SERVING NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNMENT & EDUCATION AGENCIES
THE EPROCUREMENT PLATFORM NORTH CAROLINA AGENCIES CHOOSE TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT
Built for cities, counties, water authorities, school districts, and regional councils of government, and compliant with GS 143-129 competitive bidding and automated HUB participation reporting. Cooperative purchasing options available to North Carolina agencies through The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) with no new bid required.
North Carolina 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 CAROLINAS
From the mountains to the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain and throughout the South, PlanetBids is helping government agencies run compliant, transparent, modern procurement.
CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
HOW REWA EMBRACED DIGITAL PROCUREMENT
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Eliminated paper costs and travel to ReWa offices to submit proposals and hear bid awards – replaced 1,000- to 2,000-page construction solicitations and large paper bid submissions
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All information related to a bid is stored and tracked in one place, with a central vendor portal for questions and answers and addenda release
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When issues arise, research can be conducted within PlanetBids – every step of the procurement process is tracked, helping defend a decision with hard facts
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PlanetBids handles all agency and vendor customer support, with a U.S.-based, in-house team of former procurement professionals and technical experts
"Customer service became a very important benefit for us. Some eProcurement systems might outsource or minimize this in their offering, but it's an important reason for our success. PlanetBids has tremendous customer support and has been there from the beginning for user adoption through ongoing support as issues might arise."
Stephanie Selman
Senior Purchasing Agent, Renewable Water Resources (South Carolina)
NORTH CAROLINA PROCUREMENT COMPLIANCE
BUILT FOR HOW AGENCIES IN THE TAR HEEL STATE ARE REQUIRED TO BUY
GS 143-129 governs competitive bidding for North Carolina state and local agencies, with automated Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) participation reporting required by the NC Department of Administration. PlanetBids is designed to meet these requirements, as well as State Auditor performance reviews, protest defense documentation standards, IIJA-funded water and broadband infrastructure grant conditions, and FEMA documentation requirements.
HUB Certification Verification & Reporting
Vendor registration fields and document uploads for HUB certification compliance, with automated good faith effort documentation for contracts over $100,000 per GS 143-48.
Competitive Bidding Compliance
Automated statutory public notice, sealed electronic bid opening with timestamp verification, and standardized bid tabulation built for protest defense and State Auditor review.
State Contract Piggyback Ready
Streamlined workflows for documenting state contract piggyback and cooperative purchasing authority, with a repository of available contracts and shared vendor databases across counties, cities, water authorities, and school districts.
IIJA Infrastructure Compliance
Documentation workflows built for Buy America compliance and reporting, Davis-Bacon wage tracking, and DBA participation on federally-funded infrastructure projects.
Emergency & Disaster Recovery Support
Templates, emergency vendor database, and audit trails for GS 143-129(e) emergency procurement exceptions, built for FEMA documentation and compliance.
Regional COG & Multi-Jurisdiction Support
Shared vendor database and unlimited standardized solicitation templates for North Carolina's regional councils of government coordinating procurement across member municipalities.
NO NEW BID REQUIRED
State Contract Piggyback Authority Available
North Carolina agencies can purchase PlanetBids through an existing cooperative contract on The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS), documenting state contract piggyback authority under GS 143-129(g), without running 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 North Carolina'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
-
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 North Carolina'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 NORTH CAROLINA PROCUREMENT TEAMS ASK US MOST
Can our North Carolina agency purchase PlanetBids through an existing cooperative or state contract?
In some cases, yes. GS 143-129(g) allows North Carolina agencies to use state contract piggyback authority without a new competitive solicitation, and PlanetBids is available on The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS). Talk to your us about current cooperative contract availability.
Does PlanetBids integrate with Tyler Munis or SAP NCAS?
Yes, PlanetBids integrates with TylerMunis via API for requisition import and award export while maintaining a separate bid workflow and provides SAP NCAS-compatible CSV export for award data upload, meeting State Controller financial reporting requirements.
How does PlanetBids verify HUB certification status?
PlanetBids allows you to gather, manage, and track vendor certification documentation and verify it against the North Carolina Department of Administration HUB Directory. They system flags expired certifications and generates good faith effort documentation required for contracts exceeding $100,000 under GS 143-48.
What documentation does PlanetBids provide for bid protests?
The platform provides timestamped vendor communication and notification logs, bid opening records, complete addenda distribution and acknowledgement confirmations, and sealed bid access logs, meeting GS 143-129 transparency requirements for protest defense. PlanetBids member agencies have never lost a protest against our system in more than 25 years.
How long does implementation take?
Most agencies are up and running within a few weeks, including integration setup with ERPs or other financial systems. For urgent requirements, agencies can be live in a few days, as most customization is done in-system by the agency after go-live.
Does PlanetBids replace our ERP procurement module or supplement it?
PlanetBids supplements your ERP by managing pre-award solicitation, vendor communication, and bid evaluation. It then exports award data back to your ERP for purchase order creation and financial processing. PlanetBids is a more robust, complete platform for the actual solicitation release and bid acceptance process.
How much does PlanetBids cost?
PlanetBids is a SaaS subscription-based platform, with no per-bid, vendor, or transaction fees. Pricing is tiered based on functionality and features desired as well as number of full user licenses and number of solicitations released each year, with packages designed to fit any size and budget.
PlanetBids does assess a one-time setup fee that covers all implementation, training, and customization. Because of the custom nature of our pricing, we recommend speaking to a PlanetBids sales manager for a quote tailored to your agency.
READY TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT FOR YOUR NORTH CAROLINA 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 — no new RFP required
Chapter 252 & 262 compliance and IIJA documentation built in
US-based support with procurement expertise
No long-term lock-in – modular pricing
99% client retention – agencies don't leave