Federal
The federal government is the largest buyer in the world and the slowest to trust a new vendor. The path in runs through registrations that must be exactly right, buying lanes designed for small purchases, and relationships built before a solicitation ever posts.
- Registrations. SAM.gov with UEI and CAGE, your SBA Small Business Search profile, NAICS and size standards, and the annual renewal that lapses more small firms than any competitor.
- Buying lanes. Micro-purchases up to $15,000 need no competition; simplified acquisitions up to $350,000 are reserved for small business. Both are where first federal awards happen.
- Set-asides. 8(a), WOSB and EDWOSB, SDVOSB, and HUBZone, and how contracting officers actually use them.
- Early engagement. Sources sought notices, RFIs, industry days, and the small business specialists inside each agency.
- Vehicles later. GSA Multiple Award Schedule and agency IDIQs once you have past performance to price.
Your state
Every state buys through its own procurement portal under its own procurement code: Cal eProcure in California, the Electronic State Business Daily in Texas, MyFloridaMarketPlace in Florida, the New York State Contract Reporter, eVA in Virginia, BidBuy in Illinois, and their counterparts in the other states. The names differ; the pattern does not, and a single statewide contract can usually be used by cities, counties, school districts, and nonprofits through cooperative purchasing.
- Portal registration. Free supplier registration in your state, commodity codes, and solicitation alerts set correctly the first time.
- Small purchases. Your state's own thresholds for quotes and informal competition, and how to become one of the vendors agencies call.
- Cooperative contracts. Statewide awards and national cooperatives such as NASPO ValuePoint, Sourcewell, and OMNIA Partners, and why one award is really a license to sell to hundreds of buyers.
- State programs. MWBE, HUB, SWaM, DBE, and SBE certifications, which ones your state runs, and the preferences and goals they unlock.
Local
Cities, counties, school districts, transit agencies, and utilities buy constantly and quickly, and most of them will meet a local vendor. Each runs its own vendor registration and bid board, many of them through platforms such as BidNet Direct, Bonfire, OpenGov, DemandStar, and PlanetBids, and each has small-purchase authority that never reaches a public solicitation.
- Vendor registration. One registration per entity, with the insurance certificates and W-9 that stall new vendors.
- Bid boards and forecasts. Where each buyer in your area posts, how often, and how to read a local solicitation in an afternoon.
- Meeting the buyer. Vendor fairs, purchasing office hours, and the department contacts who write the specifications.
- First awards. Quotes under the small-purchase limit, cooperative piggybacks, and the district or utility that already buys what you sell.
Which level should you start with?
The readiness review answers that in writing within five business days.