PlanetBids is the vendor portal that hundreds of California cities, counties, and districts use to post their contracts. To find bids on it, you register as a vendor on each agency’s individual PlanetBids portal, select the category codes that match your work, then search that agency’s Bid Opportunities list or wait for matching email alerts. The catch is that PlanetBids is decentralized, so a separate registration is needed for every agency you want to bid with.
Quick answer: Go to an agency’s PlanetBids portal, click New Vendor Registration, complete your profile with the right category codes, and search Bid Opportunities. Registration, searching, and downloads are free. Each agency is a separate portal, so you repeat this for every city or county you target.
What is PlanetBids and which California agencies use it?
PlanetBids is an e-procurement platform that local government agencies use to advertise bids and collect vendor responses. More than 1,879 U.S. government agencies run on it across all 50 states, and adoption is heaviest in California and the western states. For a California small business chasing local contracts, PlanetBids is one of the most important systems to know, alongside Cal eProcure for state work.
Agencies that post on PlanetBids in California include:
| Agency | Type | Example of what they buy |
|---|---|---|
| County of Los Angeles | County | IT, professional services, construction |
| City of San Diego | City | Public works, janitorial, supplies |
| City of Sacramento | City | Engineering, staffing, maintenance |
| City of Long Beach | City | Equipment, services, construction |
| Kern County | County | Public works, road and facility projects |
| Riverside County | County | Goods, services, capital projects |
| North County Transit District | Transit | Transportation and facilities |
Cities like Anaheim, Riverside, Corona, Ontario, Redlands, Palmdale, and Camarillo, plus districts such as Santa Monica College, also run PlanetBids portals. The list keeps growing, which is part of why tracking it by hand is hard.
How do you register as a vendor on PlanetBids?
Go to the agency’s PlanetBids vendor portal, select New Vendor Registration, and complete every required field, which are marked with a red asterisk. When you select Register at the bottom of the form, your profile submits and your account is active right away. You do not need to wait for the confirmation email to log in and start using the portal.
The steps look like this:
- Find the agency’s portal. Search “[agency name] planetbids” or open the purchasing page on the agency’s website and follow the vendor portal link.
- Start New Vendor Registration. Enter your company information, including legal name, address, and tax ID.
- Set your notification email. In the Company Info tab, under Main Contact, add your main email and an alternate email so bid alerts reach you.
- Select your category codes. Choose every category that describes your products and services. These drive which bid alerts you receive.
- Register. Submit the form. Your account is live immediately, and you can search and bid that same day.
Because each agency keeps its own vendor database, you repeat this for every city, county, or district you want to work with. Registration is always free, and there is no cap on how many portals you join.
How do you find and search for bids on PlanetBids?
Sign in to the agency’s portal, open Bid Opportunities, and either scroll the list or use the search fields at the top to filter by keyword, category, or status. Double-click any listing to open the full solicitation, read the scope, note the due date, and download the bid package. There is no charge to view or download documents.
Once your profile is set, PlanetBids also pushes information to you. Based on the categories you selected, it emails you when a matching bid posts, and it sends:
- Bid alerts for new solicitations that match your categories
- Addenda when an agency changes a bid after posting
- Question-and-answer releases during the bidding period
- Pre-bid meeting reminders
- Bid closing reminders before the deadline
- Intent-to-award and award notices
By default the system matches you on category codes, and agencies can add criteria like license type, prequalification status, or location. Still, plan to search by hand on each portal regularly. Alerts only fire on the exact categories you picked, and a single missing code can hide a contract you would have won.
How do you submit a bid on PlanetBids?
Submission depends on the agency and the specific bid. Some agencies accept electronic bids directly inside their PlanetBids portal, where you enter your line-item pricing and upload required documents before the deadline. Others still require a sealed paper bid delivered to a physical address by a set date and time. Always read the bid instructions, because the method and the exact closing time are firm.
A few rules apply across almost every public bid:
- The deadline is strict. A bid that arrives one minute late is normally rejected, no matter how strong it is.
- Follow the format exactly. Use the agency’s forms, fill every required field, and acknowledge every addendum.
- Watch the Q&A window. Questions are due well before the bid, and the answers can change your price or approach.
PlanetBids handles the access and the paperwork flow. Winning still comes down to picking the right bids and writing a strong, compliant response.
Why does registering on one PlanetBids portal not show you other agencies’ bids?
Because PlanetBids is decentralized. Each agency operates a separate portal with a separate vendor database and its own category system, so your San Diego registration does not surface a bid in Sacramento or Kern County. To cover the state, you would register on dozens of portals and check each one on its own schedule.
The codes make it harder. PlanetBids lets each agency choose NAICS codes, NIGP commodity codes, or a homegrown list, and every agency controls its own categories. The same service can be filed under different codes from one city to the next, so a code-and-keyword filter shows false matches in one portal and misses real ones in another.
Here is how the common ways to track PlanetBids bids compare:
| Approach | Coverage | Cost | How it matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search each agency portal by hand | One agency at a time | Free | You read every listing yourself |
| VendorLine notifications | All PlanetBids agencies | Paid subscription | Keywords and category codes |
| Meaning-based monitoring (FindBids) | All California portals, not just PlanetBids | Starting from $150 per month | What your business actually does, matched to each bid |
VendorLine, the paid notification add-on from PlanetBids, cross-references your chosen keywords, categories, and states each night against every new bid across all PlanetBids agencies. It widens your reach, and it still depends on the same keywords and codes that cause false matches and gaps in the first place.
How does FindBids monitor every PlanetBids portal at once?
FindBids reads what your business actually does and matches it to live California contracts by meaning, not keywords, then pulls the full bid documents for you automatically. It monitors PlanetBids agencies alongside Cal eProcure, LABAVN, and more than 100 other California state and local portals in one place, so you stop logging into dozens of vendor portals and stop guessing at category codes.
The matching runs in two stages. First, vector semantic search compares a plain-English description of your company and services against live bid titles to build a shortlist. Then Gemini Pro reads and scores the full solicitation documents on that shortlist, so you get a ranked list with the reasoning attached. For bids locked behind a portal login, an automated agent downloads the documents for you, which is work you would otherwise do by hand on each PlanetBids site.
The result is a short, prioritized list of the local contracts worth your time, drawn from every portal at once. To see it for your own business, send a plain description of what you do and get back a list of live California bids that match you right now. You can start a free 3-day trial, with no charge if you cancel before day 3, at app.findbids.us/signup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is PlanetBids free for vendors?
Yes. Registering as a vendor, searching bid opportunities, downloading solicitation documents, and submitting bids on PlanetBids are all free. There is no fee charged to contractors. The only paid option is VendorLine, an add-on notification service that watches every PlanetBids agency at once for a subscription fee.
Do I have to register separately for each agency on PlanetBids?
Yes. PlanetBids is not one central database. Each government agency runs its own independent PlanetBids portal with its own vendor list, so you register separately with every city, county, or district you want to bid with. There is no limit on how many you join, and each registration is free.
How do I find a specific city or county's PlanetBids portal?
Search "[agency name] planetbids" in Google, for example "City of San Diego planetbids." Most California agencies link to their PlanetBids vendor portal from the purchasing or procurement page on their official website. Once there, choose New Vendor Registration to create your profile.
Does PlanetBids use NAICS or NIGP codes?
It depends on the agency. PlanetBids lets each agency choose NAICS codes, NIGP commodity codes, or its own homegrown list, and every agency controls its own categories. The codes you select during registration decide which bid alert emails you receive, so pick every category that fits your work.
Does PlanetBids include California state contracts?
No. PlanetBids hosts local agency bids from cities, counties, school districts, and special districts. State agency contracts are posted separately on Cal eProcure in the California State Contracts Register. To see state and local opportunities together, you need to monitor both PlanetBids and Cal eProcure.
How do I submit a bid on PlanetBids?
Submission depends on the solicitation. Some agencies accept electronic bids directly through their PlanetBids portal, while others still require a sealed paper bid delivered to their office by the deadline. Read each bid's instructions carefully, because the method and the exact due time are strict and a late bid is usually rejected.