SERVING MINNESOTA GOVERNMENT & EDUCATION AGENCIES
THE EPROCUREMENT PLATFORM MINNESOTA AGENCIES CHOOSE TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT
Built to meet Uniform Municipal Contracting Law's two tiers for sealed, publicly noticed bidding above $175,000 and documented quotations from $25,000 to $175,000, and compliant with the Office of the State Auditor. PlanetBids is designed to help small and mid-sized agencies function more efficiently, reach more vendors, and stay compliant. Contact us to learn more about cooperative purchasing options available to Minnesota agencies.
Minnesota 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 MORE THAN 550 AGENCIES NATIONWIDE
From the West Coast to the Midwest, New York to the Deep South, government agencies across the U.S. are modernizing procurement with PlanetBids.
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
MINNESOTA PROCUREMENT COMPLIANCE
BUILT FOR HOW MINNESOTA AGENCIES ARE REQUIRED TO BUY
Minnesota's Uniform Municipal Contracting Law puts nearly every city, county, town, and school district under the same statute, but the two-tier structure means the right process depends on where a purchase falls, and the office deciding that is often a city clerk with no dedicated procurement staff to lean on. PlanetBids is designed to help those overworked staff streamline procurement while ensuring compliance with complicated state and federal regulations.
Sealed-Bid Compliance
PlanetBids automatically sends solicitation posting notifications to registered vendors and posts all projects for the public to view for free. It allows vendors to submit sealed, timestamped, and encrypted bid submissions digitally, helping agencies meet UMCL §471.345 requirements.
Quotation Tier Compliance
PlanetBids structures the documented quotation process mid-tier projects require, producing a defensible written record even for bids that aren't part of the sealed-bid requirements.
State Auditor Documentation
Every solicitation notice, bid, communication, addendum release, and award is timestamped and centralized for easy access to provide a complete file to the Office of the State Auditor for review.
State Revolving Fund Compliance
Audit-ready procurement documentation is built to meet Public Facilities Authority Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF-financed capital projects, protecting loan eligibility for review requests.
Federal DBE Documentation
Automated vendor outreach and participation logs and vendor-led certification submission generate the good faith effort record required for federally-funded transportation work without recreating the file.
Vendor Outreach Documentation
Track outreach to vendors certified through the state's Targeted Group, Economically Disadvantaged, and Veteran-Owned business program to turn a subcontracting goal obligation into a standing report.
NO NEW BID REQUIRED
COOPERATIVE PURCHASING MANAGEMENT
PlanetBids tracks cooperative purchases through Sourcewell, state contracts, and joint-powers vehicles like LOGIS, in addition to your competitively sourced projects.
PURCHASING EXPERTISE
NPI-CERTIFIED
PlanetBids is certified as an Achievement in Excellence in Procurement® (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)
INDUSTRY PRESENCE
INDUSTRY EVENT PRESENCE
PlanetBids is a proud member of NIGP and a regular attendee and sponsor of the annual NIGP Forum, as well as attending annual American Public Works and Government Finance Officers Association events.
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 Minnesota'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
-
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 Minnesota'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 MINNESOTA PROCUREMENT TEAMS ASK US MOST
Can our Minnesota agency purchase PlanetBids without going through a new bid process?
Potentially yes, depending on your agency type and purchasing thresholds, cooperative purchasing options may be available that allow Minnesota agencies to execute a contract without issuing a new competitive solicitation. Contact our team to discuss the procurement paths available for your specific agency.
If a direct procurement path is preferred, our team can provide pre-approved legal resolution language addressing common counsel concerns.
Does PlanetBids integrate with Tyler Munis or LOGIS?
Yes, PlanetBids provides API integration with Tyler Technologies platforms and other ERPs. 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 does not replace your ERP or financial system. 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 does PlanetBids handle the §471.345 thresholds?
Bid workflows are configurable to whatever requirements your agency must follow, so you can set sealed bid notices for purchases above $175,000 and document quotation processes for purchases between $25,000-$175,000.
We're a small township with one clerk. Is PlanetBids too much platform for us?
Not at all. PlanetBids is designed to scale up or down to match your agency's size and solicitation requirements. A single staffer can run public notice and bid intake without taking on additional administrative burden. In fact, PlanetBids automates much of your manual tasks, making it ideal for small teams.
Can PlanetBids help us document outreach to DBE-certified vendors?
Yes, PlanetBids accepts, tracks, and centralizes documentation relating to business certification requirements so you can demonstrate good faith effort for state- and federally-funded work.
Can a joint powers group like LOGIS share one PlanetBids instance across member cities?
Yes, multi-agency and shared-services configurations are supported, with each member agency's solicitations still tracked and documented independently.
Will PlanetBids help our agency with Office of the State Auditor reviews?
Yes, every solicitation notice, bid submission, communication, and award is timestamped and easily accessible for to quickly produce in order to defend your procurements during OSA review.
Does PlanetBids support PFA Clean Water or Drinking Water SRF-funded projects?
Yes, PlanetBids centralizes the procurement record grantors and reviewers request for SRF-financed capital projects, so that documentation is already assembled ahead of a compliance review.
How long does implementation take?
Most agencies are up and running within a few weeks, including implementation, customization, integration, vendor migration, and training. Additional staff resources are generally not required for implementation. In special cases where agencies have tight federal deadlines for new solicitation postings, go live can be completed in as little as a few days.
PlanetBids charges a one-time setup fee that covers all implementation and training. We do not charge for customization related to the system.
How much does PlanetBids cost?
PlanetBids is a SaaS subscription system, with no per-bid, vendor, or transaction fees. Pricing is tiered based on feature and functionality requirements, as well as number of full users required and number of solicitations posted annually. We have packages designed to fit any agency size and budget, because of the custom nature of our pricing, we recommend speaking to a member of our sales team for a tailored quote.
READY TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT FOR YOUR MINNESOTA 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.
Available on TIPS cooperative with no new RFP required
Automatic bid file compiled and easily accessible for state review
US-based in-house support with extensive procurement expertise
Pricing is tiered, with options for any agency size and budget
99% client retention means our agencies love us