Guide
From an ESBD solicitation to a bid checklist in one workspace
A Texas state agency posting on the Electronic State Business Daily (ESBD) gives a bid checklist its first items: the description and NIGP codes, the response due date and time, the estimated quantity and need date, the agency contact, and the attached bid documents. Capture them the day you find the posting, then add what the attachments require, because the ESBD does not accept bids and the listing drops out of search once the due date passes.
What an ESBD posting has to tell you
Government Code section 2155.083 requires a state agency to post, for each procurement estimated to exceed a value of $25,000, either the entire solicitation package or a notice with all information needed to make a successful bid: a brief description of the goods or services with the applicable product or service codes, the last date responses are accepted, the estimated quantity, the previous price paid if applicable, the estimated date the goods or services are needed, and the name, mailing address, email and telephone number of the agency contact. Many universities, counties, cities and school districts post there too. Anyone can search the ESBD; no sign-in is required.
Build the checklist from the posting
Open the solicitation and record these before you read a single attachment. They set the deadline, the questions you can ask and who you ask.
- Solicitation ID, posting agency and agency number, so addenda and the award notice are easy to find later
- Response due date and time, and the delivery method the attachments specify, since the ESBD does not accept bids
- NIGP class and item codes, which tell you whether your CMBL profile would have sent you this notice
- The agency contact and any question deadline, so clarifications go in before answers stop
- Every attachment by name, with the forms that need a signature flagged
- Estimated quantity and need date, checked against your crews and your suppliers
Read the attachments for what the notice leaves out
The Comptroller tells respondents that submission instructions live in the posting entity's solicitation and attached bid documents, not on the ESBD. Specifications, required forms, evaluation criteria and any pre-bid meeting or question deadline are usually in those files. Add each one to the checklist as its own line with an owner and a date, and keep the original file names so a reviewer can trace every answer back to the page that asked for it.
Check whether a subcontracting plan is due with the response
When the agency determines that VetHUB subcontracting opportunities are probable under the contract, it states that in the solicitation and requires a State of Texas Subcontracting Plan with the response. A plan is required on contracts with an expected value of $100,000 or more when that determination is made, and a response that does not include a completed plan is rejected. Put the plan on the checklist early: you must give potential VetHUB subcontractors at least seven working days to respond to your written notice, and you find them in the VetHUB Directory and the Centralized Master Bidders List. Zebrix Group Inc. is itself a Texas VetHUB-certified vendor, and its services for state agencies are described on the Zebrix Group Inc. site.
Zebrix Group Inc. for state agencies and primes (opens in new tab)
Watch for addenda, then keep your own copy
Agencies post a notice of each addendum to the solicitation, and the ESBD shows the status as Addendum Posted. Check the posting again before you finalize, and record each addendum number on the checklist with what it changed. After the response due date passes, the solicitation is no longer available on the ESBD until the agency posts an award or a decision not to award, so save the posting and the attachments to your own workspace while they are still live.
Do it in one workspace with Contract Intelligence
Contract Intelligence searches ESBD solicitations by title, agency, NIGP code, description and scope, filters by status and due date, including Posted and Addendum Posted, and keeps the solicitation details with links to the original attachments. Save an opportunity, turn it into a bid workspace with a checklist, draft the proposal and export it to Word, then send the selected bid to GC 360 for the estimate without retyping it.
Questions
- Do I need an account to read ESBD solicitations?
- No. The ESBD is public and sign-in is not required. Bids are not submitted through the ESBD; the attached solicitation documents say how to respond.
- Why did a solicitation disappear from ESBD search?
- Once the response due date passes, the solicitation is no longer available until the agency posts an award or a decision not to award. Save your own copy of the posting and attachments before the due date.
- Does every ESBD solicitation require a subcontracting plan?
- No. A State of Texas Subcontracting Plan is required when the solicitation says the agency found VetHUB subcontracting opportunities probable, which applies to contracts with an expected value of $100,000 or more. When it is required, a response without a completed plan is rejected.