Companys Background:

Schnabel Engineering is a midsized ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) which was started

by Jim Schnabel in 1956, It was one of the first firms in the Mid-Atlantic region to offer services

in soil mechanics engineering. They have the most advanced engineering techniques in

tackling challenging subsurface conditions. Schnabel has saved clients millions of dollars

through risk management, creative design, and construction solutions. They provide

specialized expertise and design for geotechnical, dam, and tunnel engineering projects

across the United States and worldwide. They have over 300 diverse professionals and a ENR

Top 250 engineering firm, Schnabel serves both public and private sector clients. Their

supportive workplace environment has earned recognition by CE News as one of the Best

Engineering Firms to Work For. (1)

Interviewees Background:

Mary Anderson is Senior Vice President in Schnabel Engineering working in the area of

Business Development. Mary Anderson has over 30 years of experience in Business

Development within the professional services industry. She is a Senior Associate and has

been with Schnabel Engineering for over 17 years. She is the Business Development

Champion for Schnabels U.S. State Department Bureau of Overseas Building Operations

(OBO) program, which has taken their staff to all corners of the globe and has generated

millions of dollars in revenue for Schnabel. (2)

Role:

Mary Anderson is the prime person who identifies the opportunities and tries to make the

best out of it. Recognising an opportunity sometimes may be a difficult task because of the
present comitative market. She relies on networking and also research which would result for

a better outcome. She also contributes to decisions on whether a client or pursuit is suitable

for Schnabel Engineering or not.

Approach:

Schnabel conducts research and networking to identify out teaming partners and

opportunities up front before solicitations are advertised. They rely on networking and also

Clint Management System (CMS). It can be an important tool for any company to maintain a

rigid relationship with their clients. CMS is an approach to managing a company's interaction

with current and potential customers. It uses data analysis about customers history with a

company and to improve business relationships with customers, specifically focusing

on customer retention and ultimately driving sales growth. (3)

Methods:

DELTEK CRM: Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to strategies, technologies

and practices, that companies use to analyse and manage customer interactions and their

data throughout the customer lifecycle. It is based on the goal of improving business

relationships with customers and helping in customer retention and to increase/ drive

forward the sales growth. (4) The firm Schnabel uses DELTEK CRM to better manage their

opportunities in order to win more projects and accelerate productivity.

It helps Schnabel to increase opportunity visibility, improve capture system and also ensures

operational efficiency. Their key benefits are to Easily update information with web-based

tools. View new prospects using proactive business development resources and Keeping a

centralized capture processes.

ONVIA: Schnabel also uses ONVIA which provides enterprise, mid-market and small business

customers with the most comprehensive set of federal, state and local government

contracting leads. Using this the company attempts on growing their sales pipeline with

access to bids, RFPs and future spending data, along with agency contacts, competitor

information and market analytics. (5) It also provides CRM integration and expert support.

Legal steps followed:

Schnabels services are usually selected based on qualifications. Schnabel have in house

counsel that reviews all contract documents. They also have teaming agreements that allows

one or more companies combine resources to bid on a government contract. They also have

Non- Disclosure agreements in which multiple parties agree that they will not disclose

confidential information that they have shared with each other as a necessary part of doing

business together. To avoid flaws Schnabel has in house attorney and all documents go

through the attorney.

Competing in the market:

As discussed earlier Schnabel relies on networking and to stay in track in this ever-challenging

market and its important to stay updated and maintain good relations to compete in the

market. Schnabel has highly skilled qualification to investigate or study to target a particular

project. They have very good local geographic and client knowledge which helps them to

generate better results.

Successful projects:

The firm has a great reputation in the eastern us and overall mid-Atlantic region and also

received projects from the same client more than once. They have many successful projects
going on and there are many completed in the past. One of the most important project was

the Pervari dam in turkey where the main agenda of the country was to leverage hydroelectric

power to help fulfil the need of electricity. The project presents a number of substantial

challenges. This part of Turkey is situated in the East Anatolia seismic zone, where large

earthquakes occur frequently. The dam would be located in extremely rugged terrain just

downstream of two immense historic landslides measuring over 200 meters high. The slides

were identified during the initial project feasibility study, and Schnabel evaluated their impact

on the dam and devised necessary measures and technical developments.

challenging aspects:

Some of the most challenging aspects faced by the firm were Commoditization of

construction and project management industry by both owners and some competitors. The

fall of energy and commodities markets is a major consequence of the failing economy

worldwide and particularly USA, which had been an important driver of global economic

activity and infrastructure projects over the past decade which brings the entire consulting

engineering down to a lower playing field.

Conclusion:

Schnabel doesnt usually bid, they rely on relationships and networking which can be

considered as a prime factor of success for this firm. The high skilled qualifications of the

employees, local geographic and client knowledge can also be considered as prime factors for

the success.
References:
(1) https://www.schnabel-eng.com/about-us/

(2) https://www.schnabel-eng.com/sutw2016presenterbios/

(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management

(4) https://www.deltek.com/en/products/business-development/deltek-crm

(5) https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-winning-proposals-service-from-
onvia-gives-companies-a-unique-competitive-edge-300497016.html