Procurement, Contracts, and Logistics

How to Do Business

 

Documents List

SMC & BidsOnline

Doing business with the Santa Monica Community College District is a two-step process:

  1. Register through our supplier portal at BidsOnline*
  2. Submit a completed Vendor Data Record Form.

 Supplier Registration

Our Supplier/Vendor Portal may be accessed by going to our BidsOnline page. Simply click on "New Vendor Registration" to begin the registration process. During registration, you will be asked to select certain commodity codes. The commodity code section is particularly important because SMC uses them when searching for suppliers/vendors who sell a specific product or service. Please take the opportunity to include all of the commodity codes that reflect your company's merchandise and/or services.

You can find the full list of commodity codes currently used at SMC on the NAICS directory.

Following registration, you will receive a confirmation email. Please save or print this email as it contains your vendor number (you will need this number to bid on our projects), your log in ID and your password. If you do not receive this email, please check your junk email as it is often directed there depending on firewall settings.

For a step-by-step tutorial on how to register or update your profile, please see the Registration Tutorial or for more information on registration, refer to the PlanetBids Vendor User Guide.

Vendor Data Record Form

Please complete the Vendor Data Record Form and send to us electronically via email at purchasing@smc.edu or fax to 310-434-3654.

This form will assist us in updating your records in our financial system. Please return this form to ensure accurate payable information and to avoid payment delays.

"How Do I Sell to Santa Monica College?"

How to Obtain Bids / RFPs /RFQs

If you are a registered supplier with SMC, the steps to obtaining a bid, request for proposals (RFP), or request for quote(RFQ) packet is relatively straightforward.

  1. Go to the SMC's Vendor Management Portal, located at BidsOnline
  2. Click on "Bid Opportunities."

Locate the project of interest and double click on the bid/RFP/RFQ. If you are logged in, you will be able to see all the tabs. Otherwise, you will need to register as a vendor.

Bidding Tips

Upload File Size

When uploading files or attachments to your electronic bids, please limit your file size to less than 25MB each.

Tip: How to reduce your file size? (Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat, you won't be able to do this with just Adobe Reader)

  1. Open PDF and click: File > Print.
  2. Set your printer selection to Adobe PDF Printer.
  3. Chose the Paper Source by PDF Page Size.
  4. Hit Okay and Save (You will need to rename your file.)

This may reduce your file size depending on how it was originally created.

How to Recover your Login and Password

If you do not know your login ID or password, please click on the log in button and click “Forgot Password.” Your login ID and new password will be emailed to you.