Business developmentforToledo AEC firms.
BD-AEC is an embedded, fractional business development director for Toledo architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Your engineers bill $300 an hour, so they should not be running your pipeline. We run it, market by market, with the relationships that win work before the RFQ drops.
The Toledo market
Who buys design and construction here
Toledo is a manufacturing town first, and that shapes who buys design and construction here. Roughly 142 AEC firms compete in this metro, and the same primes, plant engineers, and facilities directors recur on project after project.
Toledo is an industrial anchor on the northern end of the I-75 corridor, and the buyer base reflects it. Heavy industry sets the table: the Jeep-badged Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex, GM's Toledo Propulsion Systems transmission plant, and the glass and refining names that built this region, O-I Glass, Libbey, Owens Corning, and the Cenovus refinery in Oregon. Those plants and the engineers and facilities directors who run them are the buyers who keep design and construction firms busy here.
Demand also runs through a deep institutional base. ProMedica and Mercy Health drive the healthcare capital pipeline, the University of Toledo and its medical center carry a steady campus program, and public work flows through ODOT District 2, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, and Metroparks Toledo's Glass City Riverwalk along the Maumee. These owners hire on reputation and a track record they already trust, not the low number from a firm they do not know.
That is the opening for a fractional BD director. This is a concentrated market where reputation travels fast and the buyers are a known set, so a dedicated director who already knows the plant engineers, primes, and public agencies shortens the runway to a warm introduction dramatically.
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (NAICS 5413, 2022)
Industrial & manufacturing
The Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex (Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator), GM's Toledo Propulsion Systems transmission plant, the glass base of O-I Glass, Libbey, and Owens Corning, and the Cenovus refinery in Oregon.
Healthcare systems
ProMedica, headquartered downtown, and Mercy Health's St. Vincent and Children's hospitals drive the region's hospital and outpatient capital programs across Lucas County and the surrounding metro.
Institutional
The University of Toledo and its medical center on the Health Science Campus, plus the region's K-12 and community-college capital work.
Public infrastructure
ODOT District 2 out of Bowling Green, the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority's Maumee River seaport, Toledo Express and Toledo Executive airports, and the harbor dredge-disposal program.
Riverfront & civic
Metroparks Toledo's Glass City Riverwalk, the City of Toledo, and Lucas County public-works programs along the waterfront.
RFPs and bids
Where Toledo architecture and engineering work gets advertised
These are the agencies and institutions that put architecture and engineering work out to bid in Toledo, 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.
City of Toledo, Division of Purchases and Supplies
Runs the city's single PlanetBids portal for every department; the architecture and engineering-relevant issuers inside it are DPU/Engineering Services, DPU/Water Treatment Plant, DPU/Water Reclamation, DPU/Sewer and Drainage, Transportation/Eng and Construction Mgmt, DPS/Facilities Operations and the Plan Commission, and the portal carries a distinct 'RFQual' solicitation type for qualifications-based work.
Lucas County Board of County Commissioners
Buys design and construction through three separately posting offices: the Lucas County Engineer (1049 S. McCord Road, Holland) for roads and township work, the Lucas County Sanitary Engineer (1111 S. McCord Rd., Holland) for water and sewer, and Lucas County Facility Management (One Government Center, Suite 800, Toledo) for buildings, which issues Requests for Qualifications such as RFQ 2026-03 for construction management at the Lucas County Corrections Center.
Ohio Department of Transportation District 2
The ODOT district covering the Toledo area, headquartered at 317 E. Poe Road, Bowling Green, OH 43402 under District Deputy Director Pat McColley, P.E., S.I.; it buys surveying and mapping, environmental services, studies, preliminary and final design and construction inspection through statewide Office of Consultant Services agreements.
Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority
Owns and improves Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport, Toledo Executive Airport, the Port of Toledo, the Toledo Shipyard and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza; it does not post solicitations publicly and instead notifies registered suppliers of all RFPs, RFQs and public bid notices from its own supplier database.
The University of Toledo
Publishes a dedicated 'Request for Qualifications for A/E' track plus Notices of Construction Projects on Bid Express, separate from its goods-and-services ITB/RFI/RFP/RFQ track; live work runs to building interior alterations, roof replacements and the Swan Creek Restoration Project near the University of Toledo Medical Center.
Toledo Area Regional Transportation Authority (TARTA)
Procures facility, planning and engineering work through an OpenGov procurement portal and carries a DBE goal of 10.0% for fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2026, with certification synchronized to Ohio's Unified Certification Program administered by ODOT.
Lucas Metropolitan Housing
The HUD-funded housing authority for Toledo and Lucas County (note: officially 'Lucas Metropolitan Housing', no longer 'Authority'); it publishes open solicitations on an external e-procurement system and imposes Section 3, contractor insurance and construction bonding requirements on design and construction work.
Where solicitations are posted
- City of Toledo PlanetBids Vendor Portal
- Lucas County Bid Opportunities (hub for the county's Oracle supplier portal and its three Bid Express agencies)
- ODOT Office of Consultant Services (prequalification, programmatic postings, consultant selections)
- The University of Toledo on Bid Express (A/E Requests for Qualifications and construction notices)
- TARTA Procurement Portal (OpenGov)
How selection works here
Ohio procures design on qualifications, not price: under ORC 153.65 to 153.71 a public authority must select and rank no fewer than three firms it considers most qualified and only then negotiate fair and reasonable compensation with the top-ranked one, and the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission runs that same Qualifications-Based Selection RFQ track for state agency, public higher education and participating K-12 capital work, which is how University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University and Owens projects reach the street. Two local rules decide close calls in Toledo: Toledo Municipal Code 187.34 adds evaluation weight for businesses whose principal location is in Toledo, Lucas County or Northwest Ohio, and TMC 187.42 forces a separate RFQ prequalification round, each criterion scored zero to fifteen points by a panel of at least three people, before anyone may bid a public improvement fairly estimated above ten million dollars, while Lucas County's Responsible Contractor Policy has required construction prequalification since January 1, 2026. On the transportation side ODOT District 2 in Bowling Green will only hire firms already technically and financially prequalified through ODOT's Office of Consultant Services, and posts much of its recurring work as multi-year ODOT and Local "programmatic" agreements rather than project by project, TARTA carries a 10.0% DBE goal for FY2024 through FY2026 certified through Ohio's Unified Certification Program that ODOT administers, and practically, Bid Express is the shared portal for the Lucas County Engineer, Sanitary Engineer and Facility Management plus UToledo, BGSU and OFCC, so one Bid Express account covers most design and construction in this metro while the City of Toledo sits alone on PlanetBids.
The Toledo 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 Toledo metro, buyer moves, and portal changes. No pitch, just the market.
Email scott@bd-aec.com with the subject "Toledo bid watchlist" and we'll add you.
Federal market
Federal AEC spending in Toledo
Federal agencies obligated $5M for architecture, engineering, and construction work in the Toledo metro over the last twelve months. Federal is not where this market is won. The work here runs through state, county, municipal, and private owners, which is where we point Toledo business development.
Obligated, 12 months
$5M
Across the 3-county Toledo, OH area.
Largest buyer
General Services Administration
$4M of the total.
Firms winning it
- Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, The · $2M
- Hill International, Inc · $1M
- Angels General Construction Inc · $700K
- Levison Enterprises LLC · $250K
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 Toledo, by discipline
We run business development for Toledo AEC firms one discipline at a time, one client per discipline. Open your discipline’s Toledo page on the main site for the local picture.
Civil Engineering
Toledo business development for civil engineering firms.
Structural Engineering
Toledo business development for structural engineering firms.
Architecture
Toledo business development for architecture firms.
Land Surveying & Geospatial
Toledo business development for land surveying & geospatial firms.
Landscape Architecture
Toledo business development for landscape architecture firms.
Construction Management
Toledo business development for construction management firms.
Transportation & Traffic Engineering
Toledo business development for transportation & traffic engineering firms.
Testing & Special Inspection
Toledo business development for testing & special inspection firms.
Why us, here
Why a fractional BD director in Toledo
BD-AEC runs business development in Toledo. Scott knows the Toledo owners, primes, and public agencies, the plant engineers and facilities directors who keep recurring on industrial work, the healthcare and university buyers, and the people at ODOT District 2 and the Port Authority. In a concentrated market like this, that local knowledge is the difference between a cold proposal and a warm introduction.
By policy, BD-AEC represents one firm per discipline, project type, and market, an ethical line that protects every client's pipeline. For a Toledo 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 Toledo market?
Yes. Scott works the Toledo owners, primes, and public agencies directly, not from a distance. He knows the plant engineers and facilities directors who keep recurring on industrial work, the healthcare and university buyers, and the people at ODOT District 2 and the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.
What kind of AEC firms do you represent in Toledo?
Principal-led architecture, engineering, and construction firms, roughly $1M to $20M in revenue, whose senior people are too valuable to spend their week on business development. By policy we take only one firm per discipline, project type, and market, so we never represent two competitors.
How is a fractional BD director different from hiring a salesperson?
A salesperson cold-calls. A fractional BD director is an embedded, senior partner who owns your pipeline: the strategy, the relationships, the teaming, and the pursuit. You get the expertise of a six-figure BD hire without the full-time salary line.
Most of our work is industrial. Do you know the plant and manufacturing buyers here?
Yes. Toledo runs on heavy industry, from the Stellantis Jeep complex and GM's Toledo Propulsion Systems plant to the glass makers and the Cenovus refinery. Scott knows the plant engineers and facilities directors who decide that work and keep recurring on it project after project.
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.
Talk to Scott
Is your Toledo market open?
Tell us your firm and your discipline. Scott will respond within one business day and tell you honestly whether your Toledo market is open and what a fractional BD director would do first.
Request a discovery call
Toledo AEC firms only. We'll never share your details.
More markets at bd-aec.com