About the contracting process

We issue procurements when a purchase exceeds the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC)'s direct buy limit of $30,000. The buy limit increases to $40,000 if from a  a small business as defined by RCW 39.26.010(22); or from a certified veteran-owned business.

• Read more about the Washington state's laws concerning procurement of goods and services (leg.wa.gov).

Washington's Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) (www.des.wa.gov) is the official notification tool used by state agencies for all competitive procurements. Vendors are encouraged to register with WEBS to ensure they receive notices of and updates to contracting opportunities.

You can also visit our website to view current contracting opportunities.

1. Download the procurements document(s) using Washington's Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) (www.des.wa.gov). Doing so will ensure notification of any amendments to the procurement. Vendors are responsible for checking WEBS for updates to the procurement.
2. Ensure you read and understand the procurement document(s).
3. Contact the procurement coordinator listed in the document if you have any questions.
4. Submit questions by the due date listed in the document.
5. Attend pre-proposal conferences, if held.
6. Follow the instructions in the proposal when answering the procurement. This helps you make sure you haven't missed anything, and helps our scoring team review your proposal.
7. Include all required attachments and make sure signatures are included where required.

• A scoring team of at least three people will review responses received and score them against the criteria in the procurement.
• Follow-up or clarifying questions may be sent to vendors, if needed.
• The vendor that is most responsive to the criteria, as determined by the scoring formula, will be the successful vendor.
• All vendors who submitted responses will receive notification of the successful vendor.
• Scoring will be available on our website after the successful vendor is announced. Additionally, all bids are available for public review at that time.