SERVING WEST VIRGINIA GOVERNMENT & EDUCATION AGENCIES
THE EPROCUREMENT PLATFORM WEST VIRGINIA AGENCIES CHOOSE TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT
Built to help counties, municipalities, boards of education, and public service districts run a documented, defensible procurement process without adding staff. Compliant with W. Va. Code §5-22-1 competitive bidding requirements, §8-12-10 municipal purchasing authority, and the documentation standards of the State Auditor's Office. Contact us to learn about cooperative purchasing options available to West Virginia agencies.
West Virginia 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 APPALACHIA AND THE SOUTH ATLANTIC
From the rolling hills and mountains to the lakes and the Metro Valley and all across the region, PlanetBids helps public agencies run compliant, transparent, modern procurement.
CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
HOW HOWARD COUNTY INCREASED EFFICIENCY & VENDOR PARTICIPATION
- Clear solicitation templates and automated workflows eliminated scheduling conflicts and improved accuracy while making bid submissions easier, eliminating logistical issues from manual procurement and paper-based documentation.
- Automated registration and onboarding processes reduced the workload on staff while offering vendors a simple, intuitive user experience. Procurement staff could easily access vendor data, verify qualifications, and send real-time updates or clarifications while accepting digital submissions.
- Evaluators can securely review and score bids without manual calculation or in-person coordination – weighted and rubric-based scoring and multiple-round digital evaluation enables accurate, impartial assessments and multiple-round evaluations without the need to coordinate schedules.
- A user-friendly vendor portal and simple bid submission workflows offer a more intuitive vendor experience, which has increased participation and reduced confusion.
- Digital data tracking, certification management, and evaluations provide greater transparency, ensuring impartiality and efficient use of public funds.
"When we first began, occasionally a vendor would call and say, ‘That was too easy… I must have done something wrong,’” said Rittenhouse. “Our team has been very pleased with the ability to increase vendor participation, which results in greater competition and transparency within our bid processes."
Jennifer Rittenhouse
Senior Contract Analyst, Howard County
WEST VIRGINIA PROCUREMENT COMPLIANCE
BUILT FOR HOW WEST VIRGINIA AGENCIES ARE REQUIRED TO BUY
West Virginia's procurement authority runs through specific statutory citations – counties and municipalities under §5-22-1, cities under §8-12-10, and county boards of education under Chapter 18, Article 5. PlanetBids is engineered to help county administrators, clerks, and other procurement professionals wearing multiple hats juggle regulatory compliance while reaching more vendors to receive competitive bids.
Competitive Bidding Compliance
PlanetBids generates a timestamped solicitation release, bid receipt, and award record consistent with the competitive bidding documentation public contracts require, creating a more defensible process.
Municipal Purchasing Support
Configure PlanetBids to your municipality's purchasing authority to ensure small incorporated towns are running the same documented and compliance process as a large charter city.
Board of Education Documentation
Centralize bid records for facilities, transportation, and capital bond projects for easy access for bid protest or review, even with a small staff.
Rural Development & EPA Grant Compliance
Provide audit-ready procurement documentation for Public Service District capital projects financed through state Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council grants, USDA Rural Development loans, or EPA/BIL water infrastructure dollars, protecting funding eligibility under review.
State Auditor's Office Documentation
Every solicitation posting, Q&A, addendum, and bid opening is timestamped and centralized for easy access and export to answer a county or municipal review.
Extended Bidder Network
A shared, multi-jurisdiction vendor network extends bid reach for rural counties and PSDs that may otherwise find only two or three qualified bidders, without added staff outreach time.
COOPERATIVE PURCHASING
Cooperative Purchasing Options
West Virginia 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 West Virginia'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 West Virginia'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 WEST VIRGINIA PROCUREMENT TEAMS ASK US MOST
Does PlanetBids satisfy W. VA. Code §5-22-1 competitive bidding requirements for public improvement contracts?
Yes, PlanetBids generates a timestamped record of all solicitation posting, Q&A and addendum communication, bid submissions, and awards, consistent with competitive bidding documentation expectations. Final compliance determinations rest with your legal counsel and the county commission or council.
We're a small Public Service District with one full-time employee. Is PlanetBids too complex for us?
Not at all. PlanetBids is quite often used by lean-staffed public agencies to automate routine manual tasks, improve efficiency, boost compliance, and get broader vendor reach. Setup and usage are designed to be manageable without a dedicated procurement staff.
How can PlanetBids help with our IJDC, USDA Rural Development, or EPA-funded water project audits?
PlanetBids creates a documented, defensible competitive process, with easily retrievable bid records that support state and federal grant and loan compliance reviews.
Do we still control the award decision?
Absolutely. PlanetBids manages requests, solicitation creation and release, bid acceptance and scoring, and compliance documentation. The county commission, city council, or board retains all award and decision-making authority.
Does PlanetBids satisfy §8-12-10 municipal purchasing requirements?
PlanetBids is easily customizable to structure your solicitation and documentation workflow to support §8-12-10 municipal purchasing authority. Your city attorney or recorder should confirm that the specific configuration matches your municipality's policy.
What happens with our current paper or newspaper notice bidding process.
Legal advertising requirements under state law are unaffected. PlanetBids adds a documented electronic solicitation and bid management layer alongside any required published notice. In most cases, the digital solicitation posting in your PlanetBids vendor portal satisfies public notice requirements, but we recommend confirming specific advertising obligations with your counsel.
Can our county board of education use PlanetBids for facilities and bond projects?
Yes, PlanetBids is specifically designed to handle the large line item requirements of capital and bond projects, as well as purchase requests for goods and services specific to schools. The platform centralizes bid records for construction, transportation, and capital bond solicitations the same way it does for county and municipal purchasing.
How long does implementation take?
Most agencies can be up and running in PlanetBids within a few weeks, which includes implementation and training, integration with ERP or financial platforms, vendor migration, and any required customization. In some cases, agencies with tight deadlines for new solicitations can be live in just a few days.
PlanetBids does charge a one-time setup fee that covers all implementation, training, customization, and integration necessary.
How much does PlanetBids cost?
PlanetBids is a SaaS subscription, with no per-bid, vendor, or transaction fees. Pricing is tiered based on desired features and functionality, number of full users required, and number of solicitations released annually. Because of the custom nature of our pricing, we recommend speaking to our sales team for a quote tailored to your agency.
READY TO MODERNIZE PROCUREMENT FOR YOUR WEST VIRGINIA 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
Works within your existing purchasing authority and requirements, with no rewrite required
US-based in-house support with extensive procurement expertise
Pricing is tiered based on features, with options for any size and budget
99% client retention means our agencies love us