If a city, county, university, or transit agency near you takes bids online, there is a good chance it runs on Bonfire— the eProcurement and sourcing platform now owned by Euna Solutions. Bonfire powers thousands of public buyers, each on its own portal (usually an address like agency.bonfirehub.com). This guide walks through exactly how to go from “never heard of Bonfire” to submitting a compliant, on-time response.

The good news: for suppliers, Bonfire is free. You never pay to register or to submit a bid. What you do need is a little discipline about deadlines and document requirements — miss either and the portal will lock you out automatically.

What Bonfire is (and who uses it)

Bonfire is a hosted portal where a public agency posts its open solicitations — Invitations to Bid (ITBs), Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Quotes (RFQs), and Requests for Qualifications (RFQus) — and where vendors submit their responses electronically. Each agency licenses its own Bonfire instance, so there is no single national “Bonfire marketplace.” You register separately with each agency you want to sell to, on that agency’s specific portal.

Because each portal is agency-specific, the fastest way to find the right one is to start from the opportunity itself. On our bids directory each Bonfire listing links straight to the source portal — open the listing, click through, and you land on the exact page where you register and submit.

Step 1 — Register as a vendor

From an agency’s Bonfire portal, create a free vendor account with your business email. You will confirm the email, set a password, and fill in basic company details — legal name, address, and the commodity or service categories you supply. Some agencies ask you to select United Nations Standard Products and Services Codes (UNSPSC) or NAICS categories so the system can notify you of matching opportunities; if you are unsure which apply, see our guide to NAICS codes.

Registering on the Bonfire portal is notalways the same as being a registered vendor with the agency itself. Many governments also require you to be in their financial/vendor system (for a W-9, payment setup, and sometimes a local business license) before award. Read the solicitation to see whether separate registration is required, and do it early — not the night before the deadline.

Step 2 — Find and open the solicitation

Once logged in, the Open Opportunities list shows everything the agency currently has out for bid. Open the one you want and read the details tab first: the closing date and time (note the time zone), the scope, and the list of Requested Information— the specific documents and forms Bonfire will require you to upload. Download every attachment: the specifications, any drawings, the pricing template, and required forms.

Before you invest days in a response, do a quick bid/no-bid read of the requirements and evaluation criteria. Our guide on how to read an RFP shows how to find the evaluation section fast and decide whether you can actually win.

Step 3 — Prepare your response

Bonfire structures a submission into Requested Documents (file uploads, often with an allowed file type and size), Questionnaires(questions you answer inline), and sometimes a Pricing Tableor BidTable you fill out cell by cell. Match your files to each requested slot exactly: if the agency asks for a completed “Attachment C — References” as its own upload, do not bury it inside a combined PDF. Submissions that skip a requested document are frequently deemed non-responsive and rejected before evaluation.

Common requirements to have ready: proof of insurance (often a sample certificate), bonding for construction, signed addenda acknowledgements, references, financial statements, and any set-aside or diversity certifications. If you hold a small- or disadvantaged-business certification, have the paperwork handy — see set-asides and certifications for which ones matter.

Step 4 — Submit before the deadline

You upload your files into each requested slot and click Submit. Bonfire shows a green confirmation and emails you a receipt; if you do not see both, you are not submitted. Two rules save bids on Bonfire:

  • Upload early. Large files and slow connections are the number-one reason a bid misses the clock. Give yourself hours of buffer, not minutes.
  • The portal is the clock.Bonfire locks precisely at the closing time and will not accept a late upload — there is no grace period and no email workaround. The agency’s posted deadline, in its stated time zone, is final.

You can usually edit or withdraw and re-submit right up until the deadline, so it is safe to submit a complete draft early and refine it if you have time.

Costs, questions, and after you submit

Submitting on Bonfire is free to vendors. If a solicitation is unclear, use the official question / clarificationfunction inside the portal before the questions deadline — answers are typically issued to all bidders as an addendum, which you must acknowledge. After the close, the agency evaluates responses; depending on the procurement type, results may be posted publicly or sent to you directly. Awards for larger contracts often go to a governing board for approval, so expect a wait.

The bottom line

Bidding on Bonfire comes down to three habits: register early (both on the portal and in the agency’s vendor system), answer every requested document exactly as asked, and submit with hours to spare. The mechanics are the same on almost every Bonfire portal, so once you have done one, the rest are familiar. For the broader picture of finding these opportunities in the first place, see how to find local government contracts — then browse open bids near you and follow each listing straight to its portal.