Do Business with the City

Depending on the year, the City of Frederick can have between 20 and 30 million dollars in “controllable” spending in its budget. The resulting contracting opportunities extend beyond just construction, and include many professional services (such as engineering, consultants, and graphic design) as well as general services (such as heating/ventilation/air conditioning [HVAC], cleaning, maintenance, and painting).

Purchasing Policies

Specific City procurement procedure is dependent upon the dollar-amount of the service/product being requested. View the comprehensive City Purchasing Policies and Procedures Manual (PDF). As a general overview, contracts are separated into three pricing brackets:

Over $50,000 - Services or products sought over this mark are required to go through a formal solicitation process. The opportunities are placed online on both the City Bids page and on E-Maryland Marketplace. They are also placed in the local newspaper in the legal ads. Each individual announcement includes a link to the necessary attachments/forms to bid on the opportunity. There is some variability in the length the opportunity is posted, but typically the requests remain open for about 4 weeks.
$10,000 to $50,000 - Services or products sought within this price range require Departments to follow competitive pricing policies and obtain at least three written quotes prior to contract.
Under $10,000 - These "small dollar" opportunities are made at the purchasing discretion of the interested Department.

Vendor Registration

All businesses that wish to work with the City of Frederick must complete an online Supplier Registration Form.

Local Preference Policies

In evaluating any competitive solicitation, the City will grant City businesses a preference in relation to the proposed quoted cost or bid amount. The preference is only used for computational purposes to determine the winning bid or proposal, and has no bearing on the actual purchase price or cost to the City. The preference given to City Businesses is 10 percent of the lowest quote or responsible bid, not to exceed $100,000.