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Guides

How to win public-sector work

Everything we know about selling to schools, cities, counties, states and public agencies , written for the people who actually do the work. No boilerplate.

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Who you can sell to

Every kind of public body that buys through formal procurement, how each one buys, and what it takes to win with them.

How to sell to county government How to sell to county government: what jails, road and bridge, health and elections buy, real bid thresholds… How to sell to municipalities and city government The 19,491 US cities buy paving, mowing, custodial, HVAC and roofing every year. The portals, NIGP codes, thresholds… How to sell to public hospitals and health systems Hospital buying runs through GPOs, credentialing and infection control. Here is who is actually biddable, what gates access,… How to sell to school districts How trades and service contractors win school district work: board calendars, bid thresholds by state, co-op contracts, fingerprint… How to sell to special districts: water, fire, transit and parks Special districts outnumber cities and counties combined. Who runs them, what they buy, the bid thresholds that apply,… How to sell to state agencies State procurement runs on 50 separate portals and statewide term contracts. Here is where to register, what the… How to sell to universities and colleges Campus facilities buying runs on its own calendar, cooperatives and job order contracts. Who signs, what the thresholds… How to win public housing authority contracts How housing authorities buy: HUD Handbook 7460.8 thresholds, Section 3 labor-hour benchmarks, Davis-Bacon rules, HUD bid forms, bonding… How to win RFPs from nonprofits and private buyers Nonprofits and private owners run RFPs with none of the public rules. What changes, where federal grant money…

By trade

What public-sector work looks like in your industry: who buys it, what it pays, and how bids are actually scored.

Building & trades

Grounds & site

Facilities & services

Professional & office

All industry guides

How bidding works

The mechanics of public procurement, from reading a solicitation to protesting an award.

Bid bonds and performance bonds explained What bid, performance and payment bonds are, the state thresholds that trigger them, what they cost, how underwriting… How much does it cost to bid on a government contract? A real cost breakdown of bidding public work: hours per response, registration and bonding costs, the arithmetic of… How to build an RFP compliance matrix A practical method for building a compliance matrix for a government RFP or bid: what to extract, how… How to file a bid protest What a bid protest is, valid grounds, the very short filing deadlines at state and federal level, what… How to request a debrief after losing a bid Public agencies will usually explain why you lost if you ask. Here is how to request a debrief,… How to respond to an RFP A step-by-step guide to responding to government RFPs and bids: responsiveness vs responsibility, addenda, pre-bid meetings, sealed submission… Prevailing wage and Davis-Bacon for contractors How state prevailing wage laws and Davis-Bacon work: thresholds, wage determinations, fringe benefits, certified payroll, and what non-compliance… RFP vs RFQ vs IFB vs ITB The plain difference between an RFP, RFQ, IFB, ITB, RFI and RFQu in public procurement, what each one…

Cooperative purchasing

Getting onto co-op contracts, what they really cost a vendor, and when they are not worth it.

How to get a Sourcewell contract What a Sourcewell award really involves: the 1%-2% administrative fee, quarterly reporting inside 45 days, the 1,000-point scoring… How to get a TIPS contract TIPS awards IDIQ agreements through Region 8 ESC in Texas and sells nationally. How the solicitation calendar, the… How to get an E&I Cooperative contract E&I Cooperative Services is member-owned by around 6,500 education institutions. How suppliers get awarded, what patronage means, and… How to get an OMNIA Partners contract OMNIA Partners does not run its own procurements. What that means for vendors: lead agency RFPs, a negotiated… How to get on BuyBoard (Texas) BuyBoard charges awarded vendors 2% per purchase order, with flat fees on vehicles. The one-year term, the IonWave… How to get on NASPO ValuePoint NASPO ValuePoint's fee is 0.25% plus state add-ons. But winning the master agreement is only permission to negotiate…

Certifications

MBE, WBE, DBE, SDVOSB, HUBZone and state programs: what they cost, what they get you, and what they do not.

How to get DBE certified DBE certification is free, runs through your state's UCP, and is the only one with binding interstate reciprocity… How to get MBE certified MBE means two things. NMSDC is a paid credential for corporate supply chains; state and city MBE programs… How to get SDVOSB and veteran-owned certified Certification moved from the VA to SBA on 1 January 2023 and self-certification is gone. How VetCert works,… How to get WBE certified WBENC costs $350 to $1,250 by revenue. SBA's WOSB certification is free. They serve different buyers. Here is… HUBZone certification explained HUBZone requires a principal office in a designated zone and 35% of employees living in one. What that… State small business certification programs Texas VetHUB, California SB and DVBE, New York MWBE, Florida MBE, Illinois BEP: eligibility, cost, timelines, renewal cycles…

Tools & services

An honest comparison of the bid-finding services and proposal consultants on the market.

BidNet Direct review and pricing An independent BidNet Direct review: free tier, reported state and national pricing, how the agency-funded purchasing groups work,… BidPrime review and pricing An independent BidPrime review: reported pricing, what the aggregation model covers well, where it falls short, and cheaper… BidPrime vs BidNet Direct vs DemandStar vs GovWin IQ A vendor-neutral four-way comparison with published prices, reported ranges, coverage models, alert quality and honest recommendations for each… DemandStar review and pricing An independent DemandStar review: the free tier, reported county and state pricing, where local government coverage is strong,… Free ways to find government bids Agency portals, state systems, free tiers, SAM.gov and APEX Accelerators. How to build a working government bid pipeline… GovWin IQ pricing What GovWin IQ costs according to reported ranges and third-party transaction data, what is gated by tier, renewal… State and local proposal writing services What proposal writers charge, why state and local bidding is a different discipline from federal, what to ask…

Glossary

The vocabulary of state and local procurement, defined for the person bidding rather than the person buying.

Addendum An addendum is a written change to a solicitation issued before bids are due. It becomes part of… Best and final offer (BAFO) A BAFO is a final revised proposal requested from shortlisted vendors after discussions, giving them one chance to… Bid bond A bid bond guarantees that if you win, you will sign the contract and furnish the required bonds.… Bid opening A bid opening is the public event where sealed bids are unsealed and read aloud at a fixed… Bid protest A bid protest is a formal challenge to a solicitation's terms or an award decision, filed with the… Buy American requirements Buy American rules require domestic iron, steel and manufactured goods on covered public projects. Several laws share the… CAGE code A CAGE code is a five-character identifier assigned to a facility location by the Defense Logistics Agency. It… Change order A change order is a written, signed modification to a contract's scope, price or schedule. Without one, extra… Conflict of interest A conflict of interest exists when someone in a procurement has a financial or personal interest that could…
All 40 glossary guides

Research

Original analysis of how public buyers actually award contracts.

Insights

Short, current pieces on how public buyers are buying right now, and what it takes to win.

Government bid thresholds by state, 2026 Formal sealed-bid and informal quote thresholds for the 15 largest states, with statute citations and effective dates, and… Government contract renewals and option years: why public work compounds How option years, renewal clauses and CPI escalators turn one public bid into five years of revenue, what… Government contracts for small business: what the market actually looks like Who buys, what a first contract is worth, how the door opens, what bidding costs you in time,… How to find local government bids: where they actually live Where city, county, school and state bids are actually posted: agency portals by name, state systems, co-ops, legal… How to register as a government vendor, state by state What vendor registration actually gates, the documents to have ready, SAM and UEI when they matter, and the… How to write an RFP response that scores Responsiveness vs responsibility, the compliance matrix, reading the rubric first, what evaluators actually read, and the ten mistakes… What a bid/no-bid decision actually looks like The bid/no-bid framework we use, a worked yes and a worked no, win-rate tiers that separate disciplined bidders… Why you lost the bid, and how to find out for sure How to read the bid tabulation, your debrief rights by state, the questions to ask, and how one…

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