Each year government agencies across the State of Arizona assign significant funding to projects designed to improve local neighborhoods. By investing in new construction and needed infrastructure upgrades, these agencies are helping to ensure growth in their communities while creating valuable business opportunities for local vendors.
From installing new street lights in a local suburb, to creating a new dog park in an up-and-coming urban neighborhood or designing an entire transportation network connecting multiple cities across the state, infrastructure projects of all shapes and sizes are competing for public funding. Through careful evaluation, state and local agencies decide which projects will move forward and what materials and services will be needed for construction.
Opportunities for Every Trade
Proper completion of any government project is dependent on the agencies selecting the right partners during the bidding project. Before any physical construction can begin a multitude of industry experts may be needed to provide environmental studies, community impact assessments and project designs. Once the preliminary planning is completed and the design is approved, only then can shovels hit the dirt.
Once physical construction is ready to start bids will begin appearing for the materials, equipment and services that will be required for construction. The requirements of every construction project are different; many larger projects require skilled tradespeople from fields including carpentry, masonry, electrical, HVAC-R and plumbing, just to name a few.
The time frame for developing any public works project can be long: from initial evaluation, planning, and designing to construction and completion, it may be months or years before a project is finished. Throughout this time, numerous bids can be issued for a variety of specialized services.
The Search for Bids
For many vendors, the hardest part of partnering with a government agency is not the physical labor, but finding the bids that are related to their products or services.
One factor that makes the process of finding bids related to a specific area of interest so difficult is that state and local governments do not post all their bids in one location. Bids are spread out across multiple sources, including individual agencies websites, local newspapers and community newsletters. In the State of Arizona each county, municipality and government agency is responsible for posting and administering their own bid processes, meaning vendors who are manually searching for construction related bids will need to constantly check multiple sources to find the ones related to their area of expertise.
When starting their search for new, relevant government bids many vendors will begin by visiting the Arizona Department of Administration Procurement website, which does host bids from a variety of state agencies but not from city and local agencies. Other sites that are a good source for bids in Arizona are:
As you can see from the above sites, no two are the same: each has a unique layout and design, which can make it difficult to locate and track relevant bids. Some government sites provide search filters to help vendors narrow down their search for relevant bids and some even offer free email notifications that arrive when a new bid matching a vendor’s interests is published. However, these proactive notifications tend to be the exception to the rule.
Submitting Your Bid
Once you’ve found a bid that interests you, pay close attention to all the listed requirements and make sure that you can meet each one. If you have questions about any specific details, most bids provide contact information where you can reach out for clarification.
Price is often a major factor when an agency selects a bid winner, but it is not the only one. Experience, references and MWBE statuses can all play an important part in determining whether or not you win a bid. With that said, you have to ensure that the price you submit on a bid will generate enough revenue to benefit your business while also being attractive to the agency that posted the bid. If your submission is selected as the winner the agency will reach out to you to finalize the contract for the goods and services you bid on.
Let Some One Find Those Bids for You
State agencies post thousands of opportunities every year for businesses to bid on, but they are spread across hundreds of websites, newspapers and other media. Manually searching for all the bids that are relevant for your business is a job in itself, which is why most businesses choose to work with a third party who can help locate and track bids for them. By partnering with a bid intelligence company, you gain access to the hundreds and thousands of bids these companies’ research and track each year from across the United States, along with a variety of other benefits.
For example, BidNet members can set up a customized business profile that specifies what types of bids they are interested in, and in which states they are looking for opportunities. Through this personalized business profile members receive a daily email alerts about new bids that match the specific products and services they provide, in the regions where they want to bid. No more scouring dozens of websites for relevant bids: with BidNet, bids are delivered directly to you, removing one of the most time consuming parts of the government bidding process.
There are hundreds of agencies posting construction-related bids across Arizona and it is important to be able to quickly and easily find the ones that are right for you. Whether you choose to seek bids out on your own or partner with a bid intelligence company, the world of government bidding can be an exciting and profitable venture for any business.
Kevin McClintock | BidNet.com