If you have a service or product for sale and would like to become a City vendor, you must be selected through a competitive purchasing process or an informal purchasing process.

Competitive Purchasing

The City issues two types of competitive purchasing documents (also called solicitation documents):

• An invitation to bid
• A request for proposal

Both competitive purchasing documents require a business to respond to the solicitation to be considered by the City for the requested goods or services.

Find Bidding Opportunities

A list of opportunities is posted on the OregonBuys. On OregonBuys, you will find:

• Specific solicitation documents, including detailed requirements for responding. All pertinent information is online and documents are not mailed out.
• Addenda. On occasion, a solicitation document will have additions or deletions after issuance, called addenda. All addenda will be posted on OregonBuys. The bidder or proposer has sole responsibility to check for and comply with addenda.

Registration

In order for you to view and access all of the bidding opportunities on OregonBuys, you must register and set up an account. From the home page, click on the supplier registration link to begin. There is no cost to register. To complete the registration process, you must:

• Create a user name and password
• Enter your company information
• Indicate the types of goods or services your company provides

The registration process should take less than ten minutes.

Successful Bid or Proposal

Following evaluation of responses to a bid or proposal, one vendor or multiple vendors will be selected and begin the negotiation process to enter into a contract with the City. A contract resulting from an invitation to bid is awarded to the bidder with the lowest price. A contract resulting from a request for proposal is awarded based on scores given by an evaluation committee for a list of criteria, including but not limited to price, qualifications, experience, and references. If you respond to a solicitation document and are within the competitive range, you will receive written notification from the City of an intent to award a contract with the selected vendor’s name.

Much of the information included in bids and proposals are public records. You can make a public records request to view purchasing records.

Non-Discrimination

If you have a contract or agreement with the City, you will be expected to uphold laws and policies forbidding discrimination. This training video is provided as resource for understanding expectations of non-discrimination. Further information about the City’s non-discrimination policy and plan is also available.

Informal Purchasing

Not all City purchases require a formal bid or proposal process. Some vendors or products are selected by the City through other methods. For all of the purchasing rules and requirements, including specific details about informal purchasing, please review the Public Purchasing Rules.