business development
Trends in the Major DBE Markets for 2018 and Beyond By David Burstein
S
trategic and business planning require companies to set their strategies not for where the markets are today, but for where they will be heading in one to five years. When market trends change (either positively or negatively), this is observed first as a change in the number of available proposal opportunities. These changes in proposal opportunities later become changes in backlog, revenues and cash flow. Since 2003, PSMJ Resources Incorporated’s “Quarterly Market Forecast” surveys track proposal opportunities as early indicators of future conditions and present them in quarterly update reports. In addition to providing an overview of the entire architecture/engineering/construction market, PSMJ’s “Quarterly Market Forecast” reports detail conditions in seven geographic regions, 12 major markets, and (annually) 52 submarkets. The surveys ask questions about the respondents’ markets, sub-markets and geographic regions. The responses allow PSMJ to compute a Net Plus/ Minus Index (NPMI) by subtracting the number of respondents who respond negatively from the number who respond positively. If the same number of participants respond both positively and negatively, the plus-minus index is zero. If more respond positively, the index is positive; and if more respond negatively, the index is negative. The higher the positive or negative value of the index, means the stronger the positive or negative response (The maximums are +100 percent and -100 percent).
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PROPOSAL ACTIVITY FOR TRANSPORTATION – NPMI TRENDS Latest Quarter by Region 100% 80% 60%
68% 51%
40%
44% 33%
32%
39%
19%
20% 0% Overall Results
Northeast
South
Midwest Southwest Mountain
West
PROPOSAL ACTIVITY FOR EDUCATION – NPMI TRENDS Latest Quarter by Region 100% 80% 60%
67% 52%
46%
40%
47% 32%
30%
29%
20% 0% Overall Results
Northeast
South
Midwest Southwest Mountain
West
