Florida Statutes 287: Solicitation Methods and Vendor Rules

Florida Statutes Chapter 287 is the state’s procurement code: it sets the rules every agency and vendor must follow when the state buys goods or services, from vendor registration through contract award, performance, and audit.¹ If you want to sell to Florida’s executive-branch agencies, everything you do — registering, bidding, signing, invoicing, protesting — runs through this chapter and a handful of closely tied statutes.

The chapter is built on open competition. That baseline shapes almost every rule below: purchases above a set dollar amount must be competitively solicited, exceptions are narrow and documented, and challenges follow strict deadlines. Here is what a vendor needs to know to work within it.

Register in MyFloridaMarketPlace First

Before you can bid on a state solicitation or receive a contract, you must register in MyFloridaMarketPlace (MFMP). Florida’s administrative rules make MFMP registration mandatory for nearly all vendors, and agencies generally cannot enter into agreements with unregistered vendors.²

You’ll need your company name, tax ID (an FEIN or SSN), contact information, business designation (corporation, sole proprietorship, nonprofit, and so on), and at least one business location. You also indicate whether you are a woman-, minority-, or veteran-owned business.² Separately, file a Substitute Form W-9 with the Department of Financial Services so the state can process your payments and meet IRS reporting.³

Take the commodity codes seriously. During registration you select UNSPSC codes describing what you sell, and those codes control which electronic bid notifications you receive.² Pick too few or the wrong ones and you’ll never see the solicitations that matter to your business.

MFMP is not free. For fiscal year July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, vendors pay a transaction fee of 0.7 percent of each payment issued through the system, deducted automatically.⁴ Build it into your pricing.

You’ll also need to be registered with E-Verify. Any state contract must require the contractor and all subcontractors to use E-Verify to confirm the work authorization of new hires, and neither side can enter the contract unless both are registered. Noncompliance is expensive: three violations within 24 months trigger a $1,000-per-day fine and potential suspension of state-regulated licenses, and a contract terminated for E-Verify noncompliance bars the contractor from public contracts for at least one year.⁵

The Purchasing Categories That Set the Rules

Chapter 287 sorts every purchase into one of five categories tied to a dollar threshold, and the category decides how much competition is required.⁶

Category One: $20,000
Category Two: $35,000
Category Three: $65,000
Category Four: $195,000
Category Five: $325,000

Category Two is the line that matters most. Any purchase of commodities or contractual services above $35,000 must go through a formal competitive solicitation.⁷ Agencies are not allowed to split a purchase into smaller pieces to duck under it.

The Three Competitive Solicitation Methods

Above Category Two, an agency chooses among three methods, and each answers a different question about what the agency actually knows.

Invitation to Bid

An Invitation to Bid (ITB) is the default when the agency can define exactly what it needs. Price decides: the contract goes to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Every ITB must include a detailed description of what is being purchased and, if renewals are planned, a statement to that effect.⁷

Request for Proposals

A Request for Proposals (RFP) is used when the agency can define goals and deliverables but wants flexibility on how a vendor gets there. Before issuing an RFP, the agency has to document in writing why an ITB isn’t practicable. Evaluation weighs experience, approach, and other factors alongside price, and the contract goes to whichever proposal is determined in writing to be the most advantageous to the state.⁷

Invitation to Negotiate

An Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) is used when the agency wants to identify the best method for solving a problem and expects to negotiate with one or more responsive vendors. ITNs typically show up in complex procurements where part of what the agency is trying to define is the solution itself.⁷

When Agencies Skip Competition

Section 287.057(3) allows exempt purchases in limited circumstances. A sole-source purchase is justified when the commodity or service is available from only one vendor, often because a product is patented, proprietary, or uniquely compatible with existing systems, and the agency must document why competition is not feasible. Emergency purchases are permitted when delay from a competitive solicitation would threaten public health, safety, or welfare. These exceptions are narrow by design, and agencies that use them can expect the justifications to be reviewed during audits.¹

Professional Design Services Follow a Different Path

Architectural, engineering, landscape architectural, and surveying services don’t go through the ITB/RFP/ITN system. They follow Section 287.055, the Consultants’ Competitive Negotiation Act (CCNA). For construction projects estimated above the Category Five threshold ($325,000), or planning and study fees above Category Two ($35,000), agencies must publicly announce the need and select firms primarily on qualifications, not price.⁸

The agency evaluates firms on capabilities, personnel, past performance, and experience, ranks at least three, and begins negotiations with the top-ranked firm. Only if those talks fail does it move to the next.⁸

State Term Contracts

The Department of Management Services (DMS) establishes State Term Contracts (STCs), which are pre-negotiated agreements for goods and services multiple agencies commonly buy.⁹ When an STC covers what an agency needs, the agency must buy through it rather than run its own solicitation.¹⁰

Getting on an STC is a bigger process than basic MFMP registration. You compete in a DMS-run solicitation and have to show you can serve statewide demand for the life of the contract. In return you get a stable sales channel: “eligible users,” defined as any person or entity authorized by DMS rule to use the procurement system, can also buy from STCs.¹¹ That group typically includes local governments and qualifying nonprofits, though DMS can restrict a particular STC to state agencies if broader access would hurt competition.⁹

What Every Contract Above $35,000 Must Contain

Every contractual services agreement above the Category Two threshold has to be in writing and include a specific set of provisions under Section 287.058:¹²

A clause allowing the agency to cancel unilaterally if the contractor refuses public access to records created or received under the contract, unless the records are specifically exempt under the Florida Constitution or public records law.
Billing detail sufficient for preaudit and postaudit by state financial authorities, with travel expenses conforming to state reimbursement limits.
A clearly defined scope of work covering every task the contractor is expected to perform.
Deliverables broken into quantifiable units, each with a performance measure, and written acceptance by the contract manager before the state releases payment.
Financial consequences the agency will apply if the contractor fails to perform.
Terms addressing ownership of any intellectual property created under the agreement and the state’s rights if the contractor defaults or stops providing services.
Renewal terms that don’t exceed three years or the length of the original contract, whichever is longer, with renewal pricing specified in the original bid or proposal.

Deliverable acceptance is where most disputes start. If you’re the vendor, know exactly what “accepted” means in your contract before you begin work on a deliverable.

Each contract also has a designated agency contract manager who enforces terms, tracks performance and budget, handles amendments, and applies remedies for shortfalls. That person cannot have worked for the vendor within the previous five years.⁷

Who Cannot Contract With the State

Registration and a winning bid aren’t enough if you fall into one of the categories Florida bars from state contracting.

Convicted Vendor List

A company or affiliate placed on the convicted vendor list following a conviction for a public entity crime cannot bid on, propose for, or be awarded a state contract for a set period after the conviction. The list is public.¹³

Scrutinized Companies

Section 287.135 bars companies on certain scrutinized-company lists from state and local contracts. A company on the Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel List, or actively boycotting Israel, is ineligible for contracts of any value. Companies on the Scrutinized Companies with Activities in Sudan List, the Iran Terrorism Sectors List, or those doing business in Cuba or Syria are ineligible for contracts worth $1 million or more.¹⁴

Before bidding, or before entering a contract worth $1 million or more, you must certify you are not on these lists and have no prohibited business operations. For any contract at any dollar amount, you must certify you are not participating in a boycott of Israel.¹⁴

Conflicts of interest can also disqualify a contract. Under Section 112.313, agency purchasing agents cannot buy from businesses in which they, their spouse, or their child has an ownership interest or serves as an officer, partner, or director, and a state employee cannot sell to their own agency in a private capacity.¹⁵ A contract tainted by a conflict can be voided.

Preference for Florida Businesses

When a competitive solicitation produces a lowest bid from an out-of-state vendor, Section 287.084 gives Florida-based businesses a price preference. If the out-of-state vendor’s home state grants its own businesses a preference, Florida matches it for in-state bidders. If the out-of-state vendor’s home state grants no preference, Florida vendors get a 5 percent preference.¹⁶

Out-of-state bidders must submit, with their bid, a written legal opinion from an attorney licensed in their home state describing what preferences (if any) that state grants its own businesses. Missing that opinion can disqualify an otherwise competitive proposal.¹⁶

Bid Protest Deadlines Are Tight

If you are adversely affected by an agency’s solicitation decision or contract award, Florida gives you a narrow window to challenge it. From the moment the agency posts its decision electronically, you have 72 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays) to file a written notice of protest.¹⁷

After that, you have 10 days to submit a formal written protest that spells out, with specificity, the facts and legal basis for your challenge. Miss either deadline and you waive the right to protest entirely. The posted notice itself must warn vendors of these deadlines.¹⁷

Once a timely formal protest is received, the agency must stop the solicitation or award process unless the agency head certifies in writing that an immediate danger to public health, safety, or welfare requires continuing. The agency then has seven business days to try resolving the dispute through mutual agreement. If that fails, the protest moves to either an informal proceeding (if there are no disputed facts) or a formal hearing before an administrative law judge.¹⁷

Payment Rules on Both Sides of the Contract

Chapter 287 protects subcontractors and suppliers downstream from a prime contractor. When a contractor receives payment from a state agency, it must pass funds to subcontractors and suppliers within seven working days, proportional to each subcontractor’s share of completed work. If the contractor receives only partial payment, it distributes what it got pro rata.¹⁸

Miss the seven-day window without reasonable cause and the penalty is half a percent of the amount owed per day, capped at 15 percent of the outstanding balance. Courts can order restitution for attorney fees and related costs, and the Department of Legal Affairs may assist subcontractors with enforcement.¹⁸

On the agency side, Florida’s Prompt Payment Act requires state agencies to pay vendor invoices within 40 days of receipt (35 days for health care providers). Miss that deadline and the agency owes interest on the unpaid balance at a rate tied to the statutory judgment interest rate.

Audits Reach Back Three Years

Every three years, each agency’s inspector general must complete a risk-based compliance audit covering all contracts the agency executed during the preceding three fiscal years. The audit evaluates vendor preference trends, and findings go to the agency head, the DMS secretary, and the Governor.¹⁹

Sole-source purchases, contract amendments, and deliverable acceptance records are all fair game in those reviews. Even a completed contract can be pulled apart years later against the requirements described above, so build your records with that timeline in mind.

1
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 287.001 – Legislative Intent
2
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code 60A-1.033 – MyFloridaMarketPlace Vendor Registration and Agency Requirements
3
Department of Financial Services. State of Florida Substitute Form W-9
4
Department of Management Services. MFMP Transaction Fee and Reporting
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 448.095 – Employment Eligibility
6
Florida House of Representatives. Florida Code 287.017 – Purchasing Categories, Threshold Amounts
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code 287.057 – Procurement of Commodities or Contractual Services
8
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 287.055 – Acquisition of Professional Architectural, Engineering, Landscape Architectural, or Surveying and Mapping Services
9
Florida Senate. Florida Code 287.042 – Powers, Duties, and Functions
10
Florida Senate. Florida Code 287.056 – Purchases From Purchasing Agreements and State Term Contracts
11
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 287.012 – Definitions
12
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 287.058 – Contract Document
13
Florida Senate. Florida Code 287.133 – Public Entity Crime; Denial or Revocation of the Right to Transact Business With Public Entities
14
Florida Senate. Florida Code 287.135 – Prohibition Against Contracting With Scrutinized Companies
15
Florida Senate. Florida Code 112.313 – Standards of Conduct for Public Officers, Employees of Agencies, and Local Government Attorneys
16
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 287.084 – Preference to Florida Businesses
17
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 120.57 – Additional Procedures Applicable to Protests to Contract Solicitation or Award
18
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 287.0585 – Late Payments by Contractors to Subcontractors and Suppliers
19
Florida Senate. Florida Code 287.136 – Audit of Executed Contracts