BL Companies | Client Care Orientation

FedEx Ground BL Companies has been one of the “Core Four” preferred A/E firms for FedEx Ground (FXG) for the past three years. When FXG introduced this concept, they invited firms that had a proven track record with them. BL earned that right after completing the design for Allentown (the first Flex Hub) and Kansas City (Trident addition). FXG was impressed by our ability to communicate across offices and provide the same or better services than firms many times our size. Our key to success with the FXG program can be summarized along the three listed competencies: Understand your Client : Generally speaking, FXG is a blue-collar firm. Their business model is rooted in RPS, the carrier route they acquired to launch over-the-road delivery service. FedEx successfully super- imposed their package sorting technology onto the existing trucking model, but they have remained a bottom-line driven company. In order to be successful as an A/E firm within that model, BL has learned to curb prices and manage proposals to offer very competitive pricing, despite performing the work from our limited geographical locations, compared to the remaining national Core Four firms. Be Adaptable: Throughout their expansion program, FXG has maintained that the Core Four firms should not only provide services for large hub projects ($500k to $1,000k in fees), but also for their smaller projects ($10k to $100k). BL has been willing and able to tackle those projects as well, partly because we don’t look at each project as an entity, but focus on the program as a whole. This approach has allowed us to develop an inventory of smaller projects that form the basis for a very varied portfolio and library of FXG facilities of various sizes. Be an Advocate for the Project : BL has demonstrated its advocacy approach to FXG projects in many ways. As a representative of FXG in front of permitting authorities, we have often pushed the envelope in land development and building permitting, often acting as the applicant and point of contact. Because of our past successes with FXG projects, they have also hired BL to review other consultant’s work and act on their behalf in matters of design. Currently, we are overseeing AECOM in their design and RFI responses for the Houston Hub, and Stantec in their development of construction documents for the Nashville Hub.

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