Bids and contracts

Doing business with the Employment Security Department

Employment Security (ESD) uses state contracts organized through the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) for most of our purchases and encourages vendors to contact DES to find out how to become a provider on state contracts.

ESD posts procurement opportunities where there is not a state contract on Washington's Electronic Business Solution (WEBS). Once registered, you will automatically receive notices of acquisitions for the products and services your business offers as soon as the opportunity is posted.

ESD does not maintain our own vendor lists. We use WEBS and work with Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE) and Washington State Department of Veteran Affairs (WDVA) to locate qualified vendors for purchases that are not from state contracts.

ESD fully supports supplier diversity

We encourage minority and/or women business owners to contact OMWBE to find out how to become a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) or Women Business Enterprise (WBE) for the purposes of doing business with ESD and other state agencies. Certification can give your firm greater visibility and differentiates you from your competitors. Visit the OMWBE website and select the Certification tab on the home page.

We encourage veteran business owners to contact WDVA to certify their businesses. Certification is free and requires only basic veteran discharge status and business information to complete.

Sole-source and emergency contract postings, and interagency-agreement reports

In the event that a sole-source acquisition is necessary, an intent to procure sole source notice will be posted in WEBS and the contract will be posted below. Agencies must make sole source contracts available for public inspection no less than 10 working days before the proposed starting date of the contract (RCW 39.26.140). Agencies must also make emergency contracts available within three days of contract execution, as per Department of Enterprise Services emergency-procurement policy (DES-130-00). Agencies must make the status of officially filed interagency agreements - also known as interlocal or interstate agreements - available on their websites (RCW 39.34.040).

For more information about doing business with ESD, email us.