| Website | fedbid.com |
| Category | eCommerce |
| Phone | 877.933.3243 |
| Employees | |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Description | dynamic reverse-auction marketplace |
| Total | $2M |
| Unattributed, 12/05 Blue Water Capital | $2M |
| Series A, 1/12 Revolution Growth Fund |
FedBid, Inc. is a privately-held company that helps government agencies purchase commodities such as computer products, security gear and office supplies through a dynamic reverse-auction marketplace.
Government procurement officials post purchasing needs to the FedBid.com site, including the category and description of the product or service, any evaluation criteria or special qualifications, and a deadline for bids. Registered sellers compete to provide the product or service that best meets the buyers’ needs and bid against one another to offer the lowest price.
Sellers cannot see other bidders’ prices but can tell whether they have the leading (i.e. lowest) bid in the auction, and they can improve their bid if not. Buyers can select any or none of the bids offered, and they can cancel or repost the auction at any time. Buyers are not charged, and the winning seller is assessed a transaction fee that is automatically built into the bidding process.
The FedBid online marketplace is currently used for commodity purchases by federal agencies including the Departments of the Air Force, Army, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Justice, Labor, Navy, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veteran Affairs.
FedBid was founded in 1999 as a division of privately-owned Procurement Technologies, Inc. of Gaithersburg, Maryland and initially raised more than $5 million in equity funding to launch the FedBid.com site. The company ceased operations in December 2000 when it could not secure a second round of financing.
In 2001, the FedBid online marketplace reopened under the ownership of Advance Technology, Inc., which changed its name to FedBid, Inc. in 2004. The new FedBid expanded the focus of its online marketplace from U.S. federal government purchase card orders to purchase order (PO) transactions for bigger purchases of commercial items, including commodity-type goods and simple services.
According to company officials, transaction volume through FedBid.com grew from $31 million in 2003 to $94 million in 2004, and $204 million in 2005. In 2007, FedBid was awarded a business method patent (7,272,579) for its Auction Based Procurement System. In October 2009, FedBid announced that a record $875 million worth of purchases had been conducted though its site in FY2009, a 20% increase over FY2008.
