Long Island Public Work Resource Hub — Nassau & Suffolk Contractors

Long Island Public Work

Nassau & Suffolk — which portal to register with first, and in what order.

Long Island public work is not one door. It is two counties, thirteen towns, two cities, more than a hundred school districts, and a set of authorities that all buy on their own. Every one of them keeps its own vendor list, and none of them forwards your registration to the next. This page is the map — where each buyer posts, what the account gets you, and the order a contractor should work it. Part of The Toolbox; a wrong or dead link is a bug — tell us.

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Know who is actually buying. Nassau and Suffolk each run their own county procurement, and neither one speaks for the towns. Nassau has three towns — Hempstead, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay — plus the cities of Glen Cove and Long Beach. Suffolk has ten: Babylon, Brookhaven, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Smithtown, Southampton, Southold. On top of that sit the school districts, the libraries, the fire and water districts, and the authorities — Suffolk County Water Authority, the LIRR, NYPA. A road job, a school roof, and a pump station on the same block can be three different owners with three different vendor lists.

Do it in this order. 1. Pick where you will really bid — be honest about drive time, bond capacity, and trade. Registering with fourteen portals you will never bid is how contractors burn a month and get nothing. 2. Register there first, before a job is posted. Nassau, Suffolk, Babylon, Islip, and the Bonfire portal all gate the actual documents behind an account, and approval is not instant. If you find out you need a login the week the bid is due, you have already lost that one. 3. Settle the compliance question before you estimate — if it is public work, New York requires contractor registration under Labor Law 220-i and the job carries a prevailing-wage schedule with certified payroll behind it. That changes your number, so find out before you price, not after you win. 4. Then chase notices — and chase the pipeline too. Nassau's capital program and published bid results tell you what is coming and who keeps winning it, long before a notice goes up.

Two traps worth knowing now. Suffolk splits its work across two systems — RFPs go through Bonfire, while bids, RFQs, RFEIs, and quote solicitations go through the Procurement Announcement System. They are separate logins. A contractor chasing both design services and construction on Long Island's east end needs accounts in both, and having one does not show you the other. Second: Nassau publishes its plan-holder lists. Most owners do not. If you are a sub, that page tells you which primes are actually pulling documents on a job before bid day — a call list nobody has to give you.

Already registered and just want the work? Nassau and Suffolk carry real volume on The RFP Wire, the paper's live bid board, with the dates that matter. The wider NYC and statewide portal set lives in The Toolbox.

Nassau County

One vendor registration opens the county's solicitation board. Do that first — the rest of this section is worth nothing without it.

Nassau Vendor Registration Do this firstThe county's new-vendor sign-up. Everything else Nassau runs assumes you are on this list. Get it done before a job you want is advertised, not the week it closes.apex5.nassaucountyny.gov Nassau Vendor PortalThe county's front door for current and prospective vendors — registration, vendor services, and where the open solicitations are pointed from. Start here if you are not sure which Nassau page you need.nassaucountyny.gov Nassau Public Formal SolicitationsThe live solicitation board — what Nassau has out right now, county-wide, not just Public Works. This is the page to check on a schedule.apex5.nassaucountyny.gov Nassau Current Bidders Lists & Plan Holders RareNassau publishes who is holding plans on current contracts. Almost no owner does this. If you are a sub, it is a pre-bid call list of the primes actually chasing the job — the single most useful page on this site for anyone selling to a GC.nassaucountyny.gov Nassau Dept. of Public WorksThe county's roads, bridges, sewers, and buildings shop — the department behind most of Nassau's hard construction dollars. Check its contracting information alongside the solicitation board.nassaucountyny.gov Nassau Recent Bid ResultsWho won, and what it went for. Read a few months of these before you price your first Nassau job — they tell you who your real competition is and where the number usually lands.nassaucountyny.gov Nassau Capital Program PipelineThe funded forward look — roads, parks, sewers, buildings — often years before anything is advertised. Business-development reading, not a bid notice, but it is how you know a job is coming.nassaucountyny.gov Nassau M/WBE ProgramCounty M/WBE certification and the countywide directory that Nassau agencies and primes use to fill participation goals. Separate from the city and state certifications.nassaucountyny.gov

Suffolk County

Suffolk runs two systems, and you probably need both. RFPs — design, engineering, professional services — go out through Bonfire. Bids, RFQs, RFEIs, RFIs, and solicitations of quote go out through the county's Procurement Announcement System. Two portals, two accounts, two sets of notifications. Being registered on one does not put you in front of the other, and plenty of contractors have missed a job because they were watching the wrong one. Register in both, then use the county's all-bids page as the catch-all.

Suffolk DPW Construction BidsThe county's primary construction-bid page — notices, specifications, addenda, bid-opening information, and results. If you build for Suffolk County itself, this is the page.suffolkcountyny.gov Suffolk Bids & Proposals Start hereThe county's own explanation of which system carries what, with the doors into both. Read this before you register anywhere else in Suffolk.suffolkcountyny.gov Suffolk Procurement Announcement System Login — bidsWhere bids, RFQs, RFEIs, RFIs, and quote solicitations are announced. Register the company and keep the business information current — stale contact details are how notices stop arriving.dpw.suffolkcountyny.gov Suffolk Bonfire Portal Login — RFPsThe county's RFP side. Build a vendor profile, watch the open opportunities list, and follow the electronic submission steps inside each solicitation — Bonfire cuts off hard at the deadline.suffolkcountyny.bonfirehub.com Suffolk DPW Vendor ResourcesWhat Central Procurement expects from a vendor — forms, requirements, and process. Worth an hour before your first submission rather than after it comes back rejected.suffolkcountyny.gov Suffolk Specs & Contract InformationGeneral specifications, standard sheets, contract lists, and the procurement announcements in one place. The standard sheets are what your estimate has to match.suffolkcountyny.gov Suffolk MWBE & SDVOBSuffolk's minority, women-owned, and service-disabled-veteran business programs and directory — the participation requirements primes have to fill on county work.suffolkcountyny.gov

Towns

Town work is where most Long Island contractors actually eat — paving, drainage, park buildings, facility renovations. Each town posts on its own board, and the town clerk's deadline is the only one that counts.

Town of Hempstead NassauThe largest town in the country by population, and it buys like it. Current bid and contract postings — check each notice for submission method, pre-bid attendance, and addenda.hempsteadny.gov Town of North Hempstead NassauThe town's bid and RFP board. Sign up for its notification tools while you are there — a small town board is easy to forget to check manually.northhempsteadny.gov Town of Oyster Bay NassauProcurement information, bid packages, and bid-opening details in one place, with the rest of the town's vendor requirements alongside it.oysterbaytown.com Town of Brookhaven SuffolkSuffolk's biggest town by area, with the highway and facilities volume to match. Bids, RFPs, and contracts — read the portal instructions before you assume it is a paper submission.brookhavenny.gov Town of Islip Suffolk — loginIslip runs an online bids portal through its purchasing office. Create the account well ahead of a deadline — you need it to reach the documents and the submission requirements at all.bids.islipny.gov Town of Babylon Suffolk — loginBabylon's General Services bid portal. Specs are viewable to anyone, but you must register to download a full package — and registration is how they reach you with addenda and answers.bidsapp.townofbabylon.com Town of Huntington SuffolkCurrent bids and RFPs plus contract award information — the awards are worth reading on their own to see who keeps taking Huntington work.huntingtonny.gov Town of Smithtown SuffolkThe town's bid board — contractor, consultant, vendor, and supplier postings together. Work off the live posting, never a list somebody forwarded you last month.smithtownny.gov

Schools & Special Districts

Long Island's school, library, and special-district work is a real lane for smaller shops — summer-window renovations, roofs, boilers, paving, ADA work — and it mostly runs through cooperative bidding and district plan rooms rather than the county portals above. Being on a BOCES vendor list puts you in front of dozens of districts at once.

Nassau BOCES Cooperative BiddingJoin the vendor lists, watch the bid announcements, and submit through one cooperative that its member districts buy from. One registration, visibility with a lot of Nassau school buyers.nassauboces.org Eastern Suffolk BOCES Cooperative BiddingThe eastern Suffolk counterpart — bid calendar, categories, the bidding process, and the list of participating districts, so you can see exactly who you would be selling to.esboces.org Western Suffolk BOCES PurchasingThe purchasing department for western Suffolk's districts, including its cooperative bid registration. The third BOCES list that completes Long Island school coverage.wsboces.org Nassau Community College ProcurementA full campus with its own solicitations — facilities, renovation, maintenance, and grounds work that never appears on the county board.ncc.edu Empire State Purchasing Group (BidNet) Free accountA lot of Long Island school districts, villages, libraries, and fire districts post here rather than building their own portal. Free registration, and it is often the only place a small district's job shows up.bidnetdirect.com

Authorities & Regional

Independent of the counties and the towns, with their own registration, their own rules, and some of the steadiest work on the Island.

Suffolk County Water AuthorityCurrent, closed, and awarded opportunities plus a searchable contract database. If you do water, utility, plant, electrical, or facilities work in Suffolk, this is a primary buyer and the awarded list shows you who else is already in.scwa.com LIRR Procurement (MTA)Long Island Rail Road work is issued through MTA procurement, which means MTA vendor portal requirements and the paperwork that comes with them. Follow the registration steps named in the live solicitation.mta.info New York Power AuthorityNYPA's opportunities and supplier-diversity information. Sourcing runs on an electronic platform, so register the way the current guidance tells you to before an opportunity closes.nypa.gov NYS Contract Reporter Filter by countyEvery state agency and authority has to advertise here — and the search filters by county, so you can pull Nassau and Suffolk only. Save the search and let the state tell you when something lands on the Island.nyscr.ny.gov

Wage, Registration & Compliance

The wage schedule attached to the project controls. Always. Not a rate somebody quoted you, not last year's schedule, not a general table off a website — the schedule and the bid documents issued for that specific job. Long Island jobs can carry a state prevailing-wage schedule, a federal Davis-Bacon determination, or both when federal money is in the mix, and the classifications and supplements move the number more than most contractors expect. Read the labor package before you price the work.

And register before you bid. New York requires contractor and subcontractor registration under Labor Law 220-i to bid or perform covered public work, and the certified-payroll filing is electronic. That applies on the Island the same as it does in the city, and it applies to your subs too — an unregistered sub is your problem on bid day, not theirs.

NYS DOL Public Work & Prevailing WageThe state's public-work guidance, wage schedules, and enforcement side, plus the electronic certified-payroll filing. The starting point for any Nassau or Suffolk job that is not federally funded.dol.ny.gov NYS Contractor Registry (220-i) RequiredRegister here before bidding covered public work — and use the public dashboard to check that every sub on your list is registered too, before you carry their number.dol.ny.gov SAM.gov Wage Determinations FederalDavis-Bacon rates for federally funded work. Find the exact determination named in your solicitation — location and construction type both change the answer.sam.gov NYSIFWorkers' compensation, disability, and Paid Family Leave coverage — and the certificates every public owner on the Island will demand before you sign anything.nysif.com OSHA ConstructionFederal construction safety standards and guidance. Remember the bid documents can impose owner-specific safety requirements on top of these — read both.osha.gov Prevailing Wage Calculator Free ToolTotal package, overtime, crew and job totals, and a certified-payroll sanity check — built on the rate you read off the schedule. It never supplies or guesses a rate.therfiwire.com/wage-calculator

Compiled and link-checked by The RFI Wire newsroom, August 2026. Portals, programs, and requirements change — always confirm on the official page, and let the bid documents govern. Nothing here is legal advice.