Escambia County encourages local, small, women and minority owned businesses to register as vendors with the county. Businesses recorded on the vendor registry have an immediate advantage to act on any advertised bid solicitations that fit the description of their business.
There is no cost to register as a vendor. Once you have registered, you will be able to monitor the online board or receive notifications for various contract jobs available for bidding.
Some of the eligible goods and services which can be provided by certified vendors are listed below:
Small Business Enterprise Initiative
Escambia County adopted a Small Business Enterprise Ordinance in July 2014 to establish a Small Business Enterprise program with the purpose and intent of providing the maximum opportunity for increased participation of qualified small businesses in the county’s procurement processes. Information on the SBE Initiative and application form are available here.
Vendor List
The Office of Purchasing maintains a vendor list by specific category. Business firms on the vendor list are notified that formal quotations or formal sealed bids are being solicited for a commodity in which they may be interested. To have your firm's name placed on the vendor list, tell us by mail, in person, by telephone, or online via the vendor form. The office will need your name, address, telephone number and the type of commodity you sell.
Vendor Registration
The first step to do business with Escambia County is to become a registered vendor. The Office of Purchasing conducts a two-step registration process. Vendor registration requests basic information about your business that the Office of Purchasing must have on file. You are also asked to provide a written description of the goods and services you can supply, which will be reviewed by the purchasing staff in order to identify the appropriate commodity class listings to send you in the second phase of the registration process. Register as a vendor with Escambia County here.
The second part of vendor registration will be an assignment of the five-digit commodity codes within the commodity classes identified by the purchasing staff. You will then have the opportunity to select the specific commodity codes for registration based on the goods and services you provide. Since the vendor notification system utilized by the Office of Purchasing is commodity-driven, the selection of the correct commodity codes is extremely important. View a list of commodity codes and commodity class items here.