Public procurement is the rules, regulations, and practices that determine how public entities purchase products and services. Each year, state and local public entities collectively spend $2 trillion purchasing products and services from businesses like yours. 

 

Here’s what you need to know about how public entities spend that money:

 

The way governments spend public dollars is highly regulated.

Above a certain dollar threshold, governments must purchase from contracts created through a formal solicitation process (or seek a formal exemption for this process). These regulations are intended to make sure government business is open, competitive, and fair; unfortunately, in practice, regulations can favor those businesses that have the resources to navigate procurement complexities and respond to many solicitations.

 

Sooner or later, you’re likely going to need to win formally solicited contracts. 

While you may be able to sell under the formal solicitation threshold, as a reseller or distributor under another supplier’s contract, or by seeking a sole source exemption, many businesses increase sale volume by winning formally solicited contracts. This involves responding to a formal solicitation process, typically a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation to Bid (ITB), or other similar calls for submissions (collectively, “RFx”). Note that proposals are evaluated on a defined set of criteria, while bids are generally awarded with price as the determining factor.

 

The formal solicitation process is expensive, but shareable contracts lower your costs. 

Winning government business by responding to RFxs is time-consuming and expensive. Responding to a solicitation can cost a business thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars and can take months of work. Using a shareable contract allows you to win a contract you can use to sell to many government entities at once, instead of applying to do business with each entity via an RFx. 

 

Pavilion is built to help businesses like yours leverage shareable contracts to sell to more public entities, faster. Learn more about selling using sharable contracts or get started today.