How to utilize a vendor letter
When your organization makes changes to their purchasing processes, it is important to inform your current and past vendors of these changes. For local government organizations that join BidNet Direct, we will send out a letter on your behalf to let vendors know that your solicitations can now be found within the platform at no cost to them.
What is a Vendor Letter?
BidNet Direct sends out vendor letters to disseminate the news to your vendors that your solicitations will now be hosted on your organization’s own branded page within BidNet Direct. The letter will contain a link that vendors can use to access this branded page. By hosting all of your bids on a page dedicated to your organization, vendors will easily know that they are in the correct place!
The vendor letter will also contain instructions on how your vendors can register and access your solicitations. BidNet Direct realizes the need for openness and transparency, and that’s why we offer access to your solicitations for vendors at no cost! Vendors can easily login and access your organizations page to view, download, and respond (if applicable) to your solicitations. Value added services include vendors having the option of being alerted to all matching solicitations from your organization and others throughout the state.
The vendor letter can be sent either electronically or through postal service, depending on the contact information that your organization has for its vendors. When an agency joins BidNet Direct, we will request a list of all of your past and current vendors. If this list includes e-mail addresses, BidNet Direct will send the vendor letter out electronically. However, organizations sometimes only have physical addresses of their vendors. In this case, we will print the letters, stuff the envelopes, and get them mailed out with no manual resources required from you! We will only request a letterhead from your organization, envelopes, and cost for postage.
Why is it important to send a Vendor Letter?
While increased vendor outreach is a greatly beneficial aspect of BidNet Direct, that doesn’t mean that every agency that joins is looking to replace their current vendors. Quite the contrary; your agency likely has a list preferred vendors for specific types of projects that you wish to continue working with. Therefore, it is very important that if a change occurs to your purchasing process, you convey these changes to your current vendors. By sending a vendor letter to your current and past vendors informing them of your participation on BidNet Direct, this also allows any vendors already registered within the system (and there are a lot!) to be on the lookout for your bids in the near future.
The last thing you want is to make your bids harder to find. By sending a vendor letter to your current vendors, you make finding your bids as easy as the click of a button. With a link included to your organization’s personalized branded page, it’s obvious to your vendors when they access the page that they are in the right place. With an explanation on how to register also included, the vendor letter gives almost step-by-step instructions on how to download your solicitation information. And for those vendors who still have trouble accessing your information, the vendor letter provides them with the contact number for our Vendor Support team, available from 8am-8pm to assist with any questions that may arise.
By sending a vendor letter to all of the contacts on your vendor list, you can ensure that vendors are up to date on the location of your available bid information!
Find out how BidNet Direct can help your government organization today! 
