How to Get Construction Contracts with New York City

There are four steps to getting construction contracts with New York City, and they come in this order:

1. Register in PASSPort and the Payee Information Portal (PIP), so the City can see you and you can respond to solicitations.
2. Track DDC and the City Record for notices.
3. Check whether the job is limited to a prequalified list, and get on that list before the bid opens.
4. Reach the people at the prime contractors who buy subcontract packages and materials.

DDC describes itself as the City's primary capital construction project manager. It works with designers, engineers, construction managers, contractors and subcontractors (NYC DDC). The work is large and growing. DDC says its annual capital commitments have climbed since 2022, to $5.4 billion, and that it has completed 285 construction projects since January 2022 (NYC DDC, December 2025).

This guide follows DDC work only. NYCHA, the MTA and state agencies buy through their own systems, so treat each of them as a separate market.

NYC construction is not one generic bid process. A general contractor faces a prequalification gate. A design firm goes through a qualifications shortlist. A trade sub or supplier mostly sells to a prime. In every route, the work starts before the notice goes out.

Will a big contractor answer a firm it has never heard of?

Subcontractors often assume a big prime only deals with firms it already knows. A campaign my team ran points the other way. For a UK manufacturer of fall-protection equipment for construction sites, we handled cold email and LinkedIn for 2 years, which yielded 200+ sales calls and 600+ leads across 24 countries. Replies came from AECOM, bp, Skanska, Doka, Altrad and Saipem, among others.

No City contract was involved, and the buyers were global, so do not read it as a forecast for Queens or the Bronx. What transfers to a five-borough pursuit is the method I use on every campaign:

• a defined audience
• a start from the companies you already know
• messages aimed at the person who actually decides

Before you choose a borough or a buyer, size the market with the way I pick a market before writing any outreach.

What should you register for first in NYC?

PASSPort is the City's end-to-end procurement platform. It covers:

• vendor enrollment
• solicitations, which the City calls RFx
• awards and contract registration
• contract management and payments

Anyone can browse public opportunities in Procurement Navigator without an account. To respond to a solicitation, you need a PASSPort account (MOCS, About PASSPort).

The vendor enrollment package has four tabs: Basic Information, Contacts, Disclosures and Documentation. Completing it takes vendors an average of 3 to 5 days. A successful enrollment changes your status to "Filed", and the City confirms that by email. The City is clear that Filed status does not guarantee a contract (MOCS, vendor enrollment).

PIP is the second account. It gives you a NYC Vendor Number for your financial transactions with the City. PASSPort puts you on the Citywide Bidder List. Registered vendors get alerts about opportunities, including contracts that are not advertised anywhere else. Opportunities over $100,000 appear in the City Record Online, and many agencies also post upcoming work on their own websites (NYC Small Business Services).

DDC releases all of its solicitations through PASSPort. Its solicitations and award notices are also published in the City Record, which you can follow by email. Checkbook NYC keeps a record of current DDC and City contracts.

A new vendor's first week:

1. Open a PIP account and get your NYC Vendor Number.
2. Complete the PASSPort enrollment package until your status shows Filed.
3. Sign up for City Record email notifications.
4. Check DDC's solicitations in PASSPort, and the websites of the agencies whose buildings you want to work on.
5. Search Checkbook NYC for DDC contracts in your trade and borough, and write down which primes keep winning them.

Step 5 is the one most firms skip. It turns a procurement portal into a list of companies you can actually call.

When does DDC require prequalification or RFQs?

For selected projects, DDC solicits bids from a prequalified list (PQL). Vendors first prequalify for an open PQL through a Request for Qualifications (RFQ). Only the contractors who pass are invited to bid (DDC prequalified lists).

Prequalification looks at work experience, firm size and the estimated cost of the project. The Agency Chief Contracting Officer can set other factors as well.

The lists are specific. They include:

• separate general construction lists for small, medium and large projects
• work restoring landmarked or landmark-quality buildings
• emergency utility work such as water mains

Design work runs through its own RFQs. In August 2025, DDC released three RFQs for its Design and Construction Excellence Program: one for architectural design, one for technical design and one for engineering design services. Firms submitted a Statement of Qualifications, and DDC said it would shortlist firms for a later Request for Proposal (NYC DDC, August 2025).

A PQL is a gate. Getting on the list buys you an invitation to bid, and you still have to price and win the job.

The PQLs matter for subs too. A prime that is not on the right list cannot bid that job. So before you pitch a general contractor, find out which DDC lists it holds. That tells you which projects it can realistically bring you onto.

How does design-build work for New York City capital projects?

Start with the default. The Comptroller explains that for public works, competitive sealed bids are the required method unless another legal authority applies (NYC Comptroller contract primer).

When the scope is not well defined, agencies use competitive sealed proposals through an RFP. Besides price, they can weigh criteria set in the RFP: the firm's technical approach, its capability and capacity as an organization, and its M/WBE status. That logic is what makes design-build possible: one contract covers design and construction, so capability has to be judged before every detail is drawn.

DDC now has room to use this approach. Governor Hochul has signed legislation that opens two newer contracting models to DDC, Construction Manager-Build and Progressive Design-Build (NYC DDC, December 2025). The Comptroller lists design-build, among other newer ways to buy, as part of the City's plan to deliver capital projects better (NYC Comptroller, Building On Time and On Budget).

The practical change is timing. Under a sealed bid, a sub can come in late with a good number. Under a proposal, the prime builds its team early. A firm that shows up after the shortlist is published has usually missed its chance on that job.

Who decides on subcontractors on NYC capital projects?

On most DDC jobs, the prime contractor decides who gets brought in. The project executive and the purchasing team make the call. The DDC project manager shapes the job, the schedule and the requirements on the City side, but does not pick your firm for a package. Treat the DDC project manager as context, and the prime's team as the buyer.

Before I build a target list for any seller, I go through its past projects and work out who really made the call on each one. I search by the titles that niche really uses, never a bare "manager". I strip bare titles like Assistant, Manager and Associate, with no function attached, from the list entirely.

Subcontractor decisions are made per package, per borough, per agency and per project team. So split your territory along the same lines. In my campaigns, every account and every rep gets its own patch, so two people from one company never write to the same estimator. For NYC, that means one owner per prime. If a prime works in two boroughs, the rep who logged it first keeps it. A chief estimator who gets two different emails from your company in one week is likely to lose trust in both.

How should M/WBEs and subcontractors position themselves?

NYC M/WBE certification helps a firm get access to government contracts. It also makes the firm more visible to City agencies and private contractors through NYC's directory of certified businesses.

To qualify, a business must:

• have sold goods or services for one year or longer
• be at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by eligible women or minority owners
• have a Federal Tax ID
• be registered in PIP and PASSPort

Certification lasts five years, with yearly confirmations that ownership, operation and management have not changed in a major way (NYC Business, M/WBE certification). This is not legal advice. Confirm eligibility with the City before you apply.

At DDC, the program has real weight. DDC reports that it awarded approximately $3 billion to M/WBEs through its M/WBE program, and that M/WBE participation across its work is above 37 percent (NYC DDC, December 2025). Its M/WBE programs give firms guidance, information and one-on-one help. It runs procurement fairs, open houses, conferences and webinars, and holds events where prime contractors meet M/WBE subcontractors. You can also ask for a meeting with DDC senior staff (NYC DDC M/WBE).

Certification puts you in the directory, but a directory listing on its own does not win packages. A chief estimator who finds you there, or meets you at a DDC event, will still look you up before replying. If your profile shows a title and a photo and nothing else, fix that first with a LinkedIn profile that works like a sales page.

If you are not certified yet, you can still win as a sub. You sell to primes on the same things every buyer checks: price, capacity and proof from similar jobs.

A checklist for trade subs and suppliers:

1. Certify if you qualify, and keep your directory profile current.
2. Attend one DDC prime-meets-M/WBE event per quarter. Go in with a named list of the primes you want to meet.
3. Bring one reference project per trade scope, with the building type, borough and size.
4. Ask each prime which DDC lists it sits on and what buyout looks like on its next job.
5. After each event, follow up with the estimator or purchasing contact within the same week.

What do small purchase limits and DDC's payment changes mean for you?

Not every City job goes through a full sealed bid. The Comptroller's primer sets out the small purchase limits (NYC Comptroller contract primer):

Above those limits, public works go back to sealed bids, or proposals where the law allows them. For a small trade firm, the lower tiers are often the first direct City work it can realistically win, and the M/WBE tier is a strong reason to get certified if you qualify.

Once an agency has chosen a winner, the contract still has to be registered. The Comptroller's Bureau of Contracts Administration has to finish each registration review within 30 calendar days of the agency filing it. Emergency procurements follow their own route and need prior approval from both the Comptroller's Office and the Law Department.

Projects also run long. In the Comptroller's analysis of City capital plans from 2004 to 2022, nearly 64% of projects had delayed starts, took longer than planned, or both (NYC Comptroller, Building On Time and On Budget). Build your sales plan for that pace instead of the date on the notice.

Payment has been the other worry for small firms, and DDC has changed it. In March 2026 it introduced a new payment process. DDC says payment packages now carry 65 percent less paperwork and that review time for payment requests is down 33 percent. Five notary requirements are gone, so are wet signatures that were not needed, and three division checklists became two smaller construction checklists. DDC says the change is meant to help primes and subs alike, M/WBEs and small emerging firms among them (NYC DDC, March 2026).

For a sub, this matters at bid time. Your price includes the cost of carrying labor and materials until you get paid. Fewer forms and a faster review mean less money tied up per pay application. That makes it easier to bid City work at a tight number, or to bid it at all.

What is the simplest plan for a first NYC construction pursuit?

The decision rule: if you already work for general contractors, start with them. If you do not, build a list for one borough and one project type, sorted by buyer title.

With every new client, I check past and current customers first, then hunt for lookalikes of those buyers. Your past GCs know your work, and every GC like them is a warmer target than a stranger. If that is not your situation, use the route for your type of firm below.

Pick one row and stay on it. Trying to sell to DDC, every prime and every sub at once spreads a small team too thin, which is why I push founders to pick one offer and one audience and hold it.

Borough matters more than most firms think. I target a local audience whenever I can, because a conversation opens more easily when the other person knows you are in the same city. A ductwork shop in Long Island City writing to estimators who price Queens jobs has a real advantage. It can be on site tomorrow, and the estimator knows it.

Here is a worked example for that Queens ductwork shop over 30 days. The firm and the person in it are invented, to show the shape of the work.

• Week 1: Search Checkbook NYC for DDC jobs in Queens with HVAC scope. List the primes that won them. Add the GCs the shop has already worked for.
• Week 2: At each prime, find the chief estimator, the project executive, and the purchasing manager. Remove every bare title with no function attached. Give each prime one owner.
• Week 3: Connect on LinkedIn first, then send email. Plan several touches across both channels, using a LinkedIn and email sequence run as one.
• Week 4: Book short calls before the primes' next bid dates. Register for the next DDC prime-meets-M/WBE event.

A sample first email to the chief estimator:

Subject: Ductwork number for your next Queens bid

Hi Maria, your team has won several DDC jobs in Queens this year (I found them on Checkbook NYC). We are a sheet metal shop in Long Island City, 15 minutes from most of those sites. Last year we ran the ductwork on a school renovation in Astoria and finished on the GC's schedule. If HVAC is in your next bid, would a short call help you get a second number before the bid date?

That email is short. It names one borough, one scope, one proof point and one small ask. The first message sells a call, never the whole service, and it carries a real past job as proof. Swap the school job for your own closest project, and say plainly if that project was private work.

If you are running outbound for a construction seller, allow at least 3 months, because the campaign needs time to get feedback and improve. The industry average to get it fully working is about 6 months. Calls can come in the first 30 days, but deals from them may close 4 or more months later, and B2B sales cycles often run 6, 9 or 12 months. City award dates move on their own schedule, so judge the first month by conversations started with the right estimators, not by contracts signed.

This week, open your job records. List every GC you have worked for in the last two years and the borough of each job. That list tells you which prime to write to first.

Choosing between the City route and the prime route is the first fork in an NYC pursuit. Talk it over with me before you spend a month on lists.