How to Bid on City, County, and State Welding Work in Cheyenne, Wyoming

Public-sector work around Cheyenne can be steady and worth chasing, but it’s slower, pickier, and way less flexible than private jobs. You’re not “selling”—you’re proving you can follow directions, meet insurance and paperwork requirements, and still be the low (or best) value when they open the bids.

TL;DR

• City of Cheyenne bid postings live here: https://www.cheyennecity.org/Bids-and-Proposals (cheyennecity.org)
• City of Cheyenne is moving to OpenGov for e-bidding/vendor management: https://www.cheyennecity.org/Your-Government/Departments/City-Treasurer/Purchasing/OpenGov-Procurement (cheyennecity.org)
• Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) bids are separate: https://www.cheyennebopu.org/Bids-Proposals (cheyennebopu.org)
• Wyoming state agencies commonly use Public Purchase; plan on a ~24-hour activation delay after you register: https://sites.google.com/wyo.gov/a-i/divisions/general-services/purchasing/bid-opportunities (sites.google.com)
• WY state construction bids also route through Public Purchase and use NIGP commodity codes for notifications: https://stateconstruction.wyo.gov/procurement/bid-listings-contractors (stateconstruction.wyo.gov)
• If you’re looking at anything federal (F.E. Warren AFB, GSA, etc.), SAM.gov registration is free and can take up to ~10 business days to go active: https://alpha.sam.gov/entity-registration (alpha.sam.gov)
• Realistic timing: many solicitations are open 2–6 weeks; awards often take 2–8+ weeks after close; payment is commonly net 30 and can drift longer depending on the agency and their process.
• Realistic odds: as a first-time prime bidder, expect to lose your first few. As a sub to a prime, your odds go up fast because you’re not carrying the full compliance load.

Who actually wins these contracts (and what that means for a one-truck welder)

A lot of public work doesn’t go to the “best welder.” It goes to the contractor who can submit a clean bid package on time, in the exact format requested, with the right insurance language, the right bid bond (when required), the right signatures, and no missing addenda acknowledgements.

In Cheyenne, the most common winners on larger projects are established local GCs and regional contractors who already have their compliance systems wired: safety docs, subs prequalified, bonding capacity, and someone in the office who lives inside bid portals. That’s not a knock—it’s just the game.

For a first-time bidder as a prime, the biggest risk isn’t being high. It’s getting tossed as “non-responsive” for something dumb like:

• you missed an addendum,
• you didn’t sign in the right spot,
• you failed to include a required form,
• your insurance certificate doesn’t match the bid language,
• you delivered to the wrong room, wrong deadline, or wrong submission method.

If you’re trying to break in as a solo operator, a smart early strategy is to bid as a sub to primes who already chase city/state work. You still need to be tight on paperwork, but you’re not carrying the whole compliance stack, bonds, and portal headaches yourself.

What agencies around Cheyenne actually hire welders for

Most public agencies aren’t shopping for custom fab as “art.” They’re buying uptime and repairs, and they want it documented.

In practice, welding shows up in public work as:

Maintenance and repair: handrails, guardrails, gates, bollards, brackets, equipment supports, trailer repairs, patching structural steel on outbuildings, and quick-turn fixes where replacement lead times are ugly.

Infrastructure-adjacent work: water/sewer facilities, lift stations, pump stations, clarifiers, hatches, ladder systems, access platforms, fence and gate systems, and steel components that live outdoors and get abused. The BOPU, in particular, runs its own bid postings separate from the City. (cheyennebopu.org)

Fleet and facilities: dumpsters, plows, attachments, shop fixtures, and building maintenance work that crosses into light steel.

On-call / as-needed service: not always formally advertised as “welding.” Sometimes it’s packaged as “misc. metal fabrication and repair,” “maintenance services,” or rolled into a larger facilities contract.

The key difference from private customers: agencies prefer repeatable vendors with predictable response and documented pricing. The “can you do it tomorrow?” premium exists, but it’s expressed through contract structures (on-call agreements, pre-negotiated rates, time-and-materials ceilings), not a handshake and a text message.

Timelines (bids, awards, and getting paid)

Public work moves in chunks. If you’re used to private jobs where the customer decides on Tuesday and you’re welding Wednesday, this will feel slow.

Bid windows: usually weeks, not days

City and utility bid posts commonly sit open long enough to allow questions, addenda, and a public opening. Count on 2–6 weeks from posting to close for most formal solicitations. Some smaller quotes move faster, but if it’s publicly posted as a bid/RFP, don’t expect “same week.”

The City of Cheyenne posts open bids on its site and has been transitioning from paper-based solicitations to an OpenGov portal for electronic bidding and vendor management. (cheyennecity.org)

Award timing: after close, plan on more waiting

After bids close, award can take 2–8+ weeks depending on:

• how many bids came in,
• whether they need council/board approval,
• whether there are protests/complaints,
• whether funding is tied to grants or a capital schedule,
• whether the agency is bundling awards into a meeting agenda.

Also: “apparent low bidder” is not the same thing as “award.” Don’t order material you can’t return until you have something in writing that’s actually an award/PO/Notice to Proceed.

Payment timing: net 30 is common, but cash hits later than you want

Many agencies aim for net 30 once an invoice is approved, but “approved” can be its own timeline (field sign-off, project manager review, accounts payable batch runs, etc.). In practice, plan your cash flow like it’s 30–90 days from invoice submission to money in the account, especially your first time working with a new entity.

If long payment timelines are going to squeeze your cash flow, this is where invoice financing can help. Toolbox lets you advance 80–90% against approved public invoices at competitive rates, so you can keep crews working and bids moving without waiting 30–90 days to get paid. (See if you qualify at https://apply.toolboxlending.com/)

Where bids are posted (Cheyenne-specific, plus the stuff that spills into Cheyenne)

You don’t want to live on plan-house sites and repost aggregators for Cheyenne work. The City is explicit that the official postings are on their site, and third-party listings can be incomplete or out of date. (cheyennecity.org)

Here’s where to watch, and what you’ll typically see:

• City of Cheyenne — Bids and Proposals (public postings, documents, addenda, award/closed listings)
  https://www.cheyennecity.org/Bids-and-Proposals (cheyennecity.org)
  Cadence: not daily, but it refreshes as projects come up. Job size ranges from small maintenance purchases to formal construction bids.

• City of Cheyenne — OpenGov Procurement portal (their transition to e-bidding; vendor registration is free)
  https://www.cheyennecity.org/Your-Government/Departments/City-Treasurer/Purchasing/OpenGov-Procurement (cheyennecity.org)
  Cadence: increasing over time as they shift away from paper processes.

• Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) — Bids & Proposals (water/sewer utility work, separate postings)
  https://www.cheyennebopu.org/Bids-Proposals (cheyennebopu.org)
  Cadence: project-driven. When they post, pay attention to pre-proposal meetings and submission rules (they can be strict). (cheyennebopu.org)

• State of Wyoming (A&I Purchasing) — Bid opportunities via Public Purchase
  https://sites.google.com/wyo.gov/a-i/divisions/general-services/purchasing/bid-opportunities (sites.google.com)
  Cadence: steady across many categories; welding work often appears indirectly (facilities, maintenance, construction subs, equipment repair).

• Wyoming State Construction Department — Bid listings (Public Purchase + commodity codes)
  https://stateconstruction.wyo.gov/procurement/bid-listings-contractors (stateconstruction.wyo.gov)
  Cadence: capital-project driven; when you see bigger jobs, expect higher admin requirements (bonds, certified payroll if applicable, sub lists).

One more that matters locally even when it’s not “government”: Laramie County Community College posts bid opportunities and encourages vendors to register in Public Purchase for notifications. (lccc.wy.edu) If you can weld, you can end up doing handrails, gates, repairs, and facility steel there too.

Registration and paperwork realities (the part that actually decides if you’re “responsive”)

This is where good tradespeople get bounced.

Vendor accounts and “where you click matters”

If the bid lives in OpenGov, you’ll likely need an OpenGov vendor registration for submission (the City notes there is no cost to vendors to register). (cheyennecity.org) If the bid lives in Public Purchase (common at the state level), you need that account set up and linked to the agency.

Public Purchase activation isn’t instant. State pages and guides call out that it can take up to about 24 hours for a new account to become active. (sites.google.com) Don’t wait until bid week to start this.

W-9, insurance, and the “specific wording” trap

Expect to provide a W-9, vendor forms, and proof of insurance. The trap is that agencies often require:

• certain coverages (general liability, auto, workers’ comp),
• specific limits,
• additional insured language,
• sometimes waiver of subrogation,
• sometimes primary/non-contributory wording.

If your insurance agent “usually does it this way,” that’s not the standard. The bid packet is the standard. If you can’t meet the insurance requirements, you need to know before you bid because you can win and still fail contract execution.

Bonds: not always, but when they want them, they really want them

For many small welding repairs, you won’t see bid bonds/performance bonds. For construction-style projects, you might. When bonding is required, a lot of small shops get blocked—not because they’re bad, but because they don’t have bonding set up or capacity.

If you’re not bond-ready, chase:

• smaller maintenance quotes,
• on-call service agreements,
• sub work under a bonded prime, until you’ve built a track record your surety will like.

Bid delivery rules are literal

The City has specific instructions about bid delivery and where bids may be hand-delivered in the Municipal Building, and notes process changes (like no longer using an exterior drop box). (cheyennecity.org) These details matter because late is late, even if you’re late by two minutes and have photos of traffic.

If it’s electronic: submit early enough that a portal glitch doesn’t become your problem.

Small business certifications and set-asides (what’s real in Wyoming, and what isn’t)

At the city/town level, you won’t always see the kind of formal set-aside programs you hear about federally. In Wyoming, what shows up more often are resident preferences and state-specific eligibility rules tied to labor and residency programs.

Two Wyoming-specific items worth knowing:

• Wyoming Department of Workforce Services (Labor Standards) administers things like the Contractor Certificate of Residency and information tied to public works labor standards. (dws.wyo.gov)
• Prevailing wage surveys and rates exist at the state level. Prevailing wage requirements can be written into contracts; don’t assume your usual shop rate structure is the only constraint on labor. Workforce Services publishes prevailing wage info and rates. (dws.wyo.gov)
  Also, the University of Wyoming CBEA hosts the annual Prevailing Wage Survey and states that completing it is required to be eligible for state bid-preference laws. (uwyo.edu)

If you’re serious about state work, these programs can matter more than a generic “small business” label. They’re also easy to ignore until you lose a bid by a thin margin.

For federal set-asides (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB), that’s a separate lane—worth it if you’re chasing federal work, but it’s overhead you don’t need just to land City of Cheyenne maintenance welding.

How agencies evaluate bids (high level, but with the parts that trip welders up)

You’ll see a few common formats:

IFB (Invitation for Bid): low price wins if you’re compliant

For straight bids, the agency is usually looking for the lowest responsive, responsible bidder. That means:

• responsive: you submitted exactly what they asked for (forms, addenda, pricing format, deadlines)
• responsible: you can actually perform (licenses, insurance, experience, capacity)

A lot of first-timers focus on “being competitive” and miss that responsiveness is binary.

RFQ/RFP: “best value” can beat low price

When it’s an RFQ/RFP, price still matters, but so do qualifications, approach, schedule, and sometimes interview scores. Utilities and engineering-heavy departments use these more often for professional services, but you’ll still see them for specialized maintenance programs or on-call services.

Informal quotes: smaller buys with less drama (but still paperwork)

Some agencies can buy under certain thresholds with fewer formal steps. You’ll still get:

• a scope,
• quote format requirements,
• insurance/W-9/vendor onboarding.

These are great entry points because they build a vendor history without making you fight the full low-bid gauntlet.

Common public-sector gotchas (the ones that waste the most time)

Addenda are part of your bid whether you read them or not. If the bid packet requires acknowledging addenda, do it exactly how they specify. Missing one is an easy disqualification.

Mandatory pre-bid or site walk = mandatory. If the solicitation says “mandatory,” treat it like a pass/fail test. Some agencies will record attendance and toss bids that don’t match the sign-in list.

Brand-name-or-equal language can still be picky. If you’re supplying fabricated components or hardware, “or equal” still requires you to prove equivalency. If they ask for cut sheets, submit them.

Prevailing wage / certified payroll surprises. If prevailing wage applies, it’s not optional, and it changes how you staff and how you document. Wyoming publishes prevailing wage resources and rates—don’t guess. (dws.wyo.gov)

Subcontracting rules. Some bid packages require listing subs, limiting sub tiers, or getting subs approved. If you’re the welder sub, expect primes to ask for your insurance, safety info, and paperwork early because they can’t submit without it.

Bid mistakes become contract problems. Agencies enforce what you submitted. If you underbid because you assumed a detail that wasn’t in the documents, you may be stuck or forced into change-order fights that agencies hate.

Realistic entry points for first-time bidders in Cheyenne

If you want a clean ramp into public work without getting crushed by admin overhead, these are the practical ways in:

1) Start as a subcontractor on City/BOPU projects

Find who is already winning in Cheyenne and offer tight, documented welding scope pricing with fast turnaround and clean insurance. You’ll learn:

• how bid packages are written,
• how submittals flow,
• how invoicing works with public entities, without betting your week on being the prime.

A simple move: pull the planholders list when available (the City notes they maintain planholders lists and how they’re handled) and see who’s chasing what. (cheyennecity.org)

2) Target maintenance-style work and small formal bids

Look for postings that smell like:

• “repair,” “replacement,” “miscellaneous,” “handrail,” “gate,” “fence,” “metal,” “fabrication”
• small facilities projects (stairs, guards, access improvements)

These are closer to what small shops can deliver without turning into a paperwork company.

3) Get your portal registrations done before you need them

If you’re going to chase City work, get comfortable with their OpenGov direction now. (cheyennecity.org) If you’re going to chase state agencies and state construction, get Public Purchase set up and give it at least a day to activate. (sites.google.com)

4) Use local government-contracting help when you’re stuck

Wyoming’s APEX Accelerator (formerly PTAC) exists specifically to help small businesses navigate government contracting and registrations. (wyomingsbdc.org) This is one of the few “free help” resources that’s actually aimed at getting you through the compliance maze instead of selling you something.

5) Only chase federal when you’re ready for federal admin

If you decide to go after federal work, you’ll deal with SAM.gov. Registration is free, but it’s a real process and can take up to around 10 business days to become active. (alpha.sam.gov) That’s fine—just don’t mix it into your “I need work this month” plan.