How to sell IT to local government and municipalities

Local government is often the best place for a small tech firm to start in public work. Contracts are smaller, buyers are more accessible, and a good reference from one city travels to the next.

What local government buys

• Public websites and online services.
• Permitting, licensing, inspections and land management systems.
• Recreation booking, payments and customer service platforms.
• GIS and mapping.
• Networks, Wi-Fi, phones and security cameras.
• IT support, cybersecurity and backups.
• Data and dashboards for council reporting.

How they buy

• Below a threshold, quotes. Most councils can buy smaller items by getting a few quotes, without a public tender. Thresholds are set by each council's purchasing policy, often published online. Being known means being asked to quote.
• Above it, public tenders, posted on the council's website or regional portals.
• Cooperative purchasing. Many local governments buy through contracts set up by purchasing groups, such as Canoe Procurement Group and Kinetic GPO in Canada, Sourcewell and NASPO ValuePoint in the US, or ESPO and YPO in the UK. Getting on these can open doors to many councils at once.
• Shared services. Some regions or associations buy on behalf of several councils.

Where tenders are posted

• Canada: municipal websites, Bids and Tenders, MERX, BC Bid and provincial portals. See where to find government IT tenders.
• US: city and county procurement pages, BidNet and state portals.
• UK: Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and regional portals.
• Australia: state portals and council sites.

Watch the council agenda

Council and committee agendas often reveal projects months before tendering: a new website, a digital strategy, a budget item for a new system. They also publish the contracts awarded, with values.

Winning local work

• Be local, or show you understand local. Many councils value local suppliers, and community benefits often count.
• Use your references. A neighbouring council's reference carries weight.
• Keep it simple. Small councils have small IT teams. Show you'll reduce their workload.
• Respond to quotes quickly. Below-threshold requests often have short deadlines.

Common questions

How do I get on a city's vendor list?

Many cities have a supplier registration page. Register, then introduce yourself to the IT and purchasing teams. Some cities also invite quotes from registered suppliers below their tender threshold.

Do municipalities have to publicly tender IT contracts?

Above their purchasing policy's threshold, usually yes. Trade agreements, such as the Canadian Free Trade Agreement for larger municipalities, also apply above certain values.

What is cooperative purchasing?

It's when a purchasing group runs one competition and many public bodies buy from the resulting contract, saving each from running its own tender.