Getting Ahead of the RFP: MSA’s Secret to Winning Local Government Work

Serving diverse communities across the Upper Midwest, MSA Professional Services needs to spot new projects early, before the RFP hits. The engineering and planning consultancy supports local governments with land development, municipal infrastructure, transportation, agricultural services, and more. But with 18 localities to cover, staying on top of local discussions is no easy task.

That’s why MSA relies on FiscalNote’s local data in Curate, a local policy monitoring solution that helps them uncover early-stage project discussions in city and county meetings — often before a request for proposals (RFP) is even drafted.

Staying Ahead of the Curve

For Jim Holz, a client success manager at MSA, Curate has become an essential part of his workflow.

“I get the weekly email and review it first thing in the morning,” Holz says. “I even block time on my calendar to go through it. I like that the email has a direct link — it takes you right to the relevant content. The layout is great: you can quickly jump to the meaningful part of a document, but still access the full version for context.”

This process helps Holz spot valuable opportunities that might otherwise get lost in the noise. “It’s efficient and lets you sort through information quickly, instead of reading 200 pages of meeting minutes,” he says.

And more importantly, it helps his team build relationships before the competition shows up.

“Most other tools only flag opportunities when the RFP is already out. That’s too late for us,” Holz explains. “If we haven’t talked to the client before the RFP, our win rate is low. Curate helps us get ahead of the RFP and be part of the conversation early.”

How Local Data Surfaces Opportunities for MSA Professional Services

 Here are just a few examples of how Curate has helped MSA make an impact.

Winning a Major Engineering Contract Just in Time

While reviewing Curate updates from a fast-growing city, Holz spotted an agenda item mentioning an upcoming RFP for general engineering services. He recognized the city administrator’s name and picked up the phone.

“I called and said, ‘Hey, I saw you’re going out to RFP,’” Holz recalls. “He told me the council wanted to solicit only firms with a local office, which we have, though he didn’t realize it.”

With just two days until the proposal deadline, MSA scrambled to submit. They got the proposal submitted in time and ultimately won the project.

That last-minute insight turned into a major contract covering water, wastewater, streets, a roundabout, and park work. “We weren’t directly solicited — they were reaching out to others. We would have completely missed it if not for Curate,” Holz says.

Building a Bridge and a New Business Line

In another instance, Holz spotted a conversation in Curate where a city clerk was discussing a bridge project with other firms. MSA had worked in the community before but hadn’t been approached.

“I reached out and told them that we do bridge work too,” Holz says. “The city clerk was surprised and asked how I knew they were discussing the project. I told her I read the council minutes.”

That outreach led to the clerk connecting with MSA’s bridge team, who eventually won the project. “In that particular state, we hadn’t done bridge work before,” Holz says. “It helped us build our resume in a new area of service. Even though we were the de facto city engineer, they just didn’t know we offered bridge services.”

Avoiding the RFP Process Altogether

In a large metro area where MSA has a newer office, Curate uncovered early signs that a community was considering an RFP for planning services. Armed with that insight, MSA reached out before the formal process began.

“Because we caught it early, they ended up awarding the work directly to us — no RFP required,” Holz says.

A Water Trail That Opened Doors

In the Twin Cities metro, Curate surfaced a project about a water trail. MSA reached out quickly and won the work. That single project has since led to four additional park-related assignments from the same community.

“We’d never worked there before and had no idea about the water trail until Curate surfaced it,” Holz says. “Now, they continue to come back to us for more.”

Influence Outcomes for Your Organization with Local Policy Monitoring

From landing multimillion-dollar contracts to opening entirely new lines of business, MSA’s team uses Curate to spot opportunities early, reach out with confidence, and win more work.

FiscalNote’s local policy monitoring has the most comprehensive local database with coverage of over 12,000 municipalities and counties, and 4,000+ school districts nationwide, and an AI-powered, human-refined engine that empowers your government affairs team with the best tool for the job to make sure you never miss another opportunity. 

Schedule a demo today and experience why Curate is the best solution for local legislative tracking software.