SERVING WASHINGTON D.C. GOVERNMENT & EDUCATION AGENCIES
THE EPROCUREMENT PLATFORM WASHINGTON D.C. AGENCIES CHOOSE TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT
Built for the centralized executive branch procurement authority established under the District of Columbia Procurement Practices Act of 1985, and designed for the District's independently governed public charter LEAs, who answer to their own board and to federal Uniform Guidance on federally funded purchases. No matter your requirements and regulations, PlanetBids documents the solicitation and reporting record a contracting officer or business office needs for reporting. Contact us to learn about cooperative purchasing options available to D.C. agencies.
Washington D.C. agenciesCooperative 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 EMPIRE STATE
From the islands of Hawaii to the Greater Midwest to the Eastern Seaboard, government agencies in Hawaii and nationwide count on PlanetBids to run compliant, transparent, modern procurement.
WASHINGTON D.C. PROCUREMENT COMPLIANCE
BUILT FOR HOW WASHINGTON D.C. AGENCIES ARE REQUIRED TO BUY
DC's procurement environment runs on sustained institutional scrutiny, including DC Council oversight hearings, DC Auditor reviews, and DC Office of the Inspector General inquiries regularly examine sole-source awards and vendor selection, and a poorly documented process is a recurring political issue. No matter what regulations and processes your DC agency follows, PlanetBids produces a complete, timestamped, exportable record of the solicitations you run.
Procurement Practices Act
PlanetBids documents the public notice, bid opening, and award record for solicitations run under OCP's centralized authority, giving contracting officers a record that demonstrates their process.
Title 27 DCMR
PlanetBids centralizes the procedural record that District agencies need to show adherence to the DCMR's implementing regulations, without having to reconstruct the record from paper and email.
DSLBD Certified Business Enterprise
Tag and report solicitation and award data by DSLBD certification category, so contracting officers can demonstrate CBE participation without manually cross-referencing DSLBD's directory against every contract.
DC Council & DC Auditor Oversight
Every notice, addendum, and bid opening is timestamped and centralized so Council oversight hearings and Auditor reviews receive a complete procurement trail, not a reconstructed paper-and-email report.
Uniform Guidance Documentation for Charter LEAs
PlanetBids centralizes solicitation records for federally-funded purchases, giving an independently governed charter LEA's business office documentation its own single audit and DC PCSB authorizer review will ask for.
DCHA HUD Procurement
PlanetBids supports the federal procurement compliance documentation required for standard HUD-funded purchases, keeping the record centralized and easily accessible for authorities under federal monitoring.
COOPERATIVE PURCHASING
Cooperative Purchasing Options
Washington D.C. agencies may be able to purchase PlanetBids through an existing cooperative contract, eliminating the need for a new competitive solicitation, like the Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS). Ask your PlanetBids rep about available cooperative vehicles for your agency type.
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 event.
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 Washington D.C. 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 Washington D.C. 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 WASHINGTON D.C. PROCUREMENT TEAMS ASK US MOST
Can our Washington D.C. 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 Washington D.C. agencies to execute a contract without issuing a new competitive solicitation. PlanetBids is available on the Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS) as a cooperative contract. 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 our ERP?
Yes, PlanetBids provides API integration with ERP systems. 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.
Does PlanetBids integrate with the District's financial system (SOAR)?
Integration scope should be confirmed directly with your IT environment before any specific connector claim is made. This is scoped per agency, rather than assumed out of the box.
How do we track DSLBD CBE subcontracting plan compliance inside PlanetBids?
PlanetBids supports reporting and tagging by certification category, and the system accepts business certifications and tracks them for expiration. Confirm the current DSLBD category list and any applicable thresholds with DSLBD directly, since PlanetBids doesn't set or determine them.
Can our charter LEA use PlanetBids independently, without going through DCPS or OCP?
Yes, charter LEAs are independent contracting entities and can procure a standalone subscription.
Is DC Water or DCHA data segregated from District government agency data?
Yes, each is modeled as a separate, legally independent entity.
How does PlanetBids help us respond to DC Auditor or DC Council oversight requests for procurement records?
PlanetBids produces a timestamped, exportable bid history directly supports that kind of records request, including documenting the request, solicitation creation and posting, vendor communication, addenda acknowledgement, bid acceptance, evaluation, and award.
What happens to our documentation if we're audited by a federal grant awarding agency?
Exportable, timestamped solicitation records support the documentation that Uniform Guidance and HUD procurement rules require. Final sufficiency is determined by the awarding agency or auditor.
How long does implementation take?
Implementation can be done in as little as a few days to a few weeks, depending on the agency's availability for training. Because our system allows you to customize it to your needs internally, instead of through our team, agencies can be up and running and releasing their first solicitation within PlanetBids in a very short time.
How much does PlanetBids cost?
As an annual SaaS subscription service with no per-bid, vendor, or transaction fees, PlanetBids pricing is package-based in most instances, with tiered options to fit any agency size and budget. The price depends on package type and functionality desired, as well as number of full users who will be active in the system. We offer unlimited users for requests and evaluations for all packages.
A one-time set-up fee covers all initial implementation and training for your system, and we do not charge additional costs for customization or solicitation templates.
Vendor registration, viewing of open and past projects, and bid submission is always free.
READY TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT FOR YOUR WASHINGTON D.C. 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
Documents every step in the procurement workflow, and reports participation by certification category
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 clients love us