Getting Started
Gigabid is a marketplace for fiber optic construction. Buyers (ISPs and EPC contractors) post projects as RFPs with standardized unit price sheets; contractors discover those projects, sign NDAs to unlock the details, and submit structured bids that can be compared line by line. Your dashboard shows a short Getting Started checklist that tracks these first steps for you.
For buyers (ISPs and EPC contractors)
- Complete your organization profile. Contractors review your profile (operator type, payment terms, safety requirements) before deciding to bid.
- Publish an RFP. The RFP wizard walks you through project basics, the service area on a map, your unit price sheet line items, documents, and optional qualification requirements.
- Review bids. Contractors sign your NDA, then submit unit prices against your line items. The comparison view puts every bid side by side and flags outlier prices.
- Award. When you award a bid, both parties are notified and the RFP moves to its post-award handoff.
For contractors
- Complete your company profile. Certifications, headcount, revenue, bonding, insurance, and fleet details — buyers see this, and RFP qualification requirements are checked against it automatically.
- Get verified. Our team reviews every new contractor account, usually within one business day. You can browse while verification is pending.
- Discover projects. Browse the marketplace grid or map and filter by state, project size, and category.
- Sign the NDA, then bid. Signing a project’s NDA unlocks its full documents and the bid form. Enter your unit prices and submit before the deadline.
NDAs & Project Access
Detailed project information — engineering documents, exact service areas, and unit price sheets — is commercially sensitive, so buyers share it only under a non-disclosure agreement. Until you sign, you see a project summary; after you sign, the full RFP and the bid form unlock.
Each NDA is scoped to a single RFP: signing one project’s NDA does not grant access to others. Signing is recorded with a timestamp against your company and is legally binding — see our Terms & Conditions for the legal framework.
Signing an NDA does not commit you to bidding — it only unlocks the project details so you can decide.
Qualifications & Waivers
Buyers can attach qualification requirements to an RFP — minimum insurance coverage, bonding capacity, safety rating (EMR), headcount, or specific certifications. Gigabid checks these automatically against your company profile. If every requirement is met, the RFP is open to you; if not, bidding is locked and the unmet requirements are listed.
A locked RFP is often just a profile gap. Requirements are checked against what your profile says, so an empty insurance field reads as “no insurance.” Before requesting a waiver, make sure your profile is complete and current.
If you genuinely don’t meet a requirement, you can request a waiver directly from the locked RFP, with a short note explaining your situation. The RFP creator reviews the request:
- Pending — the creator hasn’t decided yet.
- Approved — bidding unlocks for you on that RFP, and a draft bid is created to get you started.
- Denied — bidding stays locked for that RFP.
Bidding & Awards
Every Gigabid bid is structured around the buyer’s unit price sheet: the buyer defines line items (work descriptions, units of measure, and estimated quantities), and you fill in your unit price for each. Your total bid is computed automatically as the sum of estimated quantity × your unit price across all line items — there are no free-form document bids, so every bid is comparable.
You can export the price sheet to Excel, fill it in offline, and import it back — the import populates the same structured form. Bids stay in draft until you submit; you can edit a draft any time before the deadline, and late submissions are not accepted.
After the deadline, the buyer compares bids line by line (unit prices far above or below the average are flagged) and awards the project to one contractor. Both sides are notified, and contact details are exchanged for the handoff. An award on Gigabid signals intent — the construction contract itself is negotiated directly between the parties.
Plans & Billing
Core marketplace access is free for both roles: browsing, signing NDAs, and working with invited or private RFPs. Paid plans unlock the full workflow — for contractors that includes bidding on public RFPs and posting sub-RFPs to source subcontractors; for buyers, advanced tools like the activity timeline and multi-user teams.
When an action needs a higher plan, the app tells you in place and links here. Plans are billed monthly or yearly through Stripe, start with a free trial, and can be managed from your account at any time. See Pricing for the current plans and what each includes.
Contact & Support
Can’t find your answer here? Email hello@gigabid.com and we’ll get back to you, typically within one business day. Including your company name and, if relevant, a link to the RFP or bid in question helps us respond faster.
For legal questions see the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.