Finding leads and projects to bid on is critical in the construction world. The type of project determines the places to do the research. The main source for government projects is government websites listed at the different levels: Federal, State, County and City.
For private sector projects, you can use a bid lead service, check local newspapers, ask around and within your network, etc. Whenever a lead bid service is considered, it is always a good idea to check if there is a free trial before making any kind of long-term commitment.
Before we break down the different sources for leads and bid opportunities, here is a quick and free tip:
TIP
Set a Google Alert for keywords such as your state, county or city followed by terms like “construction project”, “bridge renovation”, “dredging project”, etc… This system will send you automatically an email every time Google has new content about these keywords.
Here is how to set up a Google Alert:
- Go to: https://www.google.com/alerts Sign in if you have a Gmail account.
- Enter the search terms you want the Google Alert to track, separated by commas.
- Choose the Type of results you want Google Alerts to find and share with you and complete the process.
Federal Projects & Contracts
The main website at the federal level is fbo.gov and offers information on contracting opportunities with the US Federal Government.
FBO.gov
The Federal Business Opportunities website -also known as FedBizOpps.gov- has thousands of opportunities of all kinds, including general construction and marine construction projects. The homepage features a search box with very useful filters such as State, type of opportunity and keywords. For example, a search based on “Florida”, “Combined Synopsis/Presolicitation” and “bridge” returns 3 results: one from the National Park Service, one from the US Air Force and one from the Department of the Army. Each opportunity page offers details about the project, sometimes packages and points of contacts.
State Projects & Contracts
Most States have a website portal that centralizes contract opportunities. Typically each site has a link to active statewide contracts that are open for bids. We have gathered a list of these websites for convenient access and encourage contractors to regularly visit the site for their respective State. Just click on the name to go the respective website.
Alabama Division of Purchasing
California Procurement Division
Connecticut Contracting Portal
Maryland Open Bids and Contract Awards
Mississippi Contract Bid Search
New Hampshire Bids & Proposals
New Jersey Bidding Opportunities
North Carolina Purchases & Contracts
North Dakota Bidding Opportunities
Rhode Island Solicitation Opportunities
South Carolina Bid Awards & Solicitation
South Dakota Advertisements for Bids
Vermont Purchasing & Contracting
Washington Contracting & Purchasing
West Virginia Purchasing Division
County, City and other Government Agencies
Visiting county and local city websites can be a great source of open project information and leads. A simple Internet search will take you to your local city official website. From there, do a search for “projects” within the city website to find a list of open construction projects. It is an also a good idea to do the same for schools, colleges and universities, port authorities and other entities.
Reprographic Firms, Engineers & Architects
It is also a good idea to search for and review company websites that are involved in producing blueprints such as design/engineering firms and architects as they sometimes post projects and packages.
Newspapers
Public notices are sometimes posted in newspapers but with everything going digital, it is.
Paid Bid Lead Services
Using a paid service obviously can be costly but it also means there is likely less competition for those projects being bid on because less contractors will have access to the project information.
CDCNews.com
The Construction Data website is a regional provider of public and private commercial construction leads. There is a free demo but the service is fairly expensive.
BidClerk.com
Registration is required to be able to search and see complete project information but pricing is allegedly less expensive.
TheBlueBook.com
This website features ways to search for companies, products and projects. There is a a quick way to request quotes for building materials. This is also a subscription-based service.
Datafax.net
This particular website is about reporting services for construction bids and construction information. The advertised “free account” is actually a way for the company to get the information, which is used to follow up with a phone call or email. Whether it is truly a free or paid account, the claim is that it gives you access to a tool for finding, organizing and sharing up-to-date and relevant construction information online.
CMDGroup.com
CMD stands for Construction Market Data. This website offers US and Canada project information for subscribers. Pricing is not disclosed on the website so a quote request must be sent, which also gives access to a free demo.
Onvia.com
This paid service claims to be a comprehensive solution to help vendors discover, qualify and manage government sales leads. Amongst other things, it offers daily Government bid & RFP notifications.
BidNet.com
Here is another website that allows subscribers to filter construction projects and location by State. The company is 30 years old and specializes on delivering targeted, comprehensive, government opportunities.
BidRFP.com
This subscription-based service is fairly inexpensive at $29.95/month for national coverage and $19.95 for regional coverage and offers a one-week risk-free trial.
Free Bid Lead Networks
There may be more but these are some of the free websites that offer some level of project information. This usually means that some information is publicly visible and registration allows contractors to subscribe.
BridgeConstruction.biz
This website is managed by the North America Procurement Council (NAPC) and publishes procurement solicitations (bid advertisements, requests for proposals (RFPs), requests for qualifications (RFQs), requests for information (RFIs), etc) mostly from government agencies but also from some private organizations.
One of the nice features of that website is ability to review bids by month and date, which make it an easy habit to check for the latest construction projects on a daily basis. A quick glance only takes 2 minutes per day and can be a great way to find projects to bid on.
AmericasBiz.net
The NAPC runs several domains which show State specific information but the main site AmericasBiz.net has a drop-down field to search by State so that one central website is the best place to find leads quickly for your particular State.
The projects listed can be State (DOT), City, University, Housing Authority, School,
Registration is not required to view bid advertisements but is required to view bid documents.
PuertoRicoBids.net
This website also published by the NAPC is dedicated to bid opportunities in Puerto Rico.
CaribbeanBids.com
This site does not list a lot of projects but it is worth checking nonetheless once in a while.
USContractorRegistration.com
This website is a third-party registration firm that charges a fee to complete a Full-Service System for Award Management (SAM) Registration.
Dredging News Online
This website covers dredging projects on a Worldwide basis. The section in the above link is very useful as all contracts and tenders are sorted by year and month. It is a good starting point for dredging projects that are in the Presolicitation or Solicitation phases.
Canadian Tenders
Merx.com
This Canadian website is available in both English and French. It gathers all bid opportunities for public and private projects, including the Construction category.
The website is structured around 4 main sections: Canadian Public Tenders, Agencies and Private Corporations, US Tenders and Private Construction.
World Ports & Waterways Source
WorldPortSource.com
This website is a great central place for ports and waterways on a Worldwide basis.
Waterways Work For America
This section of the US Chamber of Commerce website features a handy listing of deep-water ports, inland ports and primary inland waterways.