The Over $25,000 Public Bid Market

Although public bids are being used less frequently, the over-$25,000 public bid market is still large and important. Annual expenditures in this market average $30-35 billion. The market will never dry up because the public bid is both the core of public procurement policy and is also the cornerstone of public agencies� procurement regulations.

The public bid procedure is used when:

  • Buyers have not adopted GSA schedules as a procurement mechanism and/or cannot find an alternative procurement mechanism like an agency-specific multiple award schedule contract.
  • The procurement is large and the visibility to the general public is high.
  • The procurement involves an unusually complex requirement reflected in a government-written specification or statement of work.
  • A public bid was used in the preceding procurement.
  • A GSA schedule holder for the product or service cannot be found.

Almost all public bids have been pre-sold prior to announcement (except for commodities and branded/packaged commercial products). Official buyers will use a public bid only when absolutely necessary because of the increased paperwork involved with public bids and the longer award process associated therewith (generally 6 months or greater). As a result of the foregoing concerns, public buys are increasingly being converted to GSA schedule buys.

Sales in the public bid market tend to favor the experienced players. Advanced, pre-RFP sales are expensive, proposal writing is expensive, and often only the connected players have enough money and contacts to get in the door early.


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