A Civil Firm Pulled PM Bios From Deltek and Saved 180 Hours per Quarter

Civil Engineering Work Hours— The Hidden Proposal Burden

Civil engineers typically work more than 40 hours per week— and that's before proposals enter the picture. AEC firms spend an average of 960+ hours per year on proposal development², stacked on top of billable project work. Proposals are a second job layered onto the first.

That number becomes more concrete when you look at how proposals actually get built. One-third of AEC firms coordinate 11–15 contributors per RFP. One-quarter involve 16–20 people. Some firms report 50 or more contributors per submission³. But it's not just headcount— it's the type of work being asked of each contributor. Engineers pulled into proposals are pulled away from billable hours.

PM bios sit inside that burden as one of the most time-consuming individual components. Every pursuit requires a tailored staff qualifications section, built from each PM's credentials, project history, and specific skills. And most of that data already lives somewhere— in the same ERP/CRM system the firm uses to track everything else.

PM bios are only one piece of the proposal— but they're among the most time-consuming to assemble. Here's why.

Why PM Bios Take So Long— and Why They Matter

On federal A/E contracts, the SF-330 form revolves around the people you are proposing and the projects they worked on⁵. PM bios aren't supporting material. They're the evaluation criteria.

Standard Form 330, the cornerstone document for competing on federal A/E contracts, centers Part I on the proposed team's qualifications and relevant project experience⁶. Which means generic bios fail. Each submission must be tailored to the specific pursuit— highlighting the projects most relevant to this client, this scope, this geography¹⁵. That tailoring is where the time goes.

A coordinator opens Deltek Vantagepoint or Vision, reads through an employee record, copies bio text to a blank template, selects the three or four most relevant projects from dozens in the system, formats everything to the required structure, and repeats for every PM on the proposal. It's slow. And it starts from a blinking cursor every single time.

Deltek Vantagepoint already stores everything a proposal bio needs, according to Full Sail Partners, a certified Deltek partner⁴:

• Employee bios
• Previous projects with role and timeline
• Licenses and certifications
• Awards and recognition
• Special skills and software proficiency
• Languages

All of that data was already in Deltek. The question was extraction.

The AI Extraction Layer— What the Workflow Actually Looks Like

The workflow has three steps: query Deltek for the PM's data, run it through a structured AI prompt that formats it to the specific pursuit's requirements, then route the output to a human reviewer before submission. It takes minutes, not hours.

Before going further: Deltek Dela™ is Deltek's built-in AI companion, designed as a general-purpose productivity tool within the Vantagepoint ecosystem¹³— useful for day-to-day queries and workflow assistance. PM bio extraction is a different task. It requires a purpose-built AI implementation process that queries structured data, applies pursuit-specific formatting logic, and routes output for human review. Dela handles one kind of work; this workflow handles another.

Here's how the extraction workflow actually runs:

1. Query: The AI connects to Deltek and pulls the relevant employee record— bio, projects, certifications, skills, and any other field the proposal bio requires⁴. (Your implementation partner enables the Vantagepoint API connection once during setup.)
2. Format: A structured prompt converts the raw Deltek data into a tailored PM bio. It identifies the three to five projects most relevant to the pursuit type, formats to the required section structure and word count, and shapes the language to match the RFP's specific emphasis. This is where the AI automation workflow does its real work: not writing from imagination, but assembling from what Deltek already knows.
3. Review: A human coordinator reviews the output. Credentials are confirmed. Project relevance is verified. The bio is approved before it goes into the submission package.

And that review step is non-negotiable. 42% of proposal professionals cite AI hallucination as their top concern¹². Credentials and compliance statements require human judgment— the AI agents doing the extraction don't know whether a certification has lapsed or whether a listed project actually fits the client's scope. The QA step is what makes this reliable.

For a civil PM with 14 years of municipal infrastructure experience, the AI queries her project history in Deltek, identifies the three most relevant projects to the pursuit, and formats a 200-word bio in the SF-330 Section E structure— in under two minutes. Multiplied across 4–6 PMs per proposal, 15–20 proposals per year, that's where the 180 hours come from.

Where the 180 Hours Came From

The civil firm tracked it. Before automation, assembling PM bios for a proposal averaged 3–4 hours per submission across their BD team. At 15–20 proposals per year with 4–6 PMs each, that's 180+ hours per year in bio-only time— and for firms with higher proposal volume, the savings scale proportionally.

Industry benchmarks support the scale. Flowcase reports 50–70% reduction in proposal assembly time for AEC firms using automation tools⁷. One 200-person MEP engineering firm reduced project sheet creation from 2 hours to 15 minutes per project⁸— an 87.5% reduction on a directly comparable task. And Unanet reports that proposal writing with AI assistance typically runs 70% faster than traditional methods¹⁴.

The 180-hour figure belongs to this specific firm's tracking— results vary by proposal volume, team size, and how many PMs appear per pursuit. But the order of magnitude is consistent with what AEC firms document across the industry. Measuring the ROI of your AI implementation requires knowing where the time actually went, and bio assembly is one of the most trackable line items in the proposal process.

Before automation → After automation (per proposal submission):

Time recovered is only valuable if it goes somewhere. For this firm, it did.

What Proposal Coordinators Do When They Stop Formatting

Proposal coordinators who stop formatting bios start pursuing more work. The civil firm added three additional pursuits per quarter using the same headcount— opportunities they'd previously declined because the team didn't have bandwidth to respond.

And that capacity shift compounds. One structural engineering firm increased its win rate from 34% to 78% after adopting AI-driven proposal drafting, according to Flowcase case study data⁹. But the pattern is consistent: when coordinators stop spending their expertise on formatting, they redirect it toward the judgment work that wins pursuits. Coordinators spending 40% of their time on bio copy-paste are chasing pennies when they could be chasing dollars.

The competitive gap is widening. Nearly 75% of AEC firms already use or plan to use AI in BD and marketing operations within the next year¹¹. Building an AI-ready team now means firms can compete when that shift fully plays out— rather than scrambling to catch up.

There's one prerequisite that determines whether this works.

This Only Works If Your Deltek Data Is Current

The AI extracts what Deltek holds. If employee bios haven't been updated in two years, certifications are missing, or project records are incomplete, the output reflects that— not a hallucination, just a gap.

The practical fix: audit employee records before deploying the extraction workflow. Deltek Vantagepoint already supports email alert workflows for managing resume updates⁴— the maintenance mechanism is in the system. Building an annual bio-refresh cycle into existing Deltek maintenance isn't glamorous, but it's what makes the automated output reliable rather than risky.

This isn't an obstacle to the approach. It's the setup work that makes everything else durable.

With clean data in place, here are the most common questions AEC teams ask when evaluating this workflow.

FAQ

How many hours a week do civil engineers work?

Most civil engineers work full time, and many work more than 40 hours per week. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that overtime is especially common at the beginning and end of projects, when design delivery and client deadlines converge¹. Proposal season adds non-billable coordination time on top of ongoing project delivery— civil engineers who direct projects are often the first ones pulled into both.

What is Deltek used for in civil engineering?

Deltek Vantagepoint and Vision are ERP/CRM platforms used by AEC firms to manage projects, financials, client relationships, and employee qualifications— including bios, certifications, project histories, and special skills⁴¹³. For most civil engineering firms, Deltek is the authoritative source of record for proposal staff data. The system stores everything needed to build a PM bio— the challenge has always been extracting and formatting it efficiently for each pursuit.

Can AI generate accurate PM bios from Deltek?

Yes, with two conditions: the underlying Deltek data must be current, and a human reviewer must verify the output before submission. AI can extract and format bio data from Deltek efficiently— AEC firms using automation tools see 50–70% reduction in proposal assembly time⁷— but 42% of proposal professionals cite hallucination risk as a top concern¹². Human review of credentials and compliance statements is non-negotiable.

What is the SF-330 form?

Standard Form 330 is the federal document required to submit architect and engineer qualifications for government contracts⁶. Part I requires detailed proposed team member bios and relevant project experience— making PM qualification data the centerpiece of every federal A/E proposal⁵. Firms that can assemble tailored, pursuit-specific PM bios quickly have a concrete submission advantage.

Conclusion

Most civil engineering firms using Deltek already have the data for this workflow. The PM bios, certifications, and project histories are in the system— they've been there for years. But nobody was extracting them efficiently. The AI extraction layer is the missing piece: it stops making humans dig for what Deltek already knows.

53% of A/E firms now use AI tools for proposals, up from 38% the prior year¹⁰. The competitive window is real, but it's narrowing. This isn't about adding AI to your firm's tech stack— it's about connecting what your firm already knows in Deltek to the proposals that win you work.

If you're ready to find out what's already in your Deltek data, Dan Cumberland Labs helps civil and AEC firms design and implement these integrations— from the initial audit through deployment.

References

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Civil Engineers: Occupational Outlook Handbook" (2024) — https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/civil-engineers.htm
2. Stargazy, "4 Numbers Every AEC Proposal Leader Should Know in 2026" (2026) — https://stargazy.io/resources/4-numbers-every-aec-proposal-leader-should-know-in-2026
3. Stargazy, "4 Numbers Every AEC Proposal Leader Should Know in 2026" (2026) — https://stargazy.io/resources/4-numbers-every-aec-proposal-leader-should-know-in-2026
4. Full Sail Partners, "Resume and Project Information Management Using Deltek Vantagepoint" (2024) — https://www.fullsailpartners.com/fspblog/resume-and-project-information-management-using-deltek-vantagepoint
5. RSM Federal, "SF330 Qualifications" (2024) — https://rsmfederal.com/resource/sf330-qualifications/
6. OpenAsset, "What Is the Standard Form 330?" (2024) — https://openasset.com/resources/standard-form-330/
7. Flowcase, "Best Document Creation Tools for AEC Firms in 2026" (2026) — https://www.flowcase.com/blog/best-document-creation-tools-for-aec-firms-in-2026
8. Flowcase, "Best Document Creation Tools for AEC Firms in 2026" (2026) — https://www.flowcase.com/blog/best-document-creation-tools-for-aec-firms-in-2026
9. Flowcase, "How to Write Winning AEC Proposals: Expert Tips (2026 Guide)" (2026) — https://www.flowcase.com/blog/how-to-write-winning-aec-proposals-expert-tips-for-higher-success-rates
10. University of Toronto CS / Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Study, "AI Proposal Automation for AEC" (2024) — https://www.cs.toronto.edu/~koudas/best-proposal-software-aec.html
11. Unanet, "How AI Helps AEC Firms Win More Work With Less Effort" (2025) — https://unanet.com/blog/how-ai-helps-aec-firms-win-more-work-with-less-effort
12. University of Toronto CS / Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Study, "AI Proposal Automation for AEC" (2024) — https://www.cs.toronto.edu/~koudas/best-proposal-software-aec.html
13. Deltek, "Artificial Intelligence | Deltek" (2025) — https://www.deltek.com/en/innovation/ai
14. Unanet, "How AI Helps AEC Firms Win More Work With Less Effort" (2025) — https://unanet.com/blog/how-ai-helps-aec-firms-win-more-work-with-less-effort
15. Andana Consulting, "General Rules for the SF330" (2022) — https://www.andanaconsulting.com/2022/03/16/general-rules-for-the-sf330/