SERVING OHIO GOVERNMENT & EDUCATION AGENCIES
THE EPROCUREMENT PLATFORM OHIO AGENCIES CHOOSE TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT
Built for cities, counties, schools, park districts, and public authorities, and compliant with ORC Chapter 9.31 and ORC 307/735. Cooperative and intergovernmental purchasing options available with no new bid required.
Ohio agencies Cooperative purchasing options like The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) 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 BUCKEYE STATE
From the Rust belt to the Corn Belt,to the Southeast, PlanetBids helps Ohio government agencies 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
OHIO PROCUREMENT COMPLIANCE
BUILT FOR HOW OHIO AGENCIES ARE REQUIRED TO BUY
Ohio Revised Code 307 and 735 set competitive bidding requirements for Ohio's cities, counties, townships, and special districts. PlanetBids is engineered to meet these requirements and to assist with Ohio Auditor of State audit scrutiny, EDGE certification tracking, Department of Administrative Services State Term Schedule alignment, ODOT LPA requirements for federally funded projects, and federal IIJA pass-through funding conditions.
EDGE Vendor Tracking
Certification tracking aligns with the state's Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity program, with automated flagging of certified vendors on applicable contracts and centralized certification management.
ORC 307 & 735 Competitive Bidding Compliance
Automated statutory public notice, competitive sealed bidding documentation, and responsible bidder determinations are built to satisfy Ohio county and municipal purchasing requirements.
Intergovernmental & Shared Services Purchasing Ready
PlanetBids allows you to find intergovernmental or cooperative purchasing-applicable contracts compliant with ORC 9.31.
ODOT LPA & IIJA Compliance
Documentation workflows align with the ODOT Local Public Agency manual and federal aid project requirements, with project-specific procurement segregation for IIJA-funded infrastructure grants.
Audit-Ready Documentation
Timestamped procurement records are easily accessible for Ohio Auditor of State review, with a centralized report repository for open-records request compliance in just a few clicks.
Special District Support
Simplified workflows help Ohio's park districts and other special agencies operate efficient, compliant procurement with lean administrative staff and volunteer board oversight.
NO NEW BID REQUIRED
COOPERATIVE & SHARED-SERVICES PURCHASING
Ohio agencies can purchase PlanetBids through an existing cooperative contract available on The Interlocal Purchasing Systme (TIPS), compliant with ORC 9.31, eliminating the need for a new competitive solicitation.
PROCUREMENT 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).
EVENT PRESENCE
INDUSTRY EVENT SPONSOR
PlanetBids is a proud member of NIGP and a regular attendee and sponsor of the annual NIGP Annual Forum, as well as attending annual American Public Works Association 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 Ohio'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 Ohio'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 OHIO PROCUREMENT TEAMS ASK US MOST
Can our Ohio agency purchase PlanetBids without going through a new bid process?
In many cases, yes. ORC 9.31 allows Ohio agencies to perform intergovernmental and shared services purchasing without a new competitive solicitation, and PlanetBids is on The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) as a cooperative contract.
If a direct procurement path is preferred, our team can provide pre-approved legal resolution language addressing common counsel concerns as well. Talk to us about the specific paths available for your agency type.
Does PlanetBids integrate with ERPs or financial platforms?
Yes, PlanetBids provides API integration with most common 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 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 ensure compliance with ORC 307 and 735 public notice requirements?
PlanetBids allows you to automatically post new solicitations to your vendor portal, accessible from your agency's website, with free access for vendors and the public. The system generates statutorily formatted public notices and maintains timestamped documentation of every public posting and communication for Ohio Auditor of State review.
Does PlanetBids track EDGE certification and generate diversity reports?
Yes, PlanetBids flags EDGE-certified vendors on applicable contracts and generates board-ready diversity utilization reports for agencies tracking participation goals.
We're a park district or small special district with limited administrative staff. Can PlanetBids work for us?
Absolutely! PlanetBids is designed with small staff sizes in mind, with simple solicitation templates, AI-powered scope assistance, automatic vendor notification, digital bid submission, and online scoring. These simplified workflows mean a district can meet Ohio purchasing requirements with limited or no dedicated procurement staff. PlanetBids also fields vendor technical questions that your staff would otherwise handle directly.
How long does implementation take?
Most Ohio agencies are up and running within a few weeks, including any data migration and integration with common ERP systems. Timelines are dependent on the agency's own scope, but some agencies are live and posting their first solicitation in as little as a few days.
How is PlanetBids priced? Are there implementation costs?
PlanetBids is an annual SaaS subscription, with no per-bid, vendor, or transaction fees. Pricing is tier-based depending on agency feature and functionality requirements and full user count, with options for any size and budget. Vendors always register, view projects, and bid for free.
We do charge a small, one-time setup fee to cover implementation and training costs. Because of the custom nature of our pricing, we recommend speaking with a PlanetBids sales rep for a tailored cost estimate.
READY TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT FOR YOUR OHIO 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 and compliant with ORC 9.31, with no new RFP required
ORC 307/735 compliance and audit-ready documentation built in
US-based support with procurement expertise
Pricing is tier-based, with options for any agency size and budget
99% client retention means our agencies love us