Minnesota government bids for small agencies

Where Minnesota, 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 Minnesota bids on our vetted list at the moment. New ones turn up most weeks; the free Monday email brings the best five.

Where Minnesota posts its bids

State bids: Supplier Portal (Office of State Procurement). The Office of State Procurement posts current state solicitations in the Supplier Portal, linked from its Solicitations and Contract Opportunities page. The OSP vendor pages also list expiring contracts and TG/ED/VO opportunities.
Register as a vendor: Overview for Vendors (Supplier Portal registration). OSP's overview page explains how to register, set up a Supplier Portal account and respond to state solicitations.
Small business certification: Equity in Procurement (TG/ED/VO). The state's program for targeted group (TG), economically disadvantaged (ED) and veteran-owned (VO) small businesses. OSP keeps a TG/ED/VO directory and posts TG/ED/VO opportunities and targeted group preferences.

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
Hennepin County	Open bids	Hennepin County Supplier Portal (PeopleSoft)
City of Saint Paul	Open bids	Infor CloudSuite supplier portal (stpaulbids.com)
Metropolitan Council (incl. Metro Transit)	Open bids	own site
Dakota County	Open bids	QuestCDN
City of Rochester	Open bids	OneOffice (RTVision)

Good to know

Hennepin County posts all public goods, general services and professional services opportunities on its Supplier Portal. source
Dakota County posts its requests for bids on its QuestCDN site. source
Minnesota's Office of State Procurement says it never sends unsolicited calls, texts or emails asking vendors to update banking information. 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).