This is the companion to our DOT profile — the one that says the agency has two front doors. If you read that and thought “fine, so how do I get through either of them,” this is the short version.

1. Two accounts, not one. DOT's doing-business page requires a Payee Information Portal (PIP) account to get paid and a PASSPort account to bid and sign. Get both done, disclosures included, before the solicitation you want appears. Nobody holds a bid date while you finish your paperwork.

“If you've been searching 841 for a year wondering where all the DOT sidewalk work went — it's under 850. It was always under 850.”

2. Search PASSPort by EPIN — and know which prefix you're looking for. DOT's own solicitations carry EPINs beginning 841 (the eight-bridge Bronx package is 84125B0010). DOT-sponsored street, ramp, sidewalk and corridor work carries DDC EPINs beginning 850 (Southern Boulevard is 85026B0091). Both get advertised in the City Record, but the City Record date isn't always the live date — go by PASSPort. Let's say you do curbs and sidewalks and you've been searching 841 for a year wondering where all the DOT sidewalk work went. It's under 850. It was always under 850.

3. Get on the PQL if you sell engineering. DOT's bridge design/construction-support and resident-engineering-inspection prequalified lists are tiered small, medium and large and reviewed quarterly through PASSPort. Construction bids weren't PQL-gated in the notices we read this cycle — that lane is for the consultants.

4. Prevailing wage and registration. DOT work is public work under Labor Law Article 8 and Local Law 220, and the NYS DOL contractor registry applies. Federally aided bridge jobs stack Davis-Bacon and DBE requirements on top of that. Price it in before you price anything else.

5. Bid security and bonding are set in each solicitation's front-end documents in PASSPort. Read them per job; there's no agency-wide number to assume.

6. Watch both agencies' award notices. DOT awards print in the City Record under “Transportation.” DDC-managed DOT jobs print under “Design and Construction” and on DDC's awarded-contracts list. And one thing that costs people real money every year: an “apparent low bidder” on a DDC preliminary-results page is not an award. Low at the opening means you're low at the opening. The award is the award.

Download the official bid documents from PASSPort and check every addendum before you price. The live DOT watch list as of Aug. 22 and the M/WBE doors run alongside this piece.