SERVING MAINE GOVERNMENT & EDUCATION AGENCIES
THE EPROCUREMENT PLATFORM MAINE AGENCIES CHOOSE TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT
Built for cities, counties, towns, and plantations under Title 30-A §124 competitive bidding requirements, and compliant with Tile 30-A §5823 post-audit documentation standards from the Office of the State Auditor. Built to move fast enough for Maine's short frost-to-frost construction season, and available as a cooperative contract from The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS).
Maine agencies Cooperative purchasing options are available to allow your agency to purchase PlanetBids without a new competitive solicitation. Ask our team about options for your agency type.
TRUSTED BY AGENCIES ACROSS THE NORTHEAST
From New York and New Jersey to Connecticut and Massachusetts, PlanetBids helps government agencies in the Northeast run compliant, transparent modern procurement.
CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
HOW JEFFERSON COUNTY TRANSFORMED
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Eliminated stacks of paper and manual spreadsheet tracking – replaced with a centralized digital system that gives staff real-time visibility into every bid and contract in the pipeline
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Completed the County's first fully paperless procurement project in December 2025, just months after go-live – including electronic bid submission, scoring, and award
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Vendors now self-register and receive automatic notifications for new opportunities, eliminating missed outreach from manual email lists and spreadsheets
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Solicitation templates cut time from request to release – no more switching between programs or rebuilding documents from scratch for each purchase
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18 months in, there is full team buy-in, including a 26-year veteran who now "loves working with PlanetBids"
"I tell my team all the time that when they go home, they shouldn't be taking all the stress of work with them. You shouldn't have to be overwhelmed Monday through Friday with how much work you have and then go home and be stressed because all you see in your mind are all these stacks of paper."
Mike Bagley
Purchasing Director, Jefferson County
MAINE PROCUREMENT COMPLIANCE
BUILT FOR HOW MAINE AGENCIES ARE REQUIRED TO BUY
Maine has no single statewide bidding statue covering every agency. Counties operate under Title 30-A §124's mandatory competitive bidding threshold, while most of the state's 430 towns set their own thresholds under home rule, often using an MMA sample policy as a starting point. PlanetBids is engineered to reduce the administrative burden for the single clerk or handful of part-time selectmen that handle procurement on top of code enforcement, tax collection, and everything else.
Title 30-A §124 Compliance
PlanetBids configures to your county's statutory bidding threshold, so competitive procurement runs on the schedule the law requires without a manual workaround.
Title 30-A §5823 Post-Audit Documentation
Every posting, addendum, and award is centralized and timestamped for easy access for Office of the State Auditor post-audit review, without your office having to rebuild it under deadline.
State and Federal Compliance Documentation
Audit-ready procurement records are built for Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Bond Bank-financed capital projects, protecting reimbursement eligibility when a reviewer requests the file.
MaineDOT Federal DBE Documentation
Automated vendor outreach logs generate the good faith effort records that federally funded work requires under MaineDOT Office of Civil Rights oversight, without extra staff time reconstructing it after the fact.
Insurance Certification Tracking
Agencies can request certificates of insurance from vendors post-award, and vendors can upload the certificate to auto-fill into the procurement record. Simply confirm, submit, and accept to maintain on file for easy access.
Frost-to-Frost Season
Solicitation, evaluation, and award move fast enough to fit Maine's short construction window, so a bid delay doesn't push a project into next year's season.
NO NEW BID REQUIRED
COOPERATIVE CONTRACTS AVAILABLE
Maine agencies may be able to purchase PlanetBids through an existing cooperative contract, like the Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS), eliminating the need for a new competitive solicitation. Ask your PlanetBids rep about available cooperative vehicles for your agency type
PROCUREMENT EXPERTISE
NPI-CERTIFIED
PlanetBids is certified as an Achievement in Excellence® (AEP) eProcurement Certified platform by the National Procurement Institute, meeting critical standards for Electronic Sourcing (AEP Criteria 7b) and Electronic Evaluations and Automatic Scorecarding (7c).
EVENT PRESENCE
INDUSTRY EVENT SPONSOR
PlanetBids is a proud member of NIGP and a regular attendee and sponsor of the NIGP Annual Forum, as well as attending annual American Public Works Association and Government Finance Officers Association events nationwide.
THE PLATFORM
EVERYTHING YOUR PROCUREMENT TEAM NEEDS, NOTHING YOU DON'T.
PlanetBids is a modular, end-to-end procurement lifecycle platform. Start with what you need and add modules as your agency grows.
Requests & Solicitations
Create, publish, and manage IFBs, RFPs, RFQs, and RFIs from guided templates. Get live countdowns, drag-and-drop documents, and real-time status tracking.
Vendor Management
Create a centralized vendor registry with real-time Empire State Development MWBE and SDVOB certification verification. Automated outreach by commodity code generates good-faith effort documentation for State Comptroller pre-audit packages and Empire State Development utilization reports.
Compliance & Audit Trails
Every action is timestamped and logged, with automatic bid tabulation, sealed bid verification, and complete documentation trails that hold up to protests – $50B+ processed, zero valid protests.
Contract Management
Centralize awarded contracts with automated expiration alerts, amendment tracking, and insurance certificate management so you ever miss a renewal or compliance deadline.
Project Evaluation
Multi-round scoring with unlimited evaluators, consensus or individual scoring modes, and exportable matrices supports complex RFP evaluations for capital projects and bond programs.
AI with Guardrails
AI tools are built specifically for public procurement, with the compliance controls government agencies require. Get faster drafting and smarter vendor matching, within the boundaries your policies demand.
Requests & Solicitations
Create, publish, and manage IFBs, RFPs, RFQs, and RFIs from guided templates. Get live countdowns, drag-and-drop documents, and real-time status tracking.
Vendor Management
Create a centralized vendor registry with real-time Empire State Development MWBE and SDVOB certification verification. Automated outreach by commodity code generates good-faith effort documentation for State Comptroller pre-audit packages and Empire State Development utilization reports.
Compliance & Audit Trails
Every action is timestamped and logged, with automatic bid tabulation, sealed bid verification, and complete documentation trails that hold up to protests – $50B+ processed, zero valid protests.
Contract Management
Centralize awarded contracts with automated expiration alerts, amendment tracking, and insurance certificate management so you ever miss a renewal or compliance deadline.
Project Evaluation
Multi-round scoring with unlimited evaluators, consensus or individual scoring modes, and exportable matrices supports complex RFP evaluations for capital projects and bond programs.
AI with Guardrails
AI tools are built specifically for public procurement, with the compliance controls government agencies require. Get faster drafting and smarter vendor matching, within the boundaries your policies demand.
THE VENDOR ADVANTAGE
MORE QUALIFIED BIDDERS, ZERO VENDOR PHONE CALLS TO YOUR TEAM.
A deep, pre-qualified vendor network and a dedicated support team handles vendors for you, so your purchasing office can focus on procurement, not vendor phone calls.
VENDOR
NETWORK
40K+ qualified vendors ready to bid on your solicitations
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Vendors are matched to your bids by commodity code, no manual outreach lists required
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Agencies typically jump from 3-4 responses to 10-12 submittals per bid after switching to PlanetBids
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Empire State Development MWBE and SDVOB classifications are built in to meet Maine's 30% MWBE utilization goals for state-funded projects
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Vendors can register and bid for free, removing the friction that keeps small businesses out
EXCLUSIVE
DEDICATED
VENDOR SUPPORT
We help your vendors so you don't have to
When a vendor has a question about your solicitation, how to upload documents, or how to register, they call us, not your purchasing office. Our dedicated vendor support team handles it directly so your team stays focused on procurement. For you, this means no more:
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Vendor registration help calls
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Document upload questions
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Bid submission troubleshooting
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Addenda & notification questions
Results: Fewer incomplete bids, more competitive responses, and hours back in your team's week, every single procurement cycle.
VENDOR NETWORK
40K+ qualified vendors ready to bid on your solicitations
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Vendors are matched to your bids by commodity code, no manual outreach lists required
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Agencies typically jump from 3-4 responses to 10-12 submittals per bid after switching to PlanetBids
-
Empire State Development MWBE and SDVOB classifications are built in to meet Maine's 30% MWBE utilization goals for state-funded projects
-
Vendors can register and bid for free, removing the friction that keeps small businesses out
DEDICATED VENDOR SUPPORT
We help your vendors so you don't have to
When a vendor has a question about your solicitation, how to upload documents, or how to register, they call us, not your purchasing office. Our dedicated vendor support team handles it directly so your team stays focused on procurement. For you, this means no more:
-
Vendor registration help calls
-
Document upload questions
-
Bid submission troubleshooting
-
Addenda & notification questions
Results: Fewer incomplete bids, more competitive responses, and hours back in your team's week, every single procurement cycle.
WHO WE ARE
Built by procurement professionals, for procurement professionals
PlanetBids was founded specifically for the public procurement industry, and we understand the needs of procurement professionals. That origin matters, as every feature, every workflow, and every support interaction are designed to reflect how actual purchasing teams manage work under budget pressure, public scrutiny, and legal compliance requirements.
Designed for public procurement since 2000
We're not an ERP company that added a procurement module. We're not a startup that pivoted into GovTech. We're not a big conglomerate chasing a new market. We are a 25-year-old company whose entire business is built around making procurement professionals more effective.
100% US-based support staff with procurement backgrounds
Our in-house support team includes people with real public procurement backgrounds. When you call with a question about sealed bid procedures or vendor protest prevention, you're talking to someone who has managed that process themselves and understands your issues.
A solid foundation of PlanetBids agencies
550+ agencies. 1,000+ users. 99% retention. Zero valid bid protests across $50B+ in contracts processed. Our company has stayed focused on one thing for 25 years, and we have the track record to prove it.
WHAT MAINE PROCUREMENT TEAMS ASK US MOST
How does PlanetBids support competitive bidding threshold requirements?
Title 30-A §124 mandates competitive bidding for Maine counties above $2,500, with oral proposals allowed up to $10,000. PlanetBids configures to that threshold directly, so your process matches the statute without a manual workaround.
Does PlanetBids help with an Office of the State Auditor post-audit under Title 30-A §5823?
Yes, every posting, addendum, bid opening, and award is timestamped and centralized, so you can provide a complete record with one export click for post-audit instead of having to rebuild one from email and paper files.
How does PlanetBids support DWSRF, CWSRF, or Maine Municipal Bond Bank-funded projects?
PlanetBids centralizes the procurement documentation grantors and bond reviewers request for Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Bond Bank-financed capital projects, so that record is already assembled rather than being built under deadline.
Does PlanetBids manage Title 26 prevailing wage thresholds on construction bids?
PlanetBids flags state-funded construction solicitations at or above the prevailing wage threshold so the applicable wage requirements are built into the bid documents from the start, not added after the fact.
Can PlanetBids be used alongside Tyler Munis or Harris Trio?
Yes. PlanetBids provides API integration with most commonly used ERPs and financial software. The integration passes awarded contract data, vendor information, and purchase requisitions between systems, eliminating duplicate entry while maintaining your ERP as the financial system of record.
PlanetBids handles the vendor-facing competitive bidding process, vendor management, bid solicitation, evaluation, and award, then pushes clean contract and vendor data into your ERP for encumbrance and payment processing. Most clients keep their ERP for accounting while using PlanetBids for the public procurement workflow.
How long does implementation take?
Most agencies are up and running within a few weeks, including implementation, training, integration with financial systems, and vendor import, without adding staff to manage the transition. In special cases, agencies on tight deadlines can be live in as little as a few days.
PlanetBids does charge a one-time setup fee for implementation and training that will include any setup requirements you have. Portal registration, project download, and bid submission is always free for your vendors and the public.
How much does PlanetBids cost?
PlanetBids features an annual SaaS subscription pricing with no per-bid, vendor, or transaction fees. Pricing is tier-based depending on the features desired and the number of full users, so pricing varies based on agency size, bid requirements, and budget. We recommend speaking with our sales team for a tailored quote, but our system can run as low as $3,500 annually for small agencies with one full user license.
READY TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT FOR YOUR MAINE AGENCY?
Book a 30-minute demo with a member of our dedicated public sector sales team. We'll show you the platform, walk through the TIPS contract process, and answer questions specific to your agency type.
Works inside your Title 30-A §124 threshold or home-rule policy, with no rewrite required.
Available on the Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) with no new bid required
Compatible with all state and federal compliance requirements
US-based, in-house support with extensive procurement expertise
Pricing is tiered based on features and functionality, with options for any agency size and budget
99% client retention means our agencies love us