The 2026 Pulse Check quantifies what the top three elimination factors share: utility/infrastructure capacity (61% of site selectors), suitable sites (53%), and workforce (51%) each require proof from a party the city does not control. Incentives ranked last at 2%.

The common thread is authorization. A city can have the substation, the acreage, the welding program. If the utility hasn't issued a load letter naming available MW, voltage, and energization timeline, the power is a claim. If the college president hasn't signed a training scope with cohort size and completion date, the pipeline is a brochure. Claims get cut in the first round.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported compromising on incentives to guarantee speed to market. That tells you what authorized documentation is worth relative to better tax treatment. The assembled proof file is the unit that competes.

The rail documentation here is the tightest in any deal file I've reviewed this year. Norfolk Southern designated Shoals Research Airpark a Platinum REDI site before the deal surfaced. On May 6, the Shoals EDA received $4.5M through Growing Alabama for a dedicated rail spur and sewer infrastructure. Thirteen days later, Virginia Transformer announced a $302M, 600,000 sq ft greenfield plant on 90 acres. NS VP Stefan Loeb attributed the choice directly to REDI and rail connectivity. Infrastructure preceded announcement, with dates and dollar amounts on the record.

The gap is power. A plant building and FAT-testing transformers up to 500 MVA requires substantial configured electrical service. TVA and Muscle Shoals Electric Board are named partners. No load figure, substation capacity, or service commitment appears anywhere in the public record. For a facility whose parent company treats consecutive FAT passes as a competitive differentiator, the absence of any power specification is the largest hole in the file.

One source note. Alabama's incentive records list the recipient as Caravels, LLC, an entity allied with Virginia Transformer since 2015. The $302M investment, 819 jobs at $29.36/hr, and $46M in estimated state credits all file under that name. Search under the brand and you find nothing.

An 860,000 sq ft solid rocket motor plant with 1,000+ employees generates procurement demand across at least six supplier categories. The DoD solid rocket motor supply crunch has been well documented. L3Harris CEO Chris Kubasik has said publicly the industry needs more companies making nozzles, igniters, and cases. The 2025 reconciliation bill put $600 million behind that statement, targeting SRM industrial base expansion and emerging suppliers.

Not every tier is tier-3 accessible. Propellant chemistry requires ATF licensing and quantity-distance buffers that screen out most markets. Energetics transport requires the same. The realistic entry points are NDT/inspection services, elastomer-based case insulation, and nozzle throat machining. Each demands a different existing-base proof, but the compliance layer is uniform: AS9100, ITAR registration, Nadcap path.

One variable is still unresolved. Avio's Italian operations run filament winding and stage integration in-house. Whether the Hurt footprint replicates that vertical integration or creates genuine external procurement is not yet public. Production ramp is likely 2028–2030. Cities within 75 miles have time to run the attribute check, but not as much as they think.