• Officials and contractors offer nine rules for seeking work on contracts with state and local governments, and No. 1 is to come to them with innovative ideas for what they want to build.
• Governments that are looking at tight budgets need contractors who can act as consultants as much as engineers, helping them figure out how to stretch budgets, prioritize needs and phase projects.
• Another bit of advice is to be patient and be prepared for delays as the client tries to cope with reduced staffs and is caught short trying to meet its own deadlines.

From the report:

The nation’s 90,740 state and local governments provide office space and support facilities for 16.6 million full-time equivalent employees. By comparison, the General Services Administration, the nation’s largest civilian landlord, provides workspace for roughly a million federal workers. ...