How to Do Business with Pinellas County
Getting Started
Pinellas County Government uses OpenGov Procurement to notify contractors/vendors of bids, quotations and proposal opportunities.
To receive notifications, contractors/vendors must register with OpenGov Procurement and subscribe to Pinellas County’s page.
How to Find Bid Opportunities
When registering as a vendor in OpenGov, it is important to choose the appropriate commodity codes to reflect the offerings of your organization. Once you have entered these and subscribed to Pinellas County, you will receive notifications of relevant solicitation opportunities based on the commodities you selected.
Even though you may have registered with us in the past, you must re-register in the OpenGov Procurement system or you will no longer receive notifications of bidding opportunities.
Benefits to Your Business
OpenGov Procurement provides the County and its suppliers with a single online system for electronic procurement. You will no longer mail or deliver hard-copy documents to the County. The entire process is contained within the OpenGov system, making the procurement and purchasing processes more efficient.
Purchasing Information
Small Purchases
Pinellas County department directors and designated staff are able to make smaller purchases necessary for day-to-day operations. These individual purchases do not exceed $5,000.00. Typically, these purchases are made with a County issued, Visa branded “credit” card.
An Invitation to Quote (ITQ) is a solicitation for a commodity or service where multiple competitive quotations are obtained either in writing or orally. ITQ’s are less formal than bids or proposals and do not exceed $100,000. For quotes, we also use OpenGov to assist the County with sourcing, but the ITQ’s are somewhat informal and do not always get advertised. We select an adequate number of companies from various sources and invite them to quote based on the County’s needs.
Formal Purchases
The County’s Invitations to Bid (ITB) and Request for Proposals (RFP) are formal purchasing processes. The ITB’s are advertised to the public via OpenGov for those commodities or projects expected to exceed $100,000.00. The RFP’s are also advertised via OpenGov regardless of expected cost. Both of these procurement methods are considered formal and sealed bid procedures applied. Please read the entire solicitation document and follow the instructions contained therein. Address any questions you have prior to the question closing date to the person listed in the “Submit Questions To” block of the document. Any bid or proposal received after the deadline will not be considered.
Vendor Insurance
Pinellas County has revised the insurance requirements for most of our contracts. Insurance requirements can be found in Section C of the solicitation documents. It is recommended that you give a copy of the entire contents of Section C to your insurance broker prior to providing your total price. Ensure your total price takes into consideration the cost for the insurance we require.
Before we submit a recommendation to award a contract, the County must receive evidence of proper insurance coverage as required in the solicitation document. Upon notification that you are the apparent successful vendor, you will have 10 business days to provide evidence of proper insurance coverage. Please note that the company name on the Bid/Quote/RFP submission must match the company name on the insurance certificate.
Pinellas County’s Risk Management Division uses CTrax c/o JDi Data as our insurance verification and monitoring service. After you’ve been notified that you are the apparent successful vendor, we will send you an email with instructions on how to provide proof of insurance to CTrax.
For more information regarding the insurance requirements for a particular solicitation, please contact our Risk Management Division at (727) 464-3664 or the Purchasing Division at (727) 464-3311.
Alternative Payment Options
Pinellas County offers payment via ePayables. This method can improve cash flow and reduce the cost and inefficiency of paperwork.
The ePayables Electronic Payment Solution replaces check payments with a Visa credit card account. Payments through ePayables will be processed with a credit card, and merchant services fees will apply.
To enroll, please contact Natalie Ryburn, Purchasing Card Program Administrator, (727) 463-3011.
iSupplier Portal
If you do business with Pinellas County, you will want to sign up for iSupplier. The app allows current vendors of Pinellas County Government to view invoices, payments and purchase orders. The self-service portal allows you to manage current, future and historical business transactions processed by Pinellas County.
For more information, contact the Clerk of Circuit Court Finance Supplier Management at (727) 464-8389.
Lobbying
Pinellas County has revised its code regarding lobbying. Prior to submitting a competitive solicitation, review the county ordinance on lobbying. The Purchasing Division, with the authorization of the Board of County Commissioners, is responsible for the procurement of all materials and most services used by the County.
Public Records
Pinellas County is subject to the Florida Public Records Law. All documents, materials and data submitted as a response to any solicitation are subject to the disclosure, exemption and confidentiality provisions relating to public records in Florida Statutes.
Email addresses are public records under Florida law and are not exempt from public records requirements. If you do not want your email address to be publicized, then do not send email to Pinellas County. Instead, contact our office by telephone or in writing.
Notes
Due to the scope of projects requiring mandatory prebid conferences, bidders must attend the conference to have their bids considered responsive.
Pinellas County Purchasing makes every effort to keep information current on this website, but it remains the sole responsibility of the vendor to ensure you are acting on up-to-date information when responding to Pinellas County solicitations, including any addenda issued. Failure to do so may result in either the bid being considered non-responsive or in lowering the rating of a firm’s proposal. Tabulations will be posted after 30 days of bid opening.