Huntsville joins Alabama Purchasing Group, offers online bid platform

Published on January 13, 2022

The City of Huntsville has joined the Alabama Purchasing Group and will be publishing and distributing upcoming bid opportunities through the BidNet Direct online platform.

The Alabama Purchasing Group connects participating agencies across Alabama and provides a transparent process through which bids are available to all vendors at the same time. Huntsville will use the system to streamline the purchasing process, which includes bid management, distribution and vendor relations.

How it works

Registered vendors can access open bids, related documents and files, and addendum and award information from all participating agencies. In addition, the Alabama Purchasing Group offers a value-added service to notify vendors of new bids targeted to their industry, all addenda and advance notification of expiring term contracts.

Tamara Yancy, Huntsville’s procurement manager, said becoming part of the Alabama Purchasing Group allows the City to increase transparency in the bid process. With one click, Yancy’s office can see which vendors match a specific opportunity, how many have downloaded documents, the number of responses and more. The City also has a branded page on the public side of the Alabama Purchasing Group platform that lets vendors view all closed bids and any awarded information.

“We now have information at our fingertips for each bid opportunity and award,” Yancy said. “The information is fully tracked and auditable. Vendors can easily access documents and addenda online and we can see that the vendor has indeed seen the addendum. This is great news for vendors and improves the City’s internal processes.”

Get started

To register, visit www.bidnetdirect.com/alabama/cityofhuntsville.