PROVIDENCE — In the race to attract new business to this state, effective marketing is critical.

But before Rhode Island can launch such a campaign, it must first take a full accounting of the office and industrial space it has to offer so suitors know what’s available.

“We’re not talking about putting in a bunch of spec buildings. It’s really about taking what we’ve got and getting it to a level of readiness so if someone wants to come here, or wants to build, it doesn’t take three years to get moving,” said John Rhodes, senior principal at Moran, Stahl & Boyer LLC, a Florida-based consultancy that is assessing the state’s site-development plans.

For office space, that means determining how close it is to move-in ready and what amenities it has to offer tenants, from parking to transportation options.

For raw land, it involves evaluating what kind of environmental testing and local zoning needs to be done and getting those processes started to avoid potential delays that could deter interested companies.

It’s hardly a new idea. And it may sound like tedious work absent any major suitors at the door, but Rhodes said creating a database of available sites is even more imperative during a commercial real estate slump when competition for new business is fierce.

The sea of commercial for lease signs is not going away unless the state takes an active approach to matching companies with office space that’s right for them.

States, including Massachusetts, have found success with similar methods of cataloging, Rhodes added.

The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation paid Moran, Stahl & Boyer $75,000 to conduct the site over the last few months, as part of its plan to be more aggressive in attracting out-of-state businesses.

Now, the Blackstone Valley-based Economic Development Foundation has announced plans to underwrite the cost of building an online real-estate database for Rhode Island –– a project it expects to have up and running within four months, according to developer Scott Gibbs, the foundation’s president.

Other recommendations in the study include a directive to EDC to monitor plum development areas around the state and ensure there is a cohesive strain to the construction taking place so that large office parks are surrounded by restaurants and retail stores that enhance the area, not storage facilities or unrelated infrastructure that can make it less inviting.

The consultants identified close to a dozen locations around the state that are ripe for development. They include the entire Route 295 corridor, which has space for major campus-style parks; the area around T.F. Green Airport; the downtown stretch now known as the knowledge-economy district; and Aquidneck Island, which could expand the state’s defense-industry sector. Each of those sites needs a master plan, orchestrated as a joint effort by private developers and host communities, with the EDC overseeing the process, the report recommends.

It further advises that the state establish a “certified sites program” that creates a consistent, state-approved standard for site readiness, ease its permitting processes and develop a strategy for rehabilitating the remaining historic mills before they fall victim to fire or other calamities.

“If nothing else out of this study, people need to understand the cause and effect of certain resources that ultimately give you certain revenues and certain jobs,” said Rhodes. “It’s not magic. It’s hard work and it’s coordination.”

cneedham@projo.com