Government Construction Trends for 2021 and Beyond

May 5, 2023

Sara Giddens

Any government entity is often associated with long, laborious processes and slow incremental change, especially when it comes to construction. However, 2020 proved to be a very transformative year for federal, state, and even municipal agencies and forcibly accelerated projects to become more modern, agile, and scalable. Over a year later, three key trends have emerged as critical components of the way government projects will be managed in the future.

Digitalization

While the idea of digital construction is not completely new, the demand for it has increased exponentially over the last year. Agile workflows and cloud accessibility has shifted from a luxury to a necessity for future projects. Construction professionals need real-time data, accessibility from anywhere, and the capability to share information across teams, departments, and organizations easily without paper or in-person meetings. The need to quickly modify operations and administrative processes now makes organizations rethink traditional end-to-end execution and workflow silos that prohibit optimization.

Get started: Look for construction management solutions that can be easily adapted without having to go back to the vendor. Traditional software customization requests can take anywhere from six to eighteen months to complete and come with a heavy price tag. With a system that allows you to modify it in-house, you will always have a solution that fits your exact needs.

Value from Data

Government organizations and projects are becoming insight–driven. The new expectation is that data will be shared, rather than may be shared, and leveraged in a way that positively influences operations going forward. The collection and analysis of dynamic data sets, as well as identifying information gaps, has become an intentional exercise rather than an afterthought. With this enhanced focus on capturing and storing data comes a more critical focus on data security as well. Maximizing the value from data not only supports the ability to manage project delivery more effectively, but also to provide more transparency to the public in an accurate and ethical way.

Get started: Having the ability to view data in many different ways gives you the best picture of reality. Make sure your construction management solution captures and consolidates all project information into a single, intuitive interface so you can have everything you need in real-time.

Public-Private Partnerships

Issues of liability took centerstage for public-private partnerships during 2020. However, as the market recalibrates and we enter the recovery phase, there will be increased opportunities for government organizations to partner with private entities to help alleviate funding pressures, mitigate risks, and optimize the supply chain. As the nature of these relationships expand and strengthen, it will become increasingly important that government agencies and private companies alike have robust but flexible solutions that underscore sustainability and resiliency. The ultimate goal is for each entity to have greater insight into project planning, performance, and delivery to support high-quality projects and long-term relationships.

Get started: Short-list companies that are on the GSA schedule and FedRAMP certified when considering partners or vendors. If a company is already on the GSA schedule, they will understand the nuances associated with government processes and will have already been verified and approved as a legitimate, safe organization. FedRAMP certified companies have additional security measures in place that non-certified companies typically do not.