after the the last few years of floods, wildfires, and extreme weather events across the country, agencies aren't treating really resilience as as optional anymore. It's it's getting baked directly into how projects are funded. So if you're trying to figure out where to focus your energy, those three areas are are good bets through 2027 and honestly, well well beyond that. Alright. Our second question, are state and local agencies moving toward more long term on call engineering contracts, or will project specific procurements remain the primary approach for civil infrastructure projects? Right. So the trend we are seeing is clearly telling us that long term on call relationships what they're going toward. And it comes down to something quite simple and it's that agencies just don't have enough staff. A lot of municipalities, especially smaller ones, they don't have in house engineers anymore. They need a consulting firm that can basically be their engineering department and and handle everything from planning and design to permits and grant management. So an on call contract is the best vehicle for that. Now big one off projects will still go through their own competitive process, but for the day to day capital program work, on call is definitely winning. And here's a strategic piece. If if you're a consulting firm and you're you're only showing up when an RFP gets posted, you you you may already be too late. So on call relationships put you in the room early, and that's where you can actually help shape the work. So Alright. That's great answer. I actually just want to shift over to some of the questions that we're receiving live just really quickly. We're receiving a lot of questions about coops. How does one get on a coop? Can you dive deeper into coop and what it entails? Does Deltek know which coops are the busiest? Brent, I was just wondering if you could just maybe, yeah, dive a little deeper into what cooperative purchasing contracts are, how you would get on to those, and which ones are the biggest for the sled market. Sure. So, what is cooperative contract? And the shortest way I can explain it is a bunch of state and local entities join come together and create a cooperative, and then they make an agreement that if one of them bid one of them can bid out for a project or a product or service and whoever whatever vendor that gets awarded to, the rest of the governments that are part of that cooperative can also pull from that contract and use that service. So it's kind of like a, you know, a if Florida's on a cooperative and the city of New York and Florida bids out for something under the cooperative and it gets chosen to a vendor and then for a service, let's say, services cleaning services or something, and then New York is in need of cleaning services, they can pull from that contract without having to go out to bid themselves. So it's it's really easy, really efficient. It's a really quick way to do a lot of procurements, especially those that are, as I mentioned, are, like, in the o and m professional services sector because it's kind of a lot of just quick immediate need type of work. The what was the follow-up? Some of the bigger ones, I mean, there's. Sourcewell. I mean, MMCAP. Sourcewell is probably the biggest one, Yeah. I would think. I mean, there's there's we we've published a coop report last I think we did it last year. We have only done one every two years, but there's a lot of tension on coops, we might be doing it more frequently. But that report does have a list of the top coops in terms of volume. I will say that cooperatives can be harder to track their their spending and the amount of bids they release because they don't always release a solicitation with the cooperative name in it. So and you find out later after it's been awarded, Oh, it was for a cooperative. So it's a bit more challenging to track down some of those, but you can find postings on their websites or any state and local governments that might be part of a cooperative. Hopefully, they list it on any bids they put out. Yeah. Okay. I think I'll switch back to well, actually, we we have received just a couple more questions about co ops. Oh, man. Brent, would you say that most states are probably participating in co op contracting state governments? Yes. And, you know, not just state level, also the local level. Cities, special districts, counties are are gonna be part of coops too and probably more so than than a lot of the higher state levels. Let's see. I mean, I think someone asked is is Missouri specifically on a coop? And, I mean, I just did a quick Google search and yeah, they are a part of a cooperative procurement program. They have something posted on their own website, purchasing.oa.mo.gov. They have a cooperative procurement program, and you can go there and read more about it and stuff. But I don't I don't know which one they're on off the top of my head, but yeah. Okay. And then, do you think coops would work for building construction companies? I mean, my understanding is that it's mostly they're mostly used to sell commodities, and sometimes professional services. But what do you think about the building construction companies? Yes. So this was something we actually looked into last year because we got questions about it. And the answer is we're seeing an increase in construction related projects becoming a cooperative contract. And the reason is because with inflation and the cost of materials and all this stuff, it's it's cheaper to do a lot of this stuff through cooperative contracting. So now they're finding a way to get construction type of work through cooperative contracting. So it's it's definitely there, and it's a growing market for construction. So Alright. Well, now let's pivot back to some of those questions we received ahead of time. Let's see. How are emerging technologies like asset management systems, digital twins, and AI assisted planning influencing SLED infrastructure procurement decisions? So it's real, but but the adoption, it's it's probably uneven right now. The the larger, more sophisticated agencies are genuinely using these tools like predictive maintenance, digital modeling, AI to optimize playing decisions, and some of them are starting to expect their consultants to work within those systems. Now for smaller agencies, a lot of them are just getting started. They They know that they need better asset management and, of course, they're hearing a lot about AI, but they don't always know where to begin necessarily. So that does create a real opportunity for consultants in helping agencies figure out what technologies make sense for them and then implementing it. But technology fluency is becoming a differentiator in how agencies pick their partners. So if you can speak credibly to these tools in a proposal or in an interview with the with the entity, you'll definitely stand out. If you can't, you know, you might might have a bit of a slower start than some other firms in that you're competing against. So Okay. Let's see. The next question we received. What are the biggest challenges municipalities face in delivering infrastructure projects today, such as funding, permitting, staffing, or procurement, and how can engineering consultants help address them? Can you read that question again? Yeah. Sorry. It was, so what are the biggest it's almost like an answer within the question. What are the biggest challenges municipalities face in delivering infrastructure projects today? For example, funding, permitting, staffing, or procurement, and how can engineering consultants help address those challenges? Okay. So I'll just I I think yeah. I think they kinda answered it there, but money, for sure, is always first probably. Budgets can't keep up with the need and navigating all the different funding sources, grants, bonds, state programs. It's it's genuinely complicated. Consultants who can help agencies find and secure funding are worth are probably worth their weight in gold right now. Permitting is probably close second. The regulatory process can drag projects out by years. Agencies desperately need consultants to know how to move things through the system efficiently, who to call, how to frame things, how to avoid the common bottlenecks, and of course staffing. Mentioned it earlier in the presentation that agencies simply don't have enough people, and they need consultants who will be willing to roll up their sleeves and function as part of the team and not just deliver a report and disappear. But they want these firms to position themselves as as true partners, not just vendors. And, I think they're the ones that are winning a lot of the most meaningful work right now. So Mhmm. Alright. Next question. Let's see here. With the shift from wait. Let me let me restart that. With the shift from stimulus driven funding to long term capital planning, how should engineering firms position themselves to support municipalities in delivering resilient infrastructure over the next five to ten years? Alright. So, yes, stimulus era is winding down and a lot of firms that rode that wave without maybe building deeper relationships with agencies are probably going to feel it. The ones that are going to thrive are probably going to be the ones that became genuine planning partners by helping agencies figure out what to build and what order with what money over a long period of time. That's a fundamentally different role than showing up to a design project someone else already scoped. So it also means getting comfortable with the funding conversation. Governments are looking for partners who can help them think through how to pay for things and not just how to build them, especially with rising cost of goods and materials and construction. And resilience has to be part of everything. It's not a separate service line anymore. It's kind of baked into how projects get evaluated, funded and scored. And I think firms that treat it that way are going to probably write better proposals and win more work. And I mean that in the next ten years, would focus on leading with strategy and not just execution in in the work that is proposed on these bids. So Very good. I'm thinking I will we have just a couple more questions, or time for a couple more questions. So second to last question. What can smaller specialty contractors do now to get in front of SLED opportunities earlier, especially when we are not a prime but can add value as a specialized trading trade partner. Alright. I I assume this one hits close to home for a lot of people on this call. The message I give you is stop waiting for opportunities to come to you. By the time a contract is publicly posted, the team's already being formed, The prime contractors who are gonna win those jobs have been thinking about their partners for months. If you wanna be on those teams, you need to be having conversations with the primes long before anything hits the street. So introduce yourself now. Be specific about what you do and the problems you solve, and make your certifications, whether it's minority owned, women owned, or whatever else applies, front and center because primes are actively looking for certified partners to meet their diversity requirements. Get registered on cooperative purchasing programs too. These let agencies hire you without a full competitive bid process as described earlier, which opens a huge door for specialty firms. And if there's any pre proposal meetings and industry events tied to a bid show up to those, go to those, network, introduce yourself. And it's it's not the handout business cards per se, but to actually be in the room where the requirements get shaped and the relationships get built for that. The contractors who are who are winning in this market right now are the ones who are are visible, specific, and very proactive. And I I think that's really it. And yeah. No. That's a great answer. Alright. We have one final time for one final question. Now you answered I feel like you part you know, you answered this through your presentation, but maybe you can just expand on it a little bit. Given the current administration, what changes or trends are expected for existing SLED contracts and opportunities? So kind of a broader question about. how SLED contracts will be impacted continue to be impacted, you know, by the current administration. So, I guess mostly what I can do is recap what I already mentioned is that a lot a lot of federal grants that trickle down to state and local governments using the money which eventually go out to projects to bid has either been frozen, pulled, been redirected somewhere else. And what we've seen recently is state and local governments adapting to that to prioritize which of those funding areas are affected and what they consider essential that state and local government needs to step in and fund. And how's the current administration going to continue to impact that As they and if they continue to pull more grants and funding and stuff like that, it's just going to continue to have that same impact. Don't think state and local governments will be caught off guard as much as they were last year though because they wouldn't be surprised by it. Mhmm. Yeah. So, this is just one random example. There was like a big tree environmental tree conservation project up in New York that was like millions of dollars and it was federally funded and then they pulled the funding for that. And then I think I think the state was looking to continue to fund it somehow. But, like, that's just one example of all this change that's happening and how states are stepping in to to make a difference. So, Alright. yeah, Well, thank you for your just gotta be yeah. You just gotta be active and watch it. I mean, it's it's it changes day by day. I I did wanna say something, Brent, if you don't mind. Someone did ask something here saying for it. copilot is saying you can't join a co op. The only way to get on a co op is to win an award, but sounds like you can't win unless you're part of the co op. Okay. Coops can be really confusing to explain, so I apologize if it's not making sense. State and local government agencies will come together to form a co op and join a co op. And then for a vendor to get on a contract that's part of that co op, the vendor has to bid and win that contract, and then they're on the co op. So I don't know if if if you're getting confused maybe with asking about states joining a co op and then how vendors can be part of that. So hopefully that helps explain it a little bit. If not, yeah, look up the one of our recent co op reports. Just type like GovwinIQ cooperative purchasing market report, and I bet you one of the one of them will come up and it gives like an explanation. There's like an infographic to try to explain it well, and then it has some historical data on the growth of the market. So, yeah, that's it. Alright. Well, thank you for your answers. And I think with that, we are going to wrap up. But as I mentioned, if you'd like to get a demo of GovWin, you can do that on our website. Or if you are a GovWin subscriber, you know, reach out to your customer success person, and they can route your question to the appropriate person. Alright. Before we are done, we want to let you know that you will get an email with the on demand recording of today's webinar within twenty four hours. We would also appreciate your feedback on the short survey that will appear at the end of the webinar. Thank you so much for joining us today, and please visit delltech.com for more upcoming Adeltech events. Thank you.