How to get on a city's vendor list, and why it pays
Free, takes twenty minutes, and it is the difference between bidding and watching.
Every agency that buys anything keeps a list of people to call. Getting on it is the cheapest business development a contractor can do, and most never bother.
The phone call
Call the procurement office — not the receptionist, the buyer — and ask three things:
- How do I register as a vendor?
- Which categories do you buy that I actually do?
- When you put something out, how do you notify people?
Write down the answers. Register the same day. Categories matter: register for what you do, not for everything, or you will be the name nobody recognises.
Then be easy to buy from
- Answer when they call for a quote. Three contractors answer, two send a number.
- Show up to the pre-bid meeting — especially the "optional" ones. The optional ones are where the questions get asked.
- Keep your paperwork current. A bid that dies on an expired insurance certificate is a job you gave away.
- Send one line after the award. "Thanks for the opportunity — keep us on the list for the next one." Nobody does it, which is exactly why it works.
The list is not a favour and it is not exclusive. It is a door, it is unlocked, and it is standing wide open the entire time you are complaining that there is no work.
The email is the easy part: every public notice we can place inside your radius, in one message, every weekday at 6am, closing dates first.
See what it costs