Giving preference to local bidders is a common means of making government contracts more accessible to resident small business enterprises and supporting local economies.

There are different types of preferences and the policy application around the country varies greatly; this adds complexity for both governmental and business entities trying to understand the preference conditions in each state. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a nationwide resource, a central place with state-by-state information on local preferences and reciprocity laws? Look no further! NASPO just launched the State Preference Repository, a comprehensive database, including preference conditions and law citations for all 50 states and the District of Columbia to help agencies determine the lowest responsible bidder.

CLICK HERE for the direct link to NASPO’s State Preference Repository containing preference details for each state.

Additionally, the NASPO Repository includes reciprocal preference conditions. Many states have enacted reciprocal preference laws in response to in-state/local preferences in states where local bidders/proposers are granted advantages based on pre-established criteria.

A reciprocal law refers to a disadvantage a state applies in order to match a preference given by another state. A reciprocal preference defines a bidding situation in which a state gives a preference to its own resident bidder against the bid of a non-resident bidder. For instance, when evaluating bids for award, a reciprocal law State A will apply a disadvantage against each bid received from states with in-state preferences, equivalent to the preference the out-of-state bidders would receive in their home states. In other words, if the lowest responsible bid in a competitive solicitation is from state B (which grants a 5% preference to its own resident bidders) then State A’s contracting agency must add 5% to the original bid price received from State B’s non-resident bidder compared to another low bid received from its resident bidder.

We hope you find this NASPO resource helpful when making procurement decisions such as awarding contracts to resident or disadvantaged business, or to those bidders who offer goods manufactured or grown in the state vs. non-resident bidders.

If you would like to embed the NASPO State Preference Repository in your website or integrate this data into your application, please view the documentation at https://reciprocal.naspovaluepoint.org/v1/docs.

For more information about ValuePoint Cooperative Contracts, visit https://www.naspovaluepoint.org/