Hawaii government bids for small agencies

Where Hawaii, its cities and counties post their bids, how to register, and the open ones that suit a small web, software, video or marketing agency right now.

Open right now

No Hawaii bids on our vetted list at the moment. New ones turn up most weeks; the free Monday email brings the best five.

Where Hawaii posts its bids

State bids: Hawaii Awards and Notices Data System (HANDS). State procurement notices, including those issued on HIePRO, are placed on HANDS automatically, and the counties post many of their formal solicitations there too. Search under 'Bidding Opportunities' by keyword.
Register as a vendor: HIePRO (Hawaii eProcurement System). Vendors build a profile with NAICS commodity codes and get automatic emails for solicitations and amendments in those codes. Quotes are submitted electronically in HIePRO.
Technology buying: Office of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) For Vendors. The state IT office takes vendor inquiries through an online form and points vendors to the State Procurement Office for bidding information. The form asks whether you are on NASPO price lists, GSA IT Schedule 70 or HIePRO.
Free bid coaching: Hawai`i APEX Accelerator: the state's APEX Accelerator helps small businesses with registrations and proposals at no cost.

Big city, county and agency buyers

Each of these runs its own bid page, and most want you registered in their system too.

Buyer	Bid page	Runs on
City and County of Honolulu	Open bids	HANDS for formal solicitations; Vendor Self Service (VSS) for small purchases
Hawaii State Department of Education	Open bids	HANDS and HIePRO
Maui County	Open bids	own site
Hawaii County	Open bids	own site
Kauai County	Open bids	own site

Good to know

Honolulu posts small purchases (goods and services under $100,000, construction under $250,000) on its Vendor Self Service site, and you need a VSS account to be awarded any City contract. source
Hawaii's Department of Education requires formal competition and public advertising for purchases of $25,000 or more, and does not keep a bidders list. source
HIePRO uses NAICS codes (not NIGP) to match vendors to solicitations, so vendors must add NAICS codes to their profile to get bid emails. source

Before you bid

Registering takes time, so do it before you find the perfect bid: how to get registered, and how to write a capability statement (with a free template).