In an effort to make the solicitation process more efficient and cost effective for vendors, the City of Huntington has adopted an electronic bidding process for all types of solicitations. Electronic bids may be submitted at www.bidexpress.com.
Secure, electronic bidding allows vendors to:
- Eliminate late bids due to weather, mail and traffic delays
- Minimize bid disqualifications due to omissions
- Reduce costs removing delivery, printing, and resource costs
- Submit bids and rebids until the last minute
- Download bid documents, including plans, for free
- Validate bid bonds online
Vendors can learn more general information about the electronic bidding process at the Bid Express vendor resources page. All electronic bidders must first register at www.bidexpress.com and create a free Info Tech Digital ID, which is used to digitally sign bids. Digital IDs/Signatures assure that the City of Huntington knows who the bid is coming from (forgery-resistant); prevents information in a bid from disclosure to unauthorized parties (secrecy); and safeguards authorized parties from accessing a bid prior to public opening (sealing). It can take up to five business days to process a Digital ID and it is highly recommended that a Digital ID be enabled 48 hours in advance of submitting an electronic bid. See the Bid Express Vendor Guide for a detailed, step-by-step registration tutorial.
Instead of paying paper bidding costs (hand or hired delivery costs), a fee of $25 will be incurred for those who wish to bid electronically on a pay-per-solicitation basis. Alternatively, you may subscribe for $50 per month for unlimited electronic bid submission for all agencies posting solicitations on the Bid Express website, plus receive email notifications by agency/work type/commodity code.
For bidders who are bidding online and wish to use the electronic bid bond option, please see the FAQs page regarding electronic bid bonds (bottom of the page in the link).
For additional guidance, please contact the Bid Express team toll free at 800.352.2439 (select option 1) or via email at support@bidexpress.com. Questions can also be directed to Dan Underwood, purchasing director for the City of Huntington, at 304.696.5540, Ext. 2015, or via email at underwoodd@huntingtonwv.gov.