​If your company has never been a supplier with the Commonwealth, you must register your business at the PA Supplier Portal.  This allows you to search and respond to Commonwealth bidding opportunities and to manage your important account information.

If your company already has a six-digit vendor number issued by the Commonwealth, you may already be registered with us.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Although it is a prerequisite, registering and receiving a vendor number from the Commonwealth DOES NOT YET MEAN a supplier has been awarded a contract and has permission to sell to COSTARS members.  To become a COSTARS supplier, you must complete steps #3 and #4 by submitting a contract bid and submitting payment for the annual administrative fee once you have been awarded a contract.

If you need assistance with your Commonwealth supplier registration, the Supplier Help Desk may be reached at RA-PSCSRMPortal@pa.gov.

​​The Commonwealth maintains a strong commitment to providing opportunities for small and diverse businesses for prime contracting opportunities with the goal of promoting the economic growth and success of these types of businesses. View eligibility requirements and apply for certification with the Department of General Services. 

​To do this, download and return a completed bid package.  DGS does not post on its website any one particular COSTARS member’s request to contract for a specific purchase.  Any contract that DGS bids as a COSTARS-exclusive contract is available for use to ALL COSTARS members.

Click on the Bid # of the contract you want to participate in and fill out the PDF document (COSTARS Invitation for Bids [IFB]) as well as the Excel document (Bid Item Workbook).  The link to download the Bid Item Workbook specific to a contract can be found on page 10 of the COSTARS Invitation for Bids PDF for each COSTARS contract.  Each contract and workbook are specific to the COSTARS contract number they are linked to.  (The Guide to COSTARS Contracts is a handy resource to help you define the product categories that fall under each contract.)

The 2nd tab of each Bid Item Workbook provides a checklist of the items you need to finalize before mailing your completed and ink-signed bid package to DGS.

A supplier may bid on multiple contracts if their product and services offerings fall within the scope each.  The annual administrative fee is applied per contract.

If you need assistance on how to complete an IFB or a Bid Item Workbook, you can refer to the Bidding on a COSTARS Contract online training. 

​The last step to becoming a COSTARS supplier is to submit payment for the annual administrative fee per awarded contract.  Once a bid package is received and approved, the COSTARS team will email an invoice for the administrative fee per contract.  Upon COSTARS receipt of payment for the invoiced amount, a supplier’s participation is considered active and the supplier then has the ability to download the COSTARS member list and begin transacting with the members.​