Ohio government bids for small agencies

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

Where Ohio posts its bids

State bids: OhioBuys. The State of Ohio's online purchasing system, run by the Department of Administrative Services and used by many state agencies. Public solicitations can be browsed after a browser check, without logging in.
Register as a vendor: OhioBuys supplier account (OH|ID). You log in or create a supplier account with an OH|ID, the state's single sign-on, to respond to solicitations. Payments, purchase orders and payee profiles are handled separately in OhioPays.
Free bid coaching: Ohio 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 of Cleveland	Open bids	OpenGov Procurement
City of Cincinnati	Open bids	Vendor Self Service (CGI Advantage) for ITBs; Bonfire for RFPs/RFQs
Hamilton County	Open bids	own website
City of Toledo	Open bids	PlanetBids
City of Akron	Open bids	Bonfire
Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA)	Open bids	OpenGov Procurement

Good to know

OhioBuys is currently used by many state agencies and is planned to expand to more agencies, local governments and higher education institutions. source
Legitimate OhioBuys notifications come from no-reply-ohio@ivalua.com and DAS email ends in DAS.Ohio.gov; DAS warns of fake emails asking suppliers for payments. source
The City of Cincinnati runs three vendor portals at no cost: Vendor Self Service for registration and bids, Bonfire for RFPs, RFQs and RFIs, and a view-only Business Opportunities site. 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).