A year ago, the City of Arlington created a supplier portal to make it easier for area businesses to participate in the City's bid and proposal process.

The site is intended to notify registered suppliers of available contracting opportunities with the City. The idea is to make it easier for smaller businesses and minority- and women-owned businesses (M/WBE certified) to compete for contracts and be included in RFP (Request For Proposal) notices for new projects.

"Arlington has invested a large amount of time and resources in creating the supplier portal as a way for the business community to easily identify City contracting opportunities," says Purchasing Manager Debra Twinam.

In order to utilize the site, a business must register and pay a one-time $25 registration fee. The fee covers processing maintenance and storage of supplier information and relevant certificates. Payment can be made on the City Store website. There is a registration guide available for interested businesses.

The Purchasing Division is currently coordinating with the Arlington Chamber of Commerce to offer a series of training classes on the vendor registration process.

Registration benefits include:

• Self-service supplier registration and account maintenance
• Support for multiple commodity codes per supplier
• Improved access to departments issuing solicitations
• One-stop solicitation data accessibility

At the one-year mark, there are 641 suppliers registered on the site. When a supplier registers, the business can upload and store certificates, enter appropriate commodity codes, and receive notification of potential bid opportunities. Supplier demographics (location, diversity, commodities) are captured as part of the registration process.

According to the latest data, the top 5 categories with the heaviest supplier registration are:

• 912- Construction Services (General)
• 914- Construction Services (Trade)
• 913- Construction Services (Heavy)
• 918- Consulting Services
• 925- Engineering (Professional)

"Year-one of portal operation has yielded positive results that let us know we are on the right path, but building on these first-year successes is critical," Twinam continues. "To that end, we plan to continue advertising, outreach, and training in an effort to engage even larger portions of the vendor community."

The City plans Spanish-language advertisements in La Estrella as well as Vietnamese- and English-language ads in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

For more information, visit the links below, call 817-459-6300 or e-mail [email protected].

Purchasing FAQ