Business Opportunities
About The Vendor Portal
Overview:
The Vendor Portal offers a quick and easy way for vendors to register online and create a portfolio applicable to the vendor's SIC codes, demographics and contracting areas. It provides online access to solicitations, amendments and contract awards. The portal allows vendors to search for business opportunities, receive e-mail notifications of bid postings and request complete bid documents.
Benefits of Having Your Own Portfolio
Within the Vendor Portal, a registered vendor can:
- Make changes and updates to registration information,
- View upcoming, current, and awarded solicitations,
- Download details of solicitations,
- Add specific solicitations to your portfolio,
- Monitor the status of solicitations,
- Receive automatic e-mail notifications of solicitation amendments and upcoming solicitations.
Take a look at a sample Vendor Portfolio to see how simple it is to track solicitations.
Ready to register? Get started!
Getting Started
The Vendor Portal is found in the Business Opportunities section of this website. The Vendor Portal link takes you to the Vendor Portal main page where you can register, log in, or retrieve a forgotten password. The page consists of two forms (each in its own separate box), the Search by Tax ID Number form and the Login form.
There are 3 easy steps to create your own DC Water vendor portfolio:
- Before registering, confirm that your company is not in our vendor database.
- If you are not in our vendor database, register.
- Log into the Vendor Portal and create your own portfolio.
Ready to register? Get started!
Checking Existing Registration:
Before you register, check to see if your company's information has already been entered in our Vendor Portal database.
To check:
- Go to the Vendor Portal Login page.
- If you know your company's Tax ID number, enter it in the appropriate field in the Search by Tax ID Number form and click the "Find Tax ID" button.
- If your company has registered before, a message will appear saying that the company is already in our vendor database. Using the username and password, you can log into the Vendor Portal and retrieve your information. If you do not know/remember your username/password information, you can click on the "Forgot Password" link, found at the top of the Login form, which will allow you to retrieve them.
- If your company has not registered in the Vendor Portal but has done business with DC Water, you will be notified and provided a link to continue with your registration.
- If your Tax ID is not found in our vendor database, you should click on the "Register" link, found at the top of the form, to proceed with the registration process.
Ready to register? Get started!
Registration:
To access the Vendor Portal, view details of upcoming, current, and awarded solicitations from DC Water and create your own portfolio, you must register your company.
Register with Vendor Portal:
- Click on the "Register" link found on the Vendor Portal Login form to access the Vendor Portal Registration Form.
- Fill out the first page of the form which request general information about your company (required fields are marked by a red asterisk *) and click the "Submit" button at the bottom of the form. Please note that if you select the check box indicating that you are certified as a Minority Business Enterprise, you must also indicate your Minority Business Certification Number.
- Depending on the type of business (Goods and Services,
Construction, Architecture and Engineering) that you choose
in the first form, the form on the next page will allow you
to select which commodity service codes or contracting areas
applicable to your company.
- If your company provides Goods and Services, you can select the applicable commodity service codes by clicking on it in the listing with your mouse. If you want to select multiple codes, hold down the "Ctrl" key ("Command" key for Macs) while clicking on the codes.
- If your company provides Architecture and Engineering or Construction services, you may select areas in General Contracting and Sub Categories for General Contracting by selecting the appropriate check boxes.
- When you have finished, the next step is to a preview page and verify the information. If any information needs to be changed, there are links that will take you back to the appropriate page ("click to change your registration information" and "click to change your commodity codes or contracting areas").
- Click on the "Finish Registration" button to complete the process.
- A confirmation page will inform you of a successful registration to the Vendor Portal. This page will also contain a link to the Login screen. Enter your username and password to access the Vendor Portal.
- Please click here for Vendor Information Requirements
- Enter your username and password.
- Click the "Enter Vendor Portal" button.
- You will then see your portfolio (it's empty until you add solicitations).
- The first time you log in, your portfolio will be empty.
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At the top right-hand corner of your portfolio are helpful links to manage your account:
- update profile - update the information you entered on the registration form
- update SIC/category areas - edit the list of products and services yo can provide to DC Water
- help - user guide for vendors
- logout - log out of the Vendor Portal
- Another set of links, located on the first line of the main section of your portfolio and which appears after the word "view:", are filters that allow you to see solicitation announcements (that were added to your portfolio) by type. These filters may be used as your portfolio becomes larger.
- all areas - view all solicitations that were added to your portfolio. This is the default view.
- goods and services - view only goods and services solicitations that were added to your portfolio.
- architecture and engineering - view only architecture and engineering solicitations that were added to your portfolio.
- construction - view only construction solicitations that were added to your portfolio.
- The main section of your portfolio lists the solicitation announcements that were added to your portfolio. It is divided by the following phases for solicitations:
- Upcoming Solicitations - pending solicitations that are not yet active. The announcements contain only basic information, which may include the name, a short description and estimated release date of the solicitation.
- Current Solicitations - solicitations that have been released to the public. Depending on the bid opening date/close date, the solicitation could be "Open" or "Closed - Pending Award".
- Awarded Solicitations - recently awarded solicitations, identifying basic information about the contract award, such as vendor name, date of award, value of award, etc.
- For Requests for Quotations, there are only two phases:
- Current Requests for Quotations (RFQ) - RFQs that have been released for small procurements. Depending on the bid opening date/close date, the solicitation could be "Open" or "Closed - Pending Award".
- Awarded Requests for Quotations (RFQ) - recently awarded small procurements, identifying basic information about the award, such as vendor name, date of award, value of award, etc.
- In each phase, there's a "View all phase solicitations" link, which allows you to see all the DC Water solicitations by phase.
- Click on the "View all phase solicitations" link on either the Upcoming or Current Solicitations phase, depending on the solicitations you choose to add to your portfolio. Please note that there is also a "View all Awarded Solicitations" link but it only allows you to view all awarded solicitations and remove awarded solicitations from your portfolio. It will not allow you to add already awarded solicitations into your portfolio.
- When you go into the "View all phase solicitations" page, a set of links (appearing after the word "view") are provided at the top of the page to help you filter the list of solicitation announcements either by type (goods and services, architecture and engineering, or construction) or by your company's self assigned commodity codes. The default view is "all areas", which provides all solicitation announcements in that phase.
- If you identify an upcoming or current solicitation that is not in your portfolio, you can add it by clicking on the "Add" link, located under the "In My Portfolio" column.
- You can also click on the upcoming, current, or awarded solicitation to see the details. From the solicitation details page of upcoming or current solicitations you may also choose to add the solicitation to your portfolio by clicking on the "add to portfolio" link that is on the top of that page.
- Similarly, if the upcoming, current, or awarded solicitation listed is already in your portfolio, you can remove it clicking on the "Remove" link. If you are viewing details of the solicitation, you can remove it from your portfolio by clicking on the "remove from portfolio" link.
- To go back to your portfolio, select the "back to your portfolio" link found on the upper right of the "View all phase solicitation" page.
Ready to register? Get started!
Log In and Create Portfolio:
Once your company is registered, you may create a portfolio of solicitations that you would like to monitor.
Logging In:
About your Portfolio:
Creating your Portfolio: