Your first bid, step by step

Every bid follows roughly the same path. The dates matter more than anything else, because missing one usually ends your chance. Here's the order, from the moment you find a bid to the moment you hear back.

Before you decide to bid

1. Read all of it. Download the whole solicitation and every addendum, and read them start to finish before deciding. Look for anything you can't do or can't provide.
2. Write down every date. The questions deadline, any pre-bid meeting or site visit, and the due date and exact time. Put them in your calendar with reminders.
3. Check what you'll need. Required forms, signatures, license, insurance amounts, references and any bid bond. If you can't meet a requirement, it's usually better to pass.

While you prepare

1. Go to the pre-bid meeting or site visit. If it's marked mandatory, treat it as required: check the solicitation's wording, because missing it can mean you can't bid. Even when it's optional, seeing the site helps you price it right.
2. Ask questions the right way. Send them in writing to the contact named in the solicitation, before the questions deadline. Many agencies put a "cone of silence" on a bid while it's open: you may only talk to that named contact, and contacting anyone else, such as staff or council members, can get your bid disqualified.
3. Watch for addenda. Answers and changes come out as addenda. Keep checking until the due date, and acknowledge each one the way the solicitation asks.
4. Gather the forms. Fill in and sign every required form. Some need a notary.
5. Price it. Work out your real cost for the whole contract, including labor, supplies, equipment, insurance and overhead, then your profit. On federal service work, your labor cost must meet the wage determination: the Labor Department's list of minimum pay and benefits for each job on that contract.
6. Check it against the requirements. Go line by line through what the solicitation asks for and make sure your bid answers each one.

Submitting

1. Submit it exactly the way they ask: online portal, email or sealed envelope, with the labels and number of copies they list.
2. Submit early. Portals slow down near deadlines and uploads fail. Federal rules generally don't consider late bids, and local agencies usually refuse them too.
3. Keep a copy of everything you sent and any confirmation you get back.

After you submit

• Bid opening. For sealed bids, the agency often opens and reads out the prices publicly. You can usually attend or watch.
• Evaluation. Staff or a committee check each bid for completeness and score proposals against the criteria in the solicitation.
• Notice of intended award. Many agencies, including Florida state agencies, post who they plan to award the contract to.
• Protest window. If you believe the process was unfair, there's a short window to protest. For Florida state agencies it's 72 hours to file a notice of protest, then 10 days for a formal written protest. Local agencies set their own rules, which are in the solicitation.
• Award and contract. The winner signs the contract, provides insurance certificates and gets started.

If you don't win, ask for the results or the bid tabulation (the list of every bidder and their price). Seeing the winning price is one of the best ways to price your next bid well.