Each year the City posts thousands of business opportunities totaling billions of dollars—and we are open for business even during times of economic uncertainty. The City of Philadelphia works with businesses in construction, professional services, and equipment. But we’ve heard from many vendors that there’s a common problem: It’s difficult to locate and learn about the City’s opportunities.
We heard your concerns and we created a better system.
The new Contracts Hub website
Given the feedback from the vendor community and the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer’s (CAO) commitment to improving accessibility and efficiency of government, we set out to improve vendors’ experiences in looking online for opportunities.
The new Contracts Hub makes it easy to discover opportunities to work with the City. It compiles information from multiple websites and displays them in one convenient list. This new site allows vendors to:
- Conduct a keyword search
- Use filters, such as contract type and estimated project size, to limit the results
- Search for an opportunity and connect directly to the application website
Vendors will be directed to apply through our pre-existing sites PHLContracts and eContractPhilly, depending on the opportunity. Some vendors are already familiar with these websites and the application process.
Goodbye to some old websites
The website Small Contracts, Big Ideas PHL (currently https://bigideasphl.com/) is shutting down this month. Small Contracts, Big Ideas PHL housed small to medium-sized opportunities for under $34,000; these opportunities will now be posted on Contracts Hub.
The RFPsOnline page, currently www.phila.gov/rfp, will also be upgraded to a new look and URL. Opportunities posted to the RFPsOnline page will not be posted directly on Contracts Hub. These Requests for Proposals or Requests for Information follow different requirements for applicants and are often related to social service agencies or quasi-City agencies.
Hello to more accessible opportunities under $100,000
Contracts Hub is part of a larger project—Local Business Purchasing Initiative (LBPI). In November 2019, voters approved a Home Rule Charter change that raised the threshold for requiring formal Requests for Proposals or bids from $34,000 to $75,000 for all businesses and $34,000 to $100,000 for certified Local Business Entities.
These changes create a more efficient and accessible process for vendors to work with the City. Local businesses should get certified with the City as Local Business Entities to access opportunities exclusively for them. The initiative is also designed to increase the solicitation of minority-, woman- and disabled-owned businesses by the City. We encourage those businesses to register here with the Office of Economic Opportunity to receive solicitations. We’re looking forward to working with new vendors, supporting local businesses, and collaborating on upcoming projects that help Philadelphia thrive.
