Our Work in Action
Impact Stories
Because blending in isn’t an option
Our Work in Action
Impact Stories
Because blending in isn’t an option
Because blending in isn’t an option
Anaheim, CA
NCB team members supported the City of Anaheim in securing federal hazard mitigation funding to underground critical electrical infrastructure, reducing wildfire risk and improving long-term system reliability for residents.
Community Context
Anaheim faces elevated wildfire risk in several areas due to dry conditions, wind exposure, and overhead electrical infrastructure located within designated wildfire threat zones. Following the Paradise Wildfire, which Cal Fire determined was caused by overhead transmission lines, local governments across California were under increasing pressure to identify proactive mitigation strategies that could reduce ignition risk while maintaining service reliability.
FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding secured
In high wildfire threat zone
For Anaheim Public Utilities, undergrounding electrical infrastructure emerged as a promising solution, but one that presented challenges. At the time, federal hazard mitigation programs had not yet established a clear framework for evaluating the cost effectiveness of utility undergrounding projects, particularly in areas that were not classified as disadvantaged communities.
Our Role & Approach
Members of NCB’s team supported Anaheim Public Utilities by leading the development of a first-of-its-kind benefit-cost analysis under FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).
Our team’s work included:
The application was submitted just two months after Cal Fire released its findings on the Paradise Wildfire, requiring rapid analysis, coordination, and adaptation to a shifting policy environment.
Outcomes & Public Benefit
The City of Anaheim successfully secured $9 million in HMGP funding to support the design and implementation of an electrical utility undergrounding project in high wildfire severity areas.
This investment:
Importantly, the project demonstrated that utility undergrounding can be a viable hazard mitigation strategy under federal programs, even in communities that do not fall within traditional disadvantaged community designations.
Measurable Impact
Project Insight
This effort reflects how proactive planning, technical rigor, and adaptive grant management can help public agencies advance innovative infrastructure solutions – particularly in moments of regulatory uncertainty.
Anaheim, CA
NCB team members supported the City of Anaheim in securing federal hazard mitigation funding to underground critical electrical infrastructure, reducing wildfire risk and improving long-term system reliability for residents.
Community Context
Anaheim faces elevated wildfire risk in several areas due to dry conditions, wind exposure, and overhead electrical infrastructure located within designated wildfire threat zones. Following the Paradise Wildfire, which Cal Fire determined was caused by overhead transmission lines, local governments across California were under increasing pressure to identify proactive mitigation strategies that could reduce ignition risk while maintaining service reliability.
FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding secured
In high wildfire threat zone
For Anaheim Public Utilities, undergrounding electrical infrastructure emerged as a promising solution, but one that presented challenges. At the time, federal hazard mitigation programs had not yet established a clear framework for evaluating the cost effectiveness of utility undergrounding projects, particularly in areas that were not classified as disadvantaged communities.
Our Role & Approach
Members of NCB’s team supported Anaheim Public Utilities by leading the development of a first-of-its-kind benefit-cost analysis under FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).
Our team’s work included:
The application was submitted just two months after Cal Fire released its findings on the Paradise Wildfire, requiring rapid analysis, coordination, and adaptation to a shifting policy environment.
Outcomes & Public Benefit
The City of Anaheim successfully secured $9 million in HMGP funding to support the design and implementation of an electrical utility undergrounding project in high wildfire severity areas.
This investment:
Importantly, the project demonstrated that utility undergrounding can be a viable hazard mitigation strategy under federal programs, even in communities that do not fall within traditional disadvantaged community designations.
Measurable Impact
Project Insight
This effort reflects how proactive planning, technical rigor, and adaptive grant management can help public agencies advance innovative infrastructure solutions – particularly in moments of regulatory uncertainty.
ICF Consulting
Proposal managers unified
Tools and training still in use more than one year later
Winning competitive work – whether for federal agencies, state programs, or local governments – depends on disciplined processes, clarity of roles, and the ability to scale quality under tight deadlines. When those elements are inconsistent, even highly talented teams can struggle.
That was the challenge facing ICF’s Enterprise Proposal Center (EPC), a centralized group of approximately 25 proposal managers supporting diverse business lines across the firm. Each proposal manager brought deep experience – but they also brought different tools, templates, and approaches shaped by prior employers or individual preferences. The result was uneven client experiences, duplication of effort, and difficulty onboarding new staff or bringing team members into proposals mid-stream.
NCB team members led a comprehensive process improvement and standardization initiative – one that balanced consistency with flexibility and, most importantly, earned buy-in from the people doing the work.
Listening First: Understanding the Real Pain Points
The initiative began not with solutions, but with listening.
Over the first phase of the engagement, structured interviews were conducted with approximately 20 senior leaders and internal EPC “customers” across multiple departments. These conversations focused on what was working well, where frustration existed, and what improvements would have the greatest impact on proposal quality, efficiency, and predictability.
In parallel, a wide range of proposal planners, forms, and processes in use were reviewed. Some proposal managers relied on legacy tools from previous employers; others used home-grown templates or informal methods. In some cases, there was no consistent planning framework at all.
In addition, the 25 proposal managers and their supervisors were interviewed to understand their day-to-day realities – what slowed them down, where duplication occurred, and what support did they need to do their jobs better.
This dual-lens approach (listening to both leadership and frontline staff) ensured that the eventual solution addressed real needs rather than theoretical best practices.
Five Clear Recommendations, One Unified Direction
Based on these interviews and process reviews, five clear recommendations emerged:
Rather than imposing these changes from the outside, we guided EPC staff themselves to bring each recommendation to life.
Leading Through Buy-In, Not Mandates
Leading five cross-functional teams, each staffed by EPC proposal managers, we implemented the recommendations. Our role was deliberately designed as coach, facilitator, and coordinator rather than top-down decision-maker.
Teams were given ownership of the solutions, while we ensured alignment with the original customer feedback and kept progress moving quickly. This approach built trust, reduced resistance to change, and created solutions that reflected how work actually happened.
We led with the most impactful change first: the standardized Proposal Planner.
A Proposal Planner That Changed Everything
The new Proposal Planner quickly became the backbone of EPC’s proposal management process. It created a shared, consistent view of proposal status, milestones, roles, and deliverables, regardless of which department or client was involved.
The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Internal clients appreciated the clarity and predictability. Proposal managers valued the structure and reduced rework. Most importantly, anyone joining a proposal mid-stream could immediately understand where the effort stood.
With momentum established, the teams moved on to documenting procedures and formalizing training.
Training for Real Work, Not Just Theory
Recognizing that consistency could not wait for a long training rollout, we launched a Quick Start training series focused on the most critical “make-or-break” elements of proposal management:
Six short, focused sessions were delivered over approximately six weeks, allowing EPC staff to begin working in a standardized way almost immediately.
At the same time, we developed a more comprehensive, modular training program over six months. Each module included real-world exercises using actual RFPs and concluded with practical assessments. Trainees completed the program independently using off-the-shelf software, while being paired with senior staff mentors who provided coaching, reviewed assignments, and conducted check-ins.
EPC-U: Making Improvement Sustainable
To ensure long-term accessibility and adoption, we created the EPC-U concept, a centralized “university” housed on ICF’s intranet. Branded with its own logo, EPC-U became the single source of truth for proposal planners, templates, procedures, and training modules, available 24/7/365 to staff across the organization.
Finally, an ongoing Process Improvement Team was established to keep refining tools and practices as needs evolved.
Lasting Results
More than a year after the engagement concluded, ICF reports that the standardized processes, training, and tools are still in active use and continue to receive strong positive feedback. The EPC organization emerged with greater consistency, stronger internal partnerships, and a scalable system capable of supporting complex, high-volume proposal efforts.
Why This Matters
Most organizations and government agencies face similar challenges: talented staff working hard within inconsistent systems, limited documentation, and processes that depend too heavily on institutional knowledge.
This project demonstrates how thoughtful process improvement, grounded in listening, collaboration, and practical execution, can transform complex operations without disrupting day-to-day work.
For cities and counties seeking to improve grant development, procurement responses, or internal program delivery, the same principles apply: clarity, consistency, training, and sustained ownership drive results.
ICF Consulting
Proposal managers unified
Tools and training still in use more than one year later
Winning competitive work – whether for federal agencies, state programs, or local governments – depends on disciplined processes, clarity of roles, and the ability to scale quality under tight deadlines. When those elements are inconsistent, even highly talented teams can struggle.
That was the challenge facing ICF’s Enterprise Proposal Center (EPC), a centralized group of approximately 25 proposal managers supporting diverse business lines across the firm. Each proposal manager brought deep experience – but they also brought different tools, templates, and approaches shaped by prior employers or individual preferences. The result was uneven client experiences, duplication of effort, and difficulty onboarding new staff or bringing team members into proposals mid-stream.
NCB team members led a comprehensive process improvement and standardization initiative – one that balanced consistency with flexibility and, most importantly, earned buy-in from the people doing the work.
Listening First: Understanding the Real Pain Points
The initiative began not with solutions, but with listening.
Over the first phase of the engagement, structured interviews were conducted with approximately 20 senior leaders and internal EPC “customers” across multiple departments. These conversations focused on what was working well, where frustration existed, and what improvements would have the greatest impact on proposal quality, efficiency, and predictability.
In parallel, a wide range of proposal planners, forms, and processes in use were reviewed. Some proposal managers relied on legacy tools from previous employers; others used home-grown templates or informal methods. In some cases, there was no consistent planning framework at all.
In addition, the 25 proposal managers and their supervisors were interviewed to understand their day-to-day realities – what slowed them down, where duplication occurred, and what support did they need to do their jobs better.
This dual-lens approach (listening to both leadership and frontline staff) ensured that the eventual solution addressed real needs rather than theoretical best practices.
Five Clear Recommendations, One Unified Direction
Based on these interviews and process reviews, five clear recommendations emerged:
Rather than imposing these changes from the outside, we guided EPC staff themselves to bring each recommendation to life.
Leading Through Buy-In, Not Mandates
Leading five cross-functional teams, each staffed by EPC proposal managers, we implemented the recommendations. Our role was deliberately designed as coach, facilitator, and coordinator rather than top-down decision-maker.
Teams were given ownership of the solutions, while we ensured alignment with the original customer feedback and kept progress moving quickly. This approach built trust, reduced resistance to change, and created solutions that reflected how work actually happened.
We led with the most impactful change first: the standardized Proposal Planner.
A Proposal Planner That Changed Everything
The new Proposal Planner quickly became the backbone of EPC’s proposal management process. It created a shared, consistent view of proposal status, milestones, roles, and deliverables, regardless of which department or client was involved.
The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Internal clients appreciated the clarity and predictability. Proposal managers valued the structure and reduced rework. Most importantly, anyone joining a proposal mid-stream could immediately understand where the effort stood.
With momentum established, the teams moved on to documenting procedures and formalizing training.
Training for Real Work, Not Just Theory
Recognizing that consistency could not wait for a long training rollout, we launched a Quick Start training series focused on the most critical “make-or-break” elements of proposal management:
Six short, focused sessions were delivered over approximately six weeks, allowing EPC staff to begin working in a standardized way almost immediately.
At the same time, we developed a more comprehensive, modular training program over six months. Each module included real-world exercises using actual RFPs and concluded with practical assessments. Trainees completed the program independently using off-the-shelf software, while being paired with senior staff mentors who provided coaching, reviewed assignments, and conducted check-ins.
EPC-U: Making Improvement Sustainable
To ensure long-term accessibility and adoption, we created the EPC-U concept, a centralized “university” housed on ICF’s intranet. Branded with its own logo, EPC-U became the single source of truth for proposal planners, templates, procedures, and training modules, available 24/7/365 to staff across the organization.
Finally, an ongoing Process Improvement Team was established to keep refining tools and practices as needs evolved.
Lasting Results
More than a year after the engagement concluded, ICF reports that the standardized processes, training, and tools are still in active use and continue to receive strong positive feedback. The EPC organization emerged with greater consistency, stronger internal partnerships, and a scalable system capable of supporting complex, high-volume proposal efforts.
Why This Matters
Most organizations and government agencies face similar challenges: talented staff working hard within inconsistent systems, limited documentation, and processes that depend too heavily on institutional knowledge.
This project demonstrates how thoughtful process improvement, grounded in listening, collaboration, and practical execution, can transform complex operations without disrupting day-to-day work.
For cities and counties seeking to improve grant development, procurement responses, or internal program delivery, the same principles apply: clarity, consistency, training, and sustained ownership drive results.
NCB team members have been developing and deploying in-person and virtual training workshops for public and private sector companies for over 10 years. This Impact Story summarizes our key takeaways and experiences with these firms:
Hundreds of professionals trained
Tools in active use long after delivery
Winning competitive funding and contracts has never been more complex. Cities and counties face increasingly competitive grant programs, evolving compliance requirements, and limited staff capacity. Corporations and consulting firms must deliver high-quality proposals under intense deadlines while onboarding new team members and maintaining consistency across projects.
In this environment, success depends on more than individual talent. It requires well-trained teams, shared processes, and systems that scale.
Across public agencies and private-sector organizations alike, NCB’s team members have spent years designing and delivering training that does exactly that: building durable internal capacity while improving real-world proposal and program outcomes.
The Challenge: Talented Teams, Inconsistent Systems
Many organizations face the same underlying challenge:
The result is predictable: uneven proposal quality, inefficiencies, onboarding challenges, and missed opportunities.
NCB’s training experience was shaped directly by these realities. Rather than treating training as a standalone activity, our team approaches it as a strategic lever and one that improves consistency, confidence, and performance across organizations.
A Practical, Real-World Approach to Training
Across diverse subject areas, grant writing, proposal management, compliance, and technical topics, NCB’s training experience shares several defining characteristics:
This approach has been applied across municipal agencies, regional governments, and global consulting firms, each with different needs, but similar pressures.
Training in Action: From Grants to Enterprise Proposal Systems
Strengthening Grant Readiness for Cities and Counties
NCB team members have developed and delivered grant-focused training for cities, counties, and regional agencies over many years. These efforts included recurring grant writing workshops, funding program-specific trainings, and department-tailored sessions covering transportation, public works, parks, water, public safety, and economic development.
Rather than focusing on a single application, these trainings emphasized:
By combining structured content with one-on-one support and agency-specific examples, these workshops helped public-sector staff move from reactive grant chasing to proactive grant readiness.
Making Complex Training Engaging and Effective
NCB’s training experience also includes facilitating highly regulated, technical subject matter, like OSHA refresher courses, where engagement and retention are critical. Whether delivering safety and compliance training or coordinating large-scale educational programs, NCB team members consistently emphasized interaction, clarity, and relevance.
Lecture-heavy approaches were replaced with exercises, role-playing, discussion, and creative reinforcement techniques designed to make required content meaningful and memorable. The result was higher engagement, stronger comprehension, and training experiences that participants actually retained and applied.
This experience reinforced a key lesson that informs all NCB training today: training only works if people can use it.
Building Scalable Proposal Systems for a Global Firm
That philosophy was put into action at scale during a major process improvement and training initiative for a global consulting firm’s centralized proposal organization.
The organization brought together dozens of experienced proposal managers, each using different tools and approaches. While talent was abundant, inconsistency made it difficult to scale quality, onboard staff, or bring team members into proposals mid-stream.
NCB team members led a collaborative effort to:
Training was delivered in phases – starting with short, high-impact sessions focused on critical proposal activities, followed by a more comprehensive modular program using real-world proposals and hands-on exercises.
More than a year later, the tools and training remain in active use, demonstrating sustained adoption and long-term value.
For Public Agencies
Effective training helps agencies:
Well-trained teams are better positioned to identify strong projects, align them with funding priorities, and submit compelling, compliant applications.
For Corporations and Consulting Firms
Strategic training enables organizations to:
In competitive environments, consistency and clarity are often the difference between winning and losing.
A Transferable Model for Lasting Impact
While the settings vary from municipal grant workshops to enterprise proposal systems, the underlying principle remains the same: organizations perform better when their people are supported by clear processes and effective training.
NCB’s training experience demonstrates how thoughtful, practical training can strengthen teams, improve proposal performance, and create systems that endure.
For organizations seeking not just short-term wins, but long-term capacity and resilience, training is not an add-on. It is a strategic investment and one that pays dividends well beyond a single proposal or project.
NCB team members have been developing and deploying in-person and virtual training workshops for public and private sector companies for over 10 years. This Impact Story summarizes our key takeaways and experiences with these firms:
Hundreds of professionals trained
Tools in active use long after delivery
Winning competitive funding and contracts has never been more complex. Cities and counties face increasingly competitive grant programs, evolving compliance requirements, and limited staff capacity. Corporations and consulting firms must deliver high-quality proposals under intense deadlines while onboarding new team members and maintaining consistency across projects.
In this environment, success depends on more than individual talent. It requires well-trained teams, shared processes, and systems that scale.
Across public agencies and private-sector organizations alike, NCB’s team members have spent years designing and delivering training that does exactly that: building durable internal capacity while improving real-world proposal and program outcomes.
The Challenge: Talented Teams, Inconsistent Systems
Many organizations face the same underlying challenge:
The result is predictable: uneven proposal quality, inefficiencies, onboarding challenges, and missed opportunities.
NCB’s training experience was shaped directly by these realities. Rather than treating training as a standalone activity, our team approaches it as a strategic lever and one that improves consistency, confidence, and performance across organizations.
A Practical, Real-World Approach to Training
Across diverse subject areas, grant writing, proposal management, compliance, and technical topics, NCB’s training experience shares several defining characteristics:
This approach has been applied across municipal agencies, regional governments, and global consulting firms, each with different needs, but similar pressures.
Training in Action: From Grants to Enterprise Proposal Systems
Strengthening Grant Readiness for Cities and Counties
NCB team members have developed and delivered grant-focused training for cities, counties, and regional agencies over many years. These efforts included recurring grant writing workshops, funding program-specific trainings, and department-tailored sessions covering transportation, public works, parks, water, public safety, and economic development.
Rather than focusing on a single application, these trainings emphasized:
By combining structured content with one-on-one support and agency-specific examples, these workshops helped public-sector staff move from reactive grant chasing to proactive grant readiness.
Making Complex Training Engaging and Effective
NCB’s training experience also includes facilitating highly regulated, technical subject matter, like OSHA refresher courses, where engagement and retention are critical. Whether delivering safety and compliance training or coordinating large-scale educational programs, NCB team members consistently emphasized interaction, clarity, and relevance.
Lecture-heavy approaches were replaced with exercises, role-playing, discussion, and creative reinforcement techniques designed to make required content meaningful and memorable. The result was higher engagement, stronger comprehension, and training experiences that participants actually retained and applied.
This experience reinforced a key lesson that informs all NCB training today: training only works if people can use it.
Building Scalable Proposal Systems for a Global Firm
That philosophy was put into action at scale during a major process improvement and training initiative for a global consulting firm’s centralized proposal organization.
The organization brought together dozens of experienced proposal managers, each using different tools and approaches. While talent was abundant, inconsistency made it difficult to scale quality, onboard staff, or bring team members into proposals mid-stream.
NCB team members led a collaborative effort to:
Training was delivered in phases – starting with short, high-impact sessions focused on critical proposal activities, followed by a more comprehensive modular program using real-world proposals and hands-on exercises.
More than a year later, the tools and training remain in active use, demonstrating sustained adoption and long-term value.
For Public Agencies
Effective training helps agencies:
Well-trained teams are better positioned to identify strong projects, align them with funding priorities, and submit compelling, compliant applications.
For Corporations and Consulting Firms
Strategic training enables organizations to:
In competitive environments, consistency and clarity are often the difference between winning and losing.
A Transferable Model for Lasting Impact
While the settings vary from municipal grant workshops to enterprise proposal systems, the underlying principle remains the same: organizations perform better when their people are supported by clear processes and effective training.
NCB’s training experience demonstrates how thoughtful, practical training can strengthen teams, improve proposal performance, and create systems that endure.
For organizations seeking not just short-term wins, but long-term capacity and resilience, training is not an add-on. It is a strategic investment and one that pays dividends well beyond a single proposal or project.
NCB team members have decades of experience working with elected officials to promote special projects and programs and help secure funding through legislative means. The surprising thing about our efforts? Your elected officials do answer the phone and respond to email requests.
Making the Call: Seeking Funding Support from Elected Officials
Federal earmark spurred $10 million in competitive grants
Of Project Fact Sheets developed and delivered to elected officials
Project financing often combines funding from competitive grants, public-private partnerships, and foundation support. One increasingly important tool in this mix is earmarks, also known as community project or legislatively directed funding.
What Are Earmarks?
At the federal level, after a decade-long moratorium, Congress reinstated earmarks (officially called Community Project Funding) in 2021. This process allows Members of Congress to nominate a limited number of local projects for funding within annual appropriations bills. For most municipal and infrastructure projects, the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) bill is the primary vehicle.
While not every elected official participates, many view earmarks as a valuable opportunity to bring federal resources back to their districts for high-priority community needs. Today’s earmark process includes stronger transparency and accountability requirements than in the past. However, timelines are often compressed, creating challenges for busy city staff.
At the state level, most legislatures also allow some form of earmark-style funding:
How Earmarks Help Projects Get Funded
Support from elected officials plays a critical role in both competitive grant success and direct funding through earmarks.
Earmarks can serve as gap funding, providing the last bit of money needed to complete key capital projects. As one example, an NCB team member helped a City secure a federal earmark to fully equip a workforce training center and small business incubator, after winning a competitive federal grant for construction. The earmark will help maximize the original investment, allowing the center to immediately open as a fully functional and effective operation post construction – leading to job placement and economic growth for the community.
Earmarks can also act as seed money, signaling to state and federal agencies that a project is moving forward, and increasing confidence among competitive grant reviewers that a project is truly shovel ready. An NCB teammate helped a City secure a $2 million federal earmark to support just one part of a $15 million park renovation. That win was quickly followed by more than $10 million in awards from competitive federal and state grants – after years of unsuccessful attempts.
In short, earmarks can be either the first dollar in or the final piece needed to move a project from concept to completion.
How NCB Can Help
NCB helps clients strategically engage elected officials to strengthen funding outcomes. Our support includes:
By helping cities “make the call,” maintain relationships, and position projects effectively, NCB increases the likelihood that projects receive both competitive grant funding and legislatively directed support. Our team understands the timing, language, and positioning needed to turn support into real dollars and to leverage multiple funding sources to move projects forward.
Act Now
Most importantly, now is the time to act! State legislators in California begin considering earmark projects in January, and federal staff generally begin in March.
NCB team members have decades of experience working with elected officials to promote special projects and programs and help secure funding through legislative means. The surprising thing about our efforts? Your elected officials do answer the phone and respond to email requests.
Making the Call: Seeking Funding Support from Elected Officials
Federal earmark spurred $10 million in competitive grants
Of Project Fact Sheets developed and delivered to elected officials
Project financing often combines funding from competitive grants, public-private partnerships, and foundation support. One increasingly important tool in this mix is earmarks, also known as community project or legislatively directed funding.
What Are Earmarks?
At the federal level, after a decade-long moratorium, Congress reinstated earmarks (officially called Community Project Funding) in 2021. This process allows Members of Congress to nominate a limited number of local projects for funding within annual appropriations bills. For most municipal and infrastructure projects, the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) bill is the primary vehicle.
While not every elected official participates, many view earmarks as a valuable opportunity to bring federal resources back to their districts for high-priority community needs. Today’s earmark process includes stronger transparency and accountability requirements than in the past. However, timelines are often compressed, creating challenges for busy city staff.
At the state level, most legislatures also allow some form of earmark-style funding:
How Earmarks Help Projects Get Funded
Support from elected officials plays a critical role in both competitive grant success and direct funding through earmarks.
Earmarks can serve as gap funding, providing the last bit of money needed to complete key capital projects. As one example, an NCB team member helped a City secure a federal earmark to fully equip a workforce training center and small business incubator, after winning a competitive federal grant for construction. The earmark will help maximize the original investment, allowing the center to immediately open as a fully functional and effective operation post construction – leading to job placement and economic growth for the community.
Earmarks can also act as seed money, signaling to state and federal agencies that a project is moving forward, and increasing confidence among competitive grant reviewers that a project is truly shovel ready. An NCB teammate helped a City secure a $2 million federal earmark to support just one part of a $15 million park renovation. That win was quickly followed by more than $10 million in awards from competitive federal and state grants – after years of unsuccessful attempts.
In short, earmarks can be either the first dollar in or the final piece needed to move a project from concept to completion.
How NCB Can Help
NCB helps clients strategically engage elected officials to strengthen funding outcomes. Our support includes:
By helping cities “make the call,” maintain relationships, and position projects effectively, NCB increases the likelihood that projects receive both competitive grant funding and legislatively directed support. Our team understands the timing, language, and positioning needed to turn support into real dollars and to leverage multiple funding sources to move projects forward.
Act Now
Most importantly, now is the time to act! State legislators in California begin considering earmark projects in January, and federal staff generally begin in March.
State of Missouri
NCB team members supported HDR and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) in securing federal INFRA funds to replace the I-70 / Rocheport Bridge at the Missouri River, improving safety, goods movement, and maintaining the State’s transportation facilities in a state of good repair.
Grant award
Ribbon cutting in 2024
Large federal infrastructure grants are rarely won on technical merit alone. They are secured at the intersection of engineering, data, narrative clarity, and strategic leadership. The successful $81.2 million U.S. Department of Transportation INFRA grant awarded in 2019 for the I-70 Rocheport Bridge over the Missouri River is a clear example of how those elements come together to deliver results.
Working in partnership with HDR, who served as the engineering lead and completed the project’s Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA), NCB’s team member led and managed the entire federal grant application effort. The role encompassed full responsibility for the grant strategy, application development, and coordination, while HDR focused on the technical and economic analysis and maintained the client relationship with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).
Leading a High-Stakes, Multi-Agency Grant Effort
This was a highly complex, high-profile federal application supporting a project with a total cost exceeding $200 million. Work included serving as the grant manager and writer, organizing and leading the kickoff meeting, establishing the application schedule, and facilitating all check-in calls throughout the process. This included coordinating with MoDOT leadership, HDR’s technical teams, and senior officials within the Governor’s Office.
Managing this level of engagement required not only technical understanding, but also the ability to guide decision-making, maintain momentum, and keep senior stakeholders aligned with a clear narrative and submission strategy under tight federal deadlines.
Crafting the Narrative and Win Themes
In addition to managing the process, additional tasks included:
A critical component of the effort was transforming complex engineering and economic analysis into clear, persuasive language. While HDR produced a rigorous and defensible BCA, our role was to translate that data into a narrative that could be readily understood by federal reviewers who may not be engineers or economists. The goal was to clearly articulate why the project delivered national and regional value, not just technical feasibility.
Safety as a Defining Win Theme
One of the central win themes for the application was construction worker safety.
Rather than rehabilitating the existing bridge, an approach that would require crews to work directly adjacent to live Interstate 70 traffic traveling at speeds exceeding 80 miles per hour, including heavy freight trucks, the project proposed constructing a new bridge alongside the existing structure. This approach dramatically reduced risk by keeping workers physically separated from active traffic during the construction period.
To ensure this theme resonated, we conducted targeted research to identify a MoDOT worker whose experience could humanize the issue. His perspective, focused on the importance of going home safely to his family at the end of each day, became a powerful narrative element. Safety was no longer an abstract design consideration; it became a personal and compelling justification for the project’s approach.
National Freight and Economic Significance
The application also emphasized the bridge’s importance to freight movement and national goods mobility, particularly for the Kansas City region, a major logistics and manufacturing hub. Research highlighted how the I-70 corridor supports critical supply chains, including freight activity associated with large-scale manufacturing and distribution facilities.
By pairing these real-world freight dynamics with the economic outputs of the BCA, the application demonstrated how investment in the Rocheport Bridge delivered benefits well beyond Missouri and aligned squarely with the INFRA program’s focus on national and regional significance, economic competitiveness, and infrastructure reliability.
From Award to Delivery
The $81.2 million INFRA grant was awarded in 2020, providing a major federal investment in one of Missouri’s most critical interstate crossings. Construction progressed over several years, and the new Rocheport Bridge officially opened with a ribbon cutting in 2024, delivering long-term improvements to safety, freight efficiency, and mobility along the I-70 corridor.
Insight
This project underscores a fundamental truth about winning major federal infrastructure grants: success depends on more than strong technical analysis. It requires experienced leadership, the ability to manage complex stakeholders, and the skill to transform data into a compelling, human-centered story that aligns with federal priorities.
The combination of NCB’s strategic grant management, disciplined coordination, and persuasive storytelling is what ultimately turns complex infrastructure projects into funded, delivered outcomes.
State of Missouri
NCB team members supported HDR and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) in securing federal INFRA funds to replace the I-70 / Rocheport Bridge at the Missouri River, improving safety, goods movement, and maintaining the State’s transportation facilities in a state of good repair.
Grant award
Ribbon cutting in 2024
Large federal infrastructure grants are rarely won on technical merit alone. They are secured at the intersection of engineering, data, narrative clarity, and strategic leadership. The successful $81.2 million U.S. Department of Transportation INFRA grant awarded in 2019 for the I-70 Rocheport Bridge over the Missouri River is a clear example of how those elements come together to deliver results.
Working in partnership with HDR, who served as the engineering lead and completed the project’s Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA), NCB’s team member led and managed the entire federal grant application effort. The role encompassed full responsibility for the grant strategy, application development, and coordination, while HDR focused on the technical and economic analysis and maintained the client relationship with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).
Leading a High-Stakes, Multi-Agency Grant Effort
This was a highly complex, high-profile federal application supporting a project with a total cost exceeding $200 million. Work included serving as the grant manager and writer, organizing and leading the kickoff meeting, establishing the application schedule, and facilitating all check-in calls throughout the process. This included coordinating with MoDOT leadership, HDR’s technical teams, and senior officials within the Governor’s Office.
Managing this level of engagement required not only technical understanding, but also the ability to guide decision-making, maintain momentum, and keep senior stakeholders aligned with a clear narrative and submission strategy under tight federal deadlines.
Crafting the Narrative and Win Themes
In addition to managing the process, additional tasks included:
A critical component of the effort was transforming complex engineering and economic analysis into clear, persuasive language. While HDR produced a rigorous and defensible BCA, our role was to translate that data into a narrative that could be readily understood by federal reviewers who may not be engineers or economists. The goal was to clearly articulate why the project delivered national and regional value, not just technical feasibility.
Safety as a Defining Win Theme
One of the central win themes for the application was construction worker safety.
Rather than rehabilitating the existing bridge, an approach that would require crews to work directly adjacent to live Interstate 70 traffic traveling at speeds exceeding 80 miles per hour, including heavy freight trucks, the project proposed constructing a new bridge alongside the existing structure. This approach dramatically reduced risk by keeping workers physically separated from active traffic during the construction period.
To ensure this theme resonated, we conducted targeted research to identify a MoDOT worker whose experience could humanize the issue. His perspective, focused on the importance of going home safely to his family at the end of each day, became a powerful narrative element. Safety was no longer an abstract design consideration; it became a personal and compelling justification for the project’s approach.
National Freight and Economic Significance
The application also emphasized the bridge’s importance to freight movement and national goods mobility, particularly for the Kansas City region, a major logistics and manufacturing hub. Research highlighted how the I-70 corridor supports critical supply chains, including freight activity associated with large-scale manufacturing and distribution facilities.
By pairing these real-world freight dynamics with the economic outputs of the BCA, the application demonstrated how investment in the Rocheport Bridge delivered benefits well beyond Missouri and aligned squarely with the INFRA program’s focus on national and regional significance, economic competitiveness, and infrastructure reliability.
From Award to Delivery
The $81.2 million INFRA grant was awarded in 2020, providing a major federal investment in one of Missouri’s most critical interstate crossings. Construction progressed over several years, and the new Rocheport Bridge officially opened with a ribbon cutting in 2024, delivering long-term improvements to safety, freight efficiency, and mobility along the I-70 corridor.
Insight
This project underscores a fundamental truth about winning major federal infrastructure grants: success depends on more than strong technical analysis. It requires experienced leadership, the ability to manage complex stakeholders, and the skill to transform data into a compelling, human-centered story that aligns with federal priorities.
The combination of NCB’s strategic grant management, disciplined coordination, and persuasive storytelling is what ultimately turns complex infrastructure projects into funded, delivered outcomes.