Project bidding

A notice in. A decision out: decline, watch, or register and bid on the issuing portal. Most pages that say "ERP bid" are a city replacing Munis, not a plant replacing JobBOSS. This page maps the websites. It does not authorize a proposal that the communication instructions would forbid, and it does not mint a signal.

This is Naologic as bidder on software or implementation work. It is not P_00009 (our customer's takeoff from construction bid docs). Dodge, PlanHub, and BuildingConnected are their rooms, not ours.

Two jobs: find vs bid

Almost every "bid website" is one or the other. Mixing them wastes a week in a login that cannot accept a proposal.

Job	What it is	What we get
Find	Search, alerts, aggregators, historical awards	Notice ID, buyer, due date, NAICS, a link to the real portal
Bid	The issuing system named in the notice	Vendor registration, Q&A, upload, electronic signature
Write	Proposal software (Loopio, Responsive)	Formatted answers. Not a source of projects.
Lead-gen	Capterra, SelectHub, Software Advice	Bought introductions. Not a bid.

Default loop: Find the notice. Read who is buying and what they already named. If it is our work, register on the portal the notice names. Submit there. Do not upload a PDF to BidNet and call it done. BidNet is usually the alarm clock, not the mailbox.

Tools

Same default stack as Research. Add the procurement hosts. Most portals are login-gated after the public synopsis. Stop at the gate. Do not scrape behind a vendor account.

Tool	Agent surface	Use for
Cloudflare Browser Run	/markdown, /json, /links	Render SAM, state boards, PlanetBids/Bonfire public pages
Firecrawl	/v2/search includeDomains, /v2/scrape	Resolve the notice URL. Extract synopsis fields.
Exa	/search, /contents	"ERP RFP" plus a city or a depot name when the board search is thin
SAM.gov API	GET https://api.sam.gov/opportunities/v2/search	Federal notices if we have an API key. Else the public search UI.
ZoomInfo	After a buyer name exists	People. Not the solicitation.

POST https://api.firecrawl.dev/v2/search
POST https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/<accountId>/browser-rendering/{markdown|json}
GET  https://api.sam.gov/opportunities/v2/search

Default search: do not query the single token ERP. On BidNet and SAM that token means Tyler, Munis, Workday, Oracle financials. Search the work: shop floor, MRP, job cost, production scheduling, depot maintenance, manufacturing execution.

Context

ERP signal research already says the 50–500 plant is not an RFP hunter. The owner does not post a solicitation on DemandStar. They call two people they trust. A public ERP bid is usually:

• a city, county, school, utility, or hospital buying finance / HR / permitting / CIS (wrong product), or
• a federal or state factory (depot, shipyard, lab, prison industry, university shop) that must advertise (rare, sometimes ours), or
• a cooperative (Sourcewell, NASPO, GSA) opening a category once every few years (high effort, then POs piggyback), or
• a large OEM posting on Ariba / Coupa (private, not a government board).

500–5000 procurement language ("program manager," "Gartner," "bidders conference") is the room in the size-band contrast. Use this page to see that room clearly and walk past it, except when the statement of work is manufacturing operations we actually sell.

Selling with love

Dimension	On this page
Love impact	Bid only if a recognizable better operating Friday is in the SOW.
Love client	If they already named another system as mandatory, we are not a surprise hero. Decline or ask.
Love product	Do not force Naologic into a Munis replacement.
Love process	One notice, one decision. Do not spray 40 "ERP" alerts with the same boilerplate.
Love self	Aggregator subscriptions are not a pipeline. Desperation bids every city ERP.

Hype = enthusiasm minus evidence. An award announcement is not our win. A due date is not manufactured urgency we invent; it is their clock. We still do not pressure.

1. Filter before we register

Read the synopsis. Then decide.

Observable	Reading	Move
Buyer is a city/county/K-12; SOW is GL, payroll, permitting, utility billing	Municipal ERP. Tyler / Munis / Workday class.	Decline. Wrong product.
Mandatory brand: "SAP S/4," "Oracle Cloud," "Tyler Munis," "Microsoft Dynamics as specified"	They finished selection. This is implementation or a formality.	Decline unless we are that partner, which we are not.
NAICS 541511 / 513210 plus "financial ERP," "HRIS"	Software, but not the plant.	Decline.
Depot, arsenal, shipyard, UNICOR, NASA manufacturing, DOE lab, public university shop; SOW is work orders, inventory, routing, job cost	Public buyer, manufacturing-shaped work.	Read the full packet. Maybe bid.
Cooperative solicitation for "enterprise software" or "ERP" with no shop-floor physics	Master contract for agencies. Broad.	Bid only if the category is actually our product and we want government POs.
Private Ariba post: "plant system," "MRP," "MES for suppliers"	Corporate RFQ.	Register on that buyer's network and respond.
Consultant RFP (Panorama, Ultra, Third Stage, TEC)	Invite-only bake-off.	Get on their vendor list. Not a scrape.
50–500 private manufacturer	Almost never on these sites.	Do not wait here. Use ERP signal research.

An open RFP that already has a preferred vendor and a 200-page spec is bidder six. Same counter-signal as a job post for "NetSuite admin / cutover."

2. Where we find notices

A. Official public search (free)

Board	URL	What it lists	Notes
SAM.gov Contract Opportunities	sam.gov/opportunities	All federal solicitations that used to live on FBO.gov (retired)	Start here for US federal. UEI required before you can bid, not before you can read.
USAspending	usaspending.gov	Historical awards, not open bids	Who already won "ERP." Capture intel, not a proposal.
GSA eLibrary / eBuy	gsaelibrary.gsa.gov, ebuy.gsa.gov	MAS catalog; task-order RFQs to schedule holders	eBuy is find and bid, but only after a GSA schedule.
California eProcure	caleprocure.ca.gov	State departments	Bid in the Cal eProcure / Fi$Cal vendor module the notice names.
Illinois BidBuy	bidbuy.illinois.gov	State of Illinois	Submit in BidBuy, not by email, unless the notice says otherwise.
Texas SmartBuy / ESBD	txsmartbuy.gov	State term contracts + ESBD notices	ESBD is the find; bid per the agency instructions.
NYS Contract Reporter	nyscr.ny.gov	New York State and some locals	Paid subscription for full ads. Bid on the agency portal named in the ad.
MyFloridaMarketPlace	vendor.myfloridamarketplace.com	Florida state	Vendor portal is the bid mailbox.
CanadaBuys	canadabuys.canada.ca	Federal Canada (replaced buyandsell.gc.ca)	Bid in SAP Ariba as instructed.
MERX	merx.com	Canadian public + some private	Find + often the submission path for that buyer.
Find a Tender / Contracts Finder	find-tender.service.gov.uk, contractsfinder.service.gov.uk	UK above / below threshold	ICP is US plants. Use only if we open that geography.
TED	ted.europa.eu	EU Official Journal tenders	Same: not the default motion.
UNGM	ungm.org	UN agencies	Registration first; then the agency system.

Firecrawl pattern for a state board:

POST /v2/search
{
  "query": "site:sam.gov (MRP OR \"shop floor\" OR \"manufacturing execution\" OR \"depot maintenance\")",
  "limit": 10
}

Refresh: daily on SAM if we are in a government motion; weekly otherwise. State boards: when we have decided that state is worth a vendor number.

B. Aggregators (pay to watch many locals)

These find. They email a synopsis. The bid is almost always on PlanetBids, Bonfire, OpenGov, IonWave, or the city's own site.

Aggregator	URL	Covers	Bid there?
BidNet Direct	bidnetdirect.com	US local/state, some education. Dominant "government RFP" inbox.	No. Click through.
DemandStar	network.demandstar.com	Locals, heavy in some states (Florida and others)	No. App login is for notices; submit on the issuer.
Public Purchase	publicpurchase.com	Smaller agencies	Sometimes yes — the agency chose it as the mailbox. Read the notice.
Periscope S2G (ex BidSync)	periscopeholdings.com/s2g	Bid matching + some eProcurement	Only if that agency's event is hosted there.
Deltek GovWin IQ	iq.govwin.com	Paid federal/state capture intel	No. Capture tool.
HigherGov	highergov.com	Paid federal awards + opportunities	No. Intel.

Do not buy random SEO "bid alert" farms that scrape SAM and resell it. SAM is free. BidNet/DemandStar earn their fee by covering cities that never touch SAM.

C. Issuing platforms (public list, private submit)

Search these to find the city's event. Bid after vendor registration on that agency's tenant, not on the vendor's marketing site.

Platform	Parent / site	How agencies use it	How we bid
PlanetBids	planetbids.com (each city is a portal)	Very common for CA and western cities	Register on that agency's PlanetBids portal. Homepage is not a mailbox.
Bonfire	Now Euna procurement (eunasolutions.com)	Bid packages, Q&A, uploads	Vendor account on that Bonfire event URL.
OpenGov Procurement	opengov.com/products/procurement	Sourcing + public notice	Register for that entity's OpenGov bidding portal.
IonWave	Redirects into Euna's procurement line	Education and locals	Same: the district's IonWave URL.
CivicPlus Procurement	civicplus.com	Some city websites	Follow the city's "bids" nav.

Firecrawl: search CITYNAME ERP RFP PlanetBids or site:planetbids.com manufacturing. Browser Run the public project page. Stop at "login to download."

D. Cooperatives (find the rare category RFP)

Not a daily board. They post a category solicitation. Win a master contract. Then agencies issue POs without a new full RFP.

Cooperative	Find open solicitations	Bid
Sourcewell	sourcewell-mn.gov/solicitations, supplier page sourcewell-mn.gov/sourcewell-for-vendors	Sourcewell procurement portal named on the solicitation. Register for bid alerts first.
NASPO ValuePoint	naspovaluepoint.org/solicitations, how-to naspovaluepoint.org/how-to-become-a-supplier	Proposal to the Lead State's RFP (not a NASPO web form). Then participating addenda per state.
GSA MAS	gsa.gov MAS	eOffer / eMod to get on schedule. Then eBuy task orders. Months, not a week.
Omnia Partners	omniapartners.com	Respond when they (or a lead agency) solicit a portfolio.
TIPS / BuyBoard / PEPPM / E&I	tips-usa.com, buyboard.com, peppm.org, eandi.org	Education / public cooperative RFPs. Same rule: bid the posted solicitation, then members piggyback.

As of the last check, Sourcewell's open list was turf, equipment, fuel, comms — not manufacturing ERP. Watch the page. Do not invent a software category that is not open.

E. Private RFQ networks (find + bid on the same login)

Network	URL	What it is
SAP Business Network Discovery (Ariba Discovery)	discovery.ariba.com (supplier login)	Buyers post needs; suppliers respond. Closest thing to "bid on private ERP" on a website.
Coupa Supplier Portal	buyer-specific host	Only if that OEM runs Coupa sourcing.
Jaggaer / other source-to-pay	buyer-specific	Same: invitation or open RFQ on their tenant.

Thomasnet and MFG.com are parts RFQs. Not ERP projects.

F. Consultant bake-offs (find people, not a board)

No public scraper replaces this. ERP selection firms send a package to vendors they already know.

Firm	Site	Move
Panorama Consulting	panorama-consulting.com	Ask to be on manufacturing vendor lists.
Ultra Consultants	ultraconsultants.com	Same. Mid-market manufacturing is their room.
Third Stage Consulting	thirdstage-consulting.com	Same.
TEC / Technology Evaluation Centers	technologyevaluation.com	Structured RFP tool; vendors get scored if included.
ERP Advisors Group / similar boutiques	varies	Relationship, not a crawl.

Comparison research is for G2-class directories. It does not submit a bid.

3. Where we bid (submit)

Once the notice is real and the room is ours:

1. Get the identifier the portal requires
   • Federal: SAM.gov entity registration + UEI (sam.gov/entity-registration). CAGE if DoD. NAICS that match the notice.
   • State/local: that state's vendor number (often a second registration even if we have a UEI).
   • Cooperative: their supplier portal + the event ID.
   • Ariba: SAP Business Network supplier account, then the Discovery or RFP ID.
2. Register on the issuing tenant, not the aggregator.
3. Download the packet (SOW, specs, attachments, Q&A deadline). Hypothesis stays inferred until we read it. Do not proposal-ize from the subject line.
4. Submit questions in their Q&A window. Public Q&A is a scene: what they already believe, what they fear. Accusation-audit internally. Do not perform Voss on the portal.
5. Upload where they said. If they named Bonfire, emailing the purchasing agent is usually non-responsive.
6. Log in Salesforce: notice ID, portal URL, due date, room (municipal vs manufacturing), decision (bid / decline / watch). Not an opportunity until a person says the SOW is ours.

GSA eBuy is the mailbox for task orders after MAS. Do not treat eBuy as the first federal step.

Proposal writers (Loopio, Responsive formerly RFPIO): use after we have a packet. They do not find work.

4. Agent / operator runbook

Cap the hunt. A weekly pass, not a vacuum.

1. Search SAM (and BidNet if we subscribe) with shop-floor language, not ERP alone. Firecrawl includeDomains on sam.gov, bidnetdirect.com if the public side is enough.
2. Extract: buyer, due date, NAICS, portal URL, mandatory brands, SOW one-liner.
3. Run the filter table in §1. Most rows end decline.
4. If maybe-ours: a person reads the packet. Dinner test: would we say this work is a plant Friday? If not, stop.
5. If bid: register on the issuing portal. Calendar Q&A and due date. Write from the six-step order (Reality in their SOW → problem as hypothesis → mechanism classified → proof comparable → choice is their award process). No superlatives. No "only platform."
6. If decline: log why. Do not recycle the boilerplate onto the next city.

Do not set signal_state from a solicitation. A public RFP is a want for that entity. It is not SG_016 and not proof of a problem on a private plant.

5. What 50–500 actually does

They do not bid ERP on these websites. They:

• ask the CPA, the MSP, or a peer owner,
• talk to two vendors,
• sometimes run a PE operating-partner bake-off on email,
• sometimes inherit a corporate standard from a customer (EDI, ASN) that is not an RFP.

If the job is "find plants who might need a system," this page is a side door. The front door is ERP signal research, capital, and expos.

Use bid boards when we have chosen a public-sector or cooperative motion, or when a federal factory SOW is genuinely our physics.

What this is not

• A 500–5000 municipal ERP hunter as the default GTM.
• Authority to mint SG_ rows or to say on a call that a plant "has an RFP out" because BidNet had a hit on a similar name.
• License to scrape behind vendor logins, download bidder lists, or harvest competitor proposals.
• P_00009 / construction takeoff sites.
• Capterra-style lead gen dressed up as a tender.
• Permission to bid a spec we cannot meet, or to hide a roadmap item as native.

Related knowledge

• ERP signal research — 50–500 need / want / window; RFP hunter is the 500–5000 contrast
• Research — agentic URL loop
• Comparison research — G2-class directories, not bid portals
• Capital signal research — PE bake-offs live here more than on BidNet
• Communication instructions
• Sales stack

Change log

• 2026-08-31 — Find vs bid; SAM, state boards, aggregators, PlanetBids/Bonfire/OpenGov tenants, cooperatives, Ariba Discovery, consultant lists; filter so municipal ERP is not our hunt.