How do I register as a vendor in New Jersey?

Register on NJSTART (https://www.njstart.gov/bso/). Go to www.njstart.gov and click Register in the top right corner, then verify your email address.

How to Bid on Government Contracts in New Jersey (2026 Guide)

New Jersey buys through a central state purchasing office, and its cities, counties and school districts buy on their own as well. To sell to the state you register once as a vendor, then watch for solicitations in your commodity codes and respond by the deadline. This page covers the state registration steps, where bids are posted and the programs that help small businesses, with links to the official pages.

Central purchasing officeDivision of Purchase and Property (DPP), New Jersey Department of the Treasury

Vendor registrationNJSTART

Where bids are postedNJSTART (https://www.njstart.gov/bso/), where registered vendors can review all bids, solicitations and awarded contracts. Other agencies and authorities that post their own bids are listed at https://www.nj.gov/treasury/purchase/bid_op_sites.shtml.

Open bids right now626 open New Jersey bids (139 closing this week, 150 new in the last 7 days)

How to register as a New Jersey vendor

Go to www.njstart.gov and click Register in the top right corner, then verify your email address.
Complete the Company Information and Administrator tabs; the person named becomes the Seller Administrator who manages the company profile and users.
Complete the mandatory OMB categories and certifications, including Business Formation, EFT certification and the substitute W-9 (Tax ID certification), and add an EFT-enabled remit address.
Select the commodity/service codes for the goods and services you sell, so you get bid notifications that match.
Review the Summary tab, fix any validation errors and complete registration on a weekday between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM, when the state financial system that validates it is online.

Registration gets you on the state's list, but it rarely sends you every relevant bid. Many agencies, and most local governments, post on their own portals. A free BidsNexus alert watches the state portal and New Jersey's local agencies for you and emails the matches each morning.

Small business and certification programs

Small Business Set-Aside Program (SBE): Businesses with no more than 100 permanent employees and a principal place of business in New Jersey, in revenue tiers of $500,000, $5 million or $12 million, compete for a 25% set-aside of state goods and services contract dollars; registration must be in place before bid opening.
Division of Revenue Business Certification Program (SBE, MWBE, VOB/DVOB, LGBTQ+, SEDB): One online application covers several certifications, the $100 application fee is waived indefinitely, and certified Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses are eligible for a 3% state contract set-aside.

Federal set-asides work differently from state programs; see our guide to small business set-asides.

Cities, counties and school districts

Municipalities, counties, school districts, volunteer fire and rescue squads, colleges and authorities can buy from state contracts through the DPP Cooperative Purchasing program by issuing a purchase order to the state contract vendor, so a state award can also bring local sales. The DPP pages checked do not list county or city bid portals.

Local bids are where most small businesses win their first contracts: smaller dollar values, shorter responses and less competition from national firms. BidsNexus collects them into one list, so you can browse every open New Jersey bid in one place.

Tips specific to New Jersey

You must be registered in NJSTART to receive bid notifications, contract awards or purchase orders, even if you have done business with the state before.
Completing registration, editing OMB categories, adding addresses and processing purchase orders only work on weekdays 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM; failed attempts are not retried automatically.
NJSTART vendor help: (609) 341-3500 or njstart@treas.nj.gov; the Vendor Registration user guide is at https://www.nj.gov/treasury/purchase/njstart/pdf/Vendor-Registration.pdf.