How to Register on OhioBuys: Ohio Contractor Guide (2026)

What OhioBuys is

OhioBuys is the State of Ohio's online purchasing system, operated by the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (DAS). DAS's OhioBuys Overview describes it as the State's online purchasing solution for government buyers and interested suppliers, and says it is available to many State agencies and will expand to include other State agencies, boards and commissions, local governments, and higher education institutions. The State of Ohio Procurement Handbook, effective April 22, 2026, states that State Agencies are required to use OhioBuys for all procurement-related activities, including creating, managing, and awarding solicitations and contracts. It also notes that DAS does not have statutory authority to establish contracts for some entities, including state institutions of higher education.

Registration is how you bid. DAS's Selling to the State page says you need to be registered in OhioBuys in order to bid on opportunities with the State of Ohio, and it lays out the order: create an OHID account at ohid.ohio.gov, then register as a bidder in OhioBuys. You can look before you register. The Selling to the State page says the View Public Solicitations page can be accessed through the system's public portal, and DAS's Viewing and Responding to Solicitations Learner Guide (version 3.7, July 2026) says bidders and suppliers can view all active public solicitations there, but must log in to submit a response.

Construction firms should know one boundary. The Procurement Handbook calls DAS the State's central procurement authority for general and information technology supplies and services, and states that purchases of construction, architecture, and engineering services fall under the jurisdiction of OFCC, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), or the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission. Those owners run their own bidding, covered below. OhioBuys still matters to contractors who sell supplies and services to the State: ODOT's Contracts page says ODOT buys goods and services, from IT equipment to rock salt, through OhioBuys. For a wider map of bid sources, see our guide to finding government construction bids.

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Step 1 - Check whether your company is already a State supplier

Before you register, find out whether your company already does business with the State. DAS's Bidder and Supplier Learner Guide (version 5.11, published August 2026) defines a Supplier as a company currently doing business with the State and a Bidder as one that is not. It states that existing suppliers do not need to re-register to access OhioBuys, but each supplier user needs their own OHID and must be listed as a contact with an assigned role.

The guide says that if you log in and see the Bidder Registration Request form, your OHID has not been added as a Supplier Contact to any active supplier account. In that case, ask your organization's account administrator to add you, or email the help desk. OhioPays, the State's payee portal, also has a Find My Payee Profile tool, which the OhioPays FAQs say searches by SSN, EIN, or name to check whether you are already registered. Ask internally first; someone in accounting may have registered the firm years ago.

Step 2 - Create an OHID for each person who will use OhioBuys

Go to ohiobuys.ohio.gov, click OhioBuys Log In, and create an OHID at ohid.ohio.gov if you do not already have one. The Learner Guide calls an OHID a secure, single sign-on for multiple State of Ohio systems and says a valid OHID is required for each OhioBuys user. Some State pages write it as OH|ID.

The guide lists the account steps: enter and confirm your email address, click Send PIN, enter the one-time code, and add your first name, last name, and date of birth. Then choose a username of 6 to 64 characters and a password of 12 to 30 characters with at least one uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number, and special character. You can add a mobile number for account recovery or skip that step, then check I agree and click Create Account. If a screen label or step order differs from this guide, treat the official portal as the source of truth.

OHIDs are personal. The Register in OhioPays help document from the Office of Budget and Management (OBM), revised January 6, 2026, says an OHID is your personal account, for you and not for your organization. The Learner Guide adds that the email address entered for each OhioBuys contact must match the email address that person used to set up their OHID, so use a mailbox each estimator actually reads.

Step 3 - Submit the Bidder Registration Request

Log in with your OHID and fill in the Bidder Registration Request form that OhioBuys displays. The Learner Guide says the person who submits the request automatically becomes the company's Supplier Administrator when it is approved, so have the person you want in that role complete it. The mandatory fields, marked with a red asterisk, are:

• Tax ID Number: your TIN or EIN. The guide says you must indicate if you are using your Social Security Number as your TIN.
• Company Legal Name: your legal name as shown on your income tax return.
• Secretary of State Charter/Entity Number: the guide notes that an exempt organization can indicate that in this field.
• Address Information: address line 1, state or province, city, ZIP code, and county.
• Commodities: the commodities your organization provides (see Step 4).
• Security Control: a check the guide compares to a CAPTCHA.

You can also list State of Ohio certifications (see Step 7). Click Register at the top of the page to submit. The guide says you will get an email when the State has reviewed and acted on your request, and that if it is approved, you use the confirmation link in that email to log in.

Step 4 - Choose UNSPSC commodity codes and counties served

Select the commodities your company provides, then the counties it serves. DAS's Selling to the State page states that the State of Ohio uses the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) commodity code system. The Learner Guide says you will be notified of solicitations containing the commodities you select. In the Supplier Commodities field, type to search or click See All, filter by keywords or up to four Commodity Levels, and check each code that fits. If you cannot find a code, the guide suggests looking it up on the UNSPSC website and entering it in the OhioBuys Keywords field.

After approval, manage codes from General Info, Company Profile, on the Additional Information tab. The same tab has a Counties Served field, and the guide says you will be notified of solicitations for the counties you select. It also says commodities are managed at the location level and should be added to your head office location, because that is the location invited to solicitations. Pick codes and counties for the work you actually bid.

Step 5 - Add contacts and assign the Sourcing Invitation Contact role

Add each estimator and project manager as a contact, and give the people who should hear about bids the Sourcing Invitation Contact role. In OhioBuys, open General Info, Company Profile, then the Contacts tab, and click Create New Supplier Contact. The Learner Guide lists these roles:

• Sourcing Invitation Contact: notified about OhioBuys solicitations. The guide says suppliers that are not invited to a solicitation are still notified when its commodity codes match their profile, but OhioBuys sends those notices only to contacts with this role.
• Contract Contact: anyone who needs to be notified about a solicitation or is responsible for a contract.
• Order Contact: reviews and acknowledges purchase orders.
• Supplier Admin: manages contact and company profile information. The guide recommends at least two per account.
• Revenue Share: reviews and reports revenue share information for a contract.

The guide warns that a contact without a role cannot take actions in the system, and that when a supplier is invited to a solicitation, only the main contact the State selects is notified. Click Save, then the Mail icon to send the person an invitation; they must create an OHID with the same email address. Add contacts to your head office location first, because the guide says those are the contacts that can be invited to solicitations.

Step 6 - Register as a Payee in OhioPays before award

Register your company as a Payee in OhioPays so the State can award you a contract and pay you. DAS's OhioBuys Overview says Bidder Registration gives companies that have not done business with the State access to respond to solicitations, and that to fully register as a supplier and receive purchase orders and contracts, they must complete the supplier registration process at ohiopays.ohio.gov. The Procurement Handbook describes the full path as creating an OHID, registering as a Supplier, and registering in OhioBuys.

OBM's Register in OhioPays help document (revised January 6, 2026) says to have your TIN, SSN, or EIN and account name, your bank routing and account numbers, and a primary address that matches your bank record before you start, and that you may be asked for a bank letter on the bank's letterhead. Log in at ohiopays.ohio.gov with your OHID and click New Registration. The screens ask whether you will be the Payee administrator, your Payee type and tax classification, and your Payee, address, contact, and payment details. You then review the W-9 information, click Create W-9, save the W-9, submit, affirm that the W-9 is correct, and accept the terms and conditions. The document says the Taxpayer ID and name must match IRS records.

The OhioPays FAQs say you get an email with a temporary Registration ID, then a Payee ID if all validations pass, and that the State's goal is to review and validate registrations within 3 business days. The help document says registrations that need more review get an email within 7 to 10 business days. Once you are a supplier, the Learner Guide says OhioBuys shows each company location with an OAKS ID, that the head office ID has no -1, -2, or -3 suffix, and that locations are managed in OhioPays.

Step 7 - Add EDGE or MBE certification if you qualify

If your firm qualifies, get certified through the Ohio Business Gateway first, then add the certification to your OhioBuys profile. The Learner Guide says bidders can list State of Ohio certifications (EDGE, MBE, WBE, and VBE), which the State reviews and validates, but only after completing the formal certification process in the Ohio Business Gateway at business.ohio.gov. Approved bidders add a certification later by opening General Info, Company Profile, and clicking Create a change request.

For construction, EDGE is the program to know. The Ohio Department of Development's EDGE page says the program helps socially and economically disadvantaged businesses obtain state contracts in construction, architecture, and engineering, among other areas. It requires at least one year in business and at least 51 percent ownership by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, with additional requirements. Applicants file a Unified Application through the Ohio Business Gateway, Development says certification can last up to two years, and questions go to certifications@development.ohio.gov. The Procurement Handbook says State agencies must include an EDGE participation goal in a solicitation when EDGE participation is feasible.

Development describes the MBE program as helping minority businesses obtain state contracts for goods and services. The Procurement Handbook says State agencies must set aside purchases so that MBE purchases equal or exceed 15% of their purchases each fiscal year, and that MBE suppliers are certified under six-digit UNSPSC codes that must match the code on a set-aside solicitation.

Step 8 - Keep users active and documents current

Keep every user active and your company documents current. The Learner Guide states that users will be deactivated if they have not logged into OhioBuys in the last 365 days, so have each estimator log in at least once a year. On the Documents & Certs. tab of your Company Profile, you can upload legal documents, licenses and certifications, and other documents such as insurance and workers' compensation, with begin and expiration dates. The guide says you will get an email 60 days before an uploaded document expires.

Bidders change company information, such as an address, through Create a change request, and the guide says the State reviews and approves each one. If notices stop arriving, check My Profile: the guide says users can unsubscribe there from New Public RFx Notifications and RFP MBE Notifications.

Ohio construction bids: OFCC, ODOT, and local owners

The State's construction owners run their own bidding. Here is where each kind of project is posted, based on the official pages reviewed for this guide.

State capital projects (OFCC). OFCC's Project Opportunities page says the Commission publishes design and construction opportunities for state agencies, two- and four-year public higher education institutions, and public K-12 school districts participating in a Commission program, through Qualifications-Based Selection, Best Value Selection, and competitive bidding. Its Construction Bidding page lists public construction bids from those owners in a table. It warns that the public bid notice begins on the date the opportunity is posted on the owner's chosen electronic bidding platform, not necessarily the date it appears on OFCC's site, and that addenda may change the timing and location of a bid. OFCC's Bid Express page calls Bid Express the current vehicle for submitting and processing competitive sealed bids for all general contracting projects managed by OFCC. When we checked the table on October 20, 2026, most document links went to Bid Express, and the rest pointed to a college's or university's own bidding site or a document link. OFCC also offers email updates on new RFQs and bids through a Subscribe Now link.

The Procurement Handbook explains which projects OFCC manages. Under its decision steps, OFCC manages projects that need professional design services and cost $3 million or more under Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Chapter 153. Below that, an agency may apply to administer the project locally under Chapter 153, with OFCC approval. Work that needs no design and that OFCC finds outside Chapter 153 follows DAS purchasing rules instead: a State contract or a DAS solicitation, or, under $50,000, the agency's own purchase under ORC Chapter 125.

State law sets the bidding rules:

• ORC 153.07, as amended by House Bill 96 of the 136th General Assembly, requires the bid notice to be published by electronic means at least 14 days before bid opening, with plans and specifications available electronically. The Legislative Service Commission's final analysis of the bill says former law required publication in a newspaper at least eight days in advance.
• ORC 153.54 requires a bid guaranty with each bid for a public improvement (ODOT work is excluded): a bond for the full amount of the bid; a certified check, cashier's check, or letter of credit equal to 10% of the bid; or an electronic verification when bids are accepted electronically.
• ORC 153.08 says an electronic bid and its bid guaranty must be received electronically before the deadline, and the original, unaltered bid guaranty must be made available to the public authority after the bid opening. A bid that is not filed electronically goes in one sealed envelope with its bid guaranty, so follow each notice.
• ORC 153.08 also says the owner awards the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder after an investigation completed within 30 days, and bars a contract with a foreign corporation until the Secretary of State certifies that it is authorized to do business in Ohio.

OFCC's standard solicitation form (Document 00 10 00, General Contracting / Electronic Bid, 2025-OCT edition), as used for an Ohio State University project bid in February 2026, shows what to expect:

• Bids are received, opened, and published through electronic means using the State's electronic bidding service, in compliance with ORC 153.08 and Ohio Administrative Code 153:1-8-01.
• Register at bidexpress.com with the REGISTER FOR FREE button, then create and enable a digital ID, which requires notarized paperwork and may take up to five business days.
• There are no fees to register, create and enable a digital ID, or download bid documents, but there is a small expense on a monthly or per bid basis to submit a bid.
• The project is subject to the EDGE program, with a stated EDGE participation goal, and bidders submit EDGE information with the bid.
• Bid tabulations are posted no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day bids are opened.

Start the digital ID well before the bid date. Our Bid Express registration guide covers that portal in detail.

ODOT highway lettings. ODOT's Contracts page says its Office of Contracts handles all highway construction contracts and the department's goods and services contracts, and that bidders must be prequalified by the office before bidding. ODOT's Contractor Prequalification page says that under ORC Chapter 5525, prospective bidders must be prequalified to submit a bid, that contractors apply online, and that firms not yet prequalified must submit a completed application at least 30 days before the bid date. It calls the prequalification certificate the bidder's license to bid and perform construction for the department. ODOT's Construction Project Bidding Information page says the Bid Express website is used to submit bids on ODOT construction projects, and it links the letting schedule, the Bid Pamphlet of upcoming projects, bid documents, and a planholders list. ODOT asks for prebid questions through its online form, submitted 4 days before the bid opening. For help, ODOT lists contracts@dot.ohio.gov and 614-387-2478, and Contracts.Prequalification@dot.ohio.gov for prequalification.

Cities, counties, and school districts. DAS's OhioBuys Overview says OhioBuys will expand to include local governments. Today, DAS's Cooperative Purchasing Program page says member political subdivisions can publicly post solicitations for supplies or services on OhioBuys, and links a job aid for Public Notice solicitations, which the Viewing and Responding to Solicitations guide describes as evaluated and awarded outside OhioBuys. OFCC's Bid Express page adds that a number of Ohio city and county governments use Bid Express. A local construction project may sit on any of these systems or on the owner's own site, so check each local owner's bid page too.

How to find and submit a bid on OhioBuys

Start with the Public Solicitations link on the OhioBuys homepage. DAS's Accessing and Reviewing Public Solicitations job aid (version 2.5, May 2026) says OhioBuys runs a brief security check, then lets you search public solicitations by keyword, commodity, ID, and status. The Viewing and Responding to Solicitations guide lists more filters: contracting entity, solicitation dates, MBE set-aside status, solicitation type, and awarded status. For MBE set-aside solicitations, the job aid says only MBE businesses certified by the State of Ohio may submit offers. Registered companies also get email notices when a solicitation matches their codes, as covered in Steps 4 and 5.

To respond, log in, choose Sourcing, then View Public Solicitations, and click the pencil icon next to the solicitation. Click Participate in RFx, accept the Acknowledgement with I Agree, choose Will Respond, and click Submit. The guide says you must be logged in to your head office location to respond. Complete the required fields on the Setup tab, upload documents to the envelope sections, and answer the Item and Questionnaire tabs. If a solicitation has an item grid, the guide says responses must be given per line item and proposal document uploads will not be accepted in its place. Then click Validate & Submit Proposal and Submit my Proposal, and check the History tab to confirm your proposal shows a status of Submitted. Save often: the guide says users are logged out after 30 minutes of inactivity, and that keeping more than one OhioBuys window open can cause time-out and data-not-saved errors.

Ask questions inside the system. The guide says inquiries go through the solicitation's Inquiries tab with "Sourcing Responsible" selected in the Send To field, and that all questions and answers are posted publicly. The Procurement Handbook says bidders cannot contact State employees about an advertised opportunity and must submit questions through OhioBuys. When the State issues an amendment as a new round, the guide says you must acknowledge it and re-submit your response to stay in consideration, and any withdrawal must happen before the bid due date. Public Notice solicitations work differently: the guide says you do not submit those in OhioBuys and should follow the instructions in the solicitation. DAS's Submitting a Response page warns that responses submitted after the date and time specified in the solicitation will not be accepted.

Bidding in more than one state? Compare OhioBuys with our guides to COMMBUYS in Massachusetts, NYC PASSPort, eVA in Virginia, and NC eVP. Federal work in Ohio runs through SAM.gov registration, and our portal registration guides index lists every portal we cover.

How ConstructionBids.ai helps

ConstructionBids.ai brings public construction bids from thousands of portals into one searchable feed with deadline alerts, which can sit alongside your OhioBuys routine. Registering in OhioBuys and OhioPays, keeping your codes and contacts current, and responding the way each solicitation requires are still on you; we don't replace any of them.

Because Ohio state building projects, ODOT lettings, and local bids are posted on Bid Express, OFCC's bid table, university sites, and local owners' pages as well as OhioBuys, expect to watch more than one source. One feed filtered to your trades and region cuts the time spent checking them by hand.

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