I'm looking to start an engineering startup. I have a couple projects
in mind, but as with every startup, the continuation of business is
the key to survival.

I'm looking for websites or any other information sources that lists
hardware and sofware engineering contracts. A lot of companies often
outsource hardware and software engineering projects, but it is very
hard to find these opportunities on the web.

Please be aware that I'm not looking for websites such as
rentacoder.com, elance.com. These (and a lot of other imitations) are
for very basic projects. I'm looking for 'real' design projects (of
value > $0.5 million).

Also, I'm NOT looking for goverment contracts and projects, I am only
interested   in private companies.

Best regards,

Good Luck to You! You and about a million others.
Suggest you get certified in some software.
Could be Oracle, could be, HotDocs, could be Siebel, could be Lotus, could be SAP.
Once you have certification you should be able to get referrals from
the companies you are certified with.

Hot area now is WorkFlow.